Developing Qualified Citizenship

Abstract

With the world facing increasing challenges in economy, society, culture and environment, university social responsibility has become a central topic of discussion in higher education sector. As the highest-level educational institution, the university should respond actively to social changes and assume the responsibility of remolding and promoting social development (Alzyoud and Bani-Hani 2015). Located in West China, where socioeconomic development lags behind and natural disasters happen frequently as compared to other parts of the country, Sichuan University has a three-dimension social responsibility system that is aimed to address the special needs of the area: teaching humanity and morals as well as knowledge and skills, encouraging student associations and promoting disaster management. In this chapter, we summarize the experiences of Sichuan University in fulfilling its social responsibility by developing qualified citizenship. We use nine cases of the University’s service learning programs that have been successful to illustrate our understanding of university social responsibility, hoping that our experience is one that can be shared and duplicated and contribute to the betterment of the world we live in.