CSR and Higher Education Dr.Ranjeet Kaur,G.N Khalsa College,Matunga Email:ranbaj80@gmail.

com, Tell: 9773826840 Businesses today have realized that, in order to continue thriving, they have to adopt more holistic & inclusive business model which has a direct correlation with business performance & government policies & support. Corporate social responsibility(CSR)in Higher Education means the role of corporate in providing higher education to the economy, Not as per there Business rules, but are as per their Business ethics. A report by Confederation of Indian Industry & Boston Consulting Group titled Indias demographic dilemmas predicts that nearly 90 mn persons will join the workforce. The survey carried out by TNS India & the Times Foundation w.r.t CSR revealed that over 90 per cent of all major Indian organizations surveyed were involved in CSR initiatives particularly in education areas. The CSR initiatives, through partnerships between organizations & Government, particularly at the local level, not-for-profit sector, can play a vital role in enabling higher education through both demand-side (e.g. provision of scholarships, general awareness) & supply-side measures (e.g. provision of endowments, making corporate staff available as resource persons, funding research & by contributing to infrastructure). Several Corporations have developed initiatives towards higher education & vocational training. Innovations in the design, delivery mechanisms, which needs both financial as well as social support could be generated by CSR initiatives, can provide a empirical base for more effective educational policies, as well as provide feedback to the stakeholders & the countrys economy for business innovations. The CSR initiatives must aim at a long-term vision of India as a major knowledge & innovational economy. There is a considerable merit for Indian companies to take leadership in setting up world-class full-fledged universities, combining high quality teaching, research & consultancy activities. Companies with major presence in a state can work together with the state government to enable such institutions of higher learning to be established. The role of CSR in higher education & in mitigating the skills gap is therefore multifacetted, with considerable experimentation, & learning-by-doing along the way. CSR at the Mahindra & Mahindra group is collaborative & employee driven. The social initiatives of the group have been streamlined where each group company donates
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0.5% of their PAT to the K C Mahindra Education Trust & adopts projects under the Trust. Nanhi Kali is one successful program that the group has been supporting for several years.

IT companies like TCS, Wipro have developed software for teachers & children across India to further the cause of education & hence reducing illiteracy in remote communities.

CSR in Higher education can be broadly classified into 1. Towards society via educational institutes, NGOs etc This stream discuss about the contribution done by the corporate world towards the society, by way of providing funds, man-hours, infrastructure etc.

o Dhirubhai Ambani Foundations much acclaimed SSC Merit Reward & Undergraduate Scholarship Schemes continued to assist meritorious students to pursue higher education in different vocations.
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Reliance has made significant efforts towards value enhancement of teachers through professional & institutionalized training. The J.N. Tata Endowment for Higher Education: This program sends bright young Indians of limited means overseas for training in science, engineering, law, government administration, & medicine.

Shiksha Prasar Kendra (SPK), a front-end society of Tata Motors, focusing in the area of Education & Youth Development, gives numerous scholarships in the following categories: Scholarships are divided into different categories so that students from various backgrounds dont have a relative disadvantage compared to their peers in other groups. Golden Jubilee Scholarship: A merit & need based scholarship for the children of employees. TATA Hitachi Scholarship: A merit based scholarship for allrounded students, who are children of employees, with remarkable qualities in leadership & community initiatives. Adivasi Affairs Financial Assistance: A merit & need based scholarship for the children of employees belonging to scheduled tribes or scheduled castes. Akansha Scholarship: A merit & need based scholarship for the children of non-employees who belong to scheduled tribes or scheduled castes.

Hence aim is to sensitize corporate to their responsibilities as good citizens of a fast-developing nation.

2. Towards its own employees This streams discuss about the contribution done by the corporate towards the Educational growth of its own employees, by way of providing free further education ,professional skills etc.

Specially designed learning development programs enable employees to sharpen their professional & intellectual skills so that even during recession time if an employee loses the job, it will give them a cutting edge in their education, for Securing a new Job in other domains.

The focus is also to foster on environment of continuous learning whilst at work & augment existing knowledge. The advantage of this is o Employees are kept at par with current market requirements w.r.t technology & knowledge and, o Corporate itself get benefited by having employees who are up-to-date with the current technology & knowledge base. The Corporate expense for new recruitment is save due to this.

Tech Mahindra

Employees can participate in higher learning programs that lead to university certificates & degrees from various institutes like IIT Mumbai, BITS Pilani, University College, London & Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. TechM is the first organization to join the Distance Education Program of IIT in its quest to impart high education to the employees in the field of IT & Project Management. Work integrated learning programs of BITS in the field of Telecom & Software engineering are yet another initiatives launched.

TechM support employees who undertake MS or PHD program in the top BSchools in India & at leading universities world over To encourage the employees to study & excel, the company offer sponsorships that cover up to 50% of the fees. Those who achieve top grades get sponsorships up to 100%. This approach to promote education & learning has created a synergy between academic pursuit & business participation.

Summary:The main things that corporate achieve from CSR is:- Highly knowledge Employee base , huge expenditure savers & huge benefits from Government via SEZ, Tax savings, low cost infrastructure & land from government.

This CSR is a huge WIN-WIN situation, for both Government & Corporate.