Ethical responsibility of universities: legal, social and political dimensions

Keywords: universities, ethical responsibility, ethical principles, moral norms, university stakeholders, think tanks

Abstract

The ethical responsibility of universities is embodied in the responsibility of university stakeholders who ensure the functioning of universities as social organizations designed to provide higher education. The research methodology consists of the theory of social systems, which includes institutional analysis, philosophy of communication and subordinate special methods, such as document analysis, value and functional analysis. Ethical responsibility of universities is specified in the specifics of the regulatory framework of ethical responsibility, educational vocation, ethics of responsibility, institutional principles of ethics of responsibility, the relationship of political and academic independence, academic freedom as a prerequisite for ethical responsibility of universities and their representatives. Ethical responsibility involves the acceptance by a person of moral and ethical norms – both universal academic ethical norms and moral and ethical norms adopted in the academic community of a particular university. Such acceptance presupposes both the recognition by the individual of certain academic values and academic virtues, and the responsibility for the consequences of his activity or inaction as a representative of the university or a participant in the organization of its functioning. This includes both compliance with the statutory norms of the university and compliance with a wider range of ethical norms – from universalist ethical norms to those recorded in international and domestic official documents governing activities and communication in the academic sphere. The article analyzes the main normative documents available in Ukraine and Europe, which regulate ethical responsibility in the educational sphere, also considers the specifics of university stakeholders and identifies the political component of ethical responsibility of universities in comparison with the responsibility of think tanks.

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Author Biography

Mykhailo Boichenko, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv; Institute of Higher Education of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine

Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Professor,
Professor of the Department of Theoretical and Practical Philosophy
at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv;
Leading Researcher at the Institute of Higher Education
of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine

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Abstract views: 191
PDF Downloads: 159
Published
2021-12-20
How to Cite
Boichenko, M. (2021). Ethical responsibility of universities: legal, social and political dimensions. International Scientific Journal of Universities and Leadership, (12), 186-200. https://doi.org/10.31874/2520-6702-2021-12-2-186-200
Section
Social philosophy and philosophy of education: concepts, modelsandsocial implementation