The university is an institution with a strong economic, social, cultural and political impact and must act as a model and reference point. It has an inherent commitment to society, making social responsibility, sustainability and solidarity an essential duty, closely linked to its third mission.
In this framework, social responsibility and sustainability have been consolidated as a strategic pillar that integrates the social, economic and environmental dimensions in a cross-cutting way, with the aim of promoting a model of innovation and socially responsible, sustainable development geared towards the common good.
From an institutional point of view, this approach has been shaped by references such as the World Declaration on Higher Education (1998), the University Strategy 2015 and other initiatives aimed at systematising and promoting social responsibility in the university sphere.
Universities are currently guiding their policies in accordance with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), re-enforcing their role as key players in knowledge generation, responsible citizenship training and social transformation. At the same time, the main international university rankings include specific indicators to evaluate institutional commitment to social responsibility, sustainability and the impact on the SDGs.
To this end, universities have developed governance structures and specific units to promote sustainability, transparency and accountability, as well as to promote the integration of these principles into teaching, research and management.In this context, chairs and initiatives in the field of social responsibility and sustainability, in collaboration with different social and economic players, contribute to the generation of applied knowledge and the dissemination of good practices.
The Chair of Social Responsibility and Sustainability (RSS) was created at the UdG in 2013, with the support of Càritas Diocesana de Girona, with the aim of promoting a university structure geared towards developing studies and research that fostered corporate social responsibility in the local business community, in collaboration with the Empresas amb Cor initiative. Since its creation, it was sponsored by Banco Santander and was actively integrated into the Santander Network of Chairs, promoting research, studies and training in social responsibility and sustainability at both national and international levels. This sponsorship was maintained until the year
2024.
From 2025, she joined as the patron saint of the Costa Brava chair
Mediterranean Foods, from the Cañigueral Group, a company with roots in the territory and alined with the values of sustainability and social responsibility, with activities at a provincial, national and international level. The Mediterranean is a central element of its identity and values, combining local roots and global projection with efficient, sustainable and responsible management, and with a firm commitment in the environmental, social and economic spheres, in coherence with the SDGs.
With this alliance, the Chair of SRS and Costa Brava Mediterranean Foods will promote training, dissemination, awards, transfer, research and recognition activities in the field of social responsibility and sustainability.
In this sense, the SRS Chair is conceived as an instrument to consolidate the values of social responsibility and sustainability in the university context and project them in the territory, promoting innovations and initiatives in the economic, social and environmental spheres that contribute to sustainable development, solidarity and the improvement of the quality of the university system, as well as the transfer of knowledge, innovation and technology at the service of social well-being.