GNOSEOLOGICAL ASPECTS IN BUILDING SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF STRUCTURAL AND INNOVATIVE TRANSFORMATIONS

Abstract

The article provides insights into the nature and specifics of social responsibility of higher education institutions in the context of transformational economy. In particular, it is argued that in the frameworks of structural and innovative transformations, technogenic safety as a readiness to be socially responsible, contributes to implementing the idea of integration of philosophical, legal, sociological and pedagogical approaches to enhance the performance of modern higher education institutions. The most critical factors in building social responsibility are the focus on professional responsibility, autonomy of higher education institutions, as well as the compliance with the principle of freedom of choice and responsibility in providing dual education services and applied research. The hypothesis of the study is the statement that in the context of structural and innovative transformations, the gnoseological nature of social responsibility of higher education institutions is embodied in gradual building of a technogenic safety paradigm. The research objective is to explore the specifics of social responsibility of higher education institutions from the perspectives of structural and innovative transformations. To attain the study agenda, the following research methods have been employed: historical analysis – to track successive changes in social responsibility concepts in the area of higher education subject to evolutionary development of society; analysis and synthesis techniques – to reveal the content and structure of a social responsibility framework. The findings demonstrate that a technological background to facilitate successive change in the structure of social responsibility elements is the following chain relationship: goals – knowledge – methods – activities. In this chain, goals are considered as expected professional performance outcomes; knowledge, methods and activities – as the capacity (readiness) of higher education institutions to implement effective professional technologies to attain the best results along with meeting all stakeholders’ demands. The summary concludes that the gnoseological implications in building social responsibility in higher education institutions affect the content of goals and the qualitative variety of tools which rely upon worldview and cultural societal values, as well as moral principles and ethical standards of educational activities.