In the context of multiple global crises and accelerated changes that we are facing, the relationship between university and society is also shifting. Consensuses that were thought to be secure and responsibilities that have long received little public attention are becoming more and more fragile: The discourse on fake news and post-truth is causing uncertainty among parts of the population about the resilience of knowledge and truth (Elven, 2022), digitalisation / AI is putting research and teaching infrastructure to the test (Pinheiro, Edelhard Tømte, Barman, Degn, & Geschwind, 2023) and the climate crisis is raising questions about the extent to which universities are still able to produce the knowledge they need or whether a fundamental reform of knowledge production is necessary (Schneidewind, Singer-Brodowski, & Augenstein, 2016). There is also a questioning of the self-image, task and role of science within the academic discourse - for example on the part of postcolonial studies (Seth, 2009). On this backdrop, we currently are conducting a research project (funded by the German Research Foundation, project number 457876539), where we raise two core questions: 1. How do higher education institutions (HEI) position themselves in relation to these societal challenges, diverse demands and conflicting expectations? How do universities succeed - on an organizational level - in formulating a consistent concept of the universitys social responsibility? 2. How is this concept of social responsibility negotiated within the HEIs and how does the staff relate to it (e.g. accept, deny, negate constructively critize, …)? Which role does the social background of the staff play for relating and can we find systematic differences betweend different groups within the organization - especially between different generations of researchers? In our contribution, we will present findings from the first step of the research project where we conducted a field-focussed discourse analysis of mission statements from German universities. For this investigation, we gathered mission statements from all universities in Germany (without universities for applied sciences and similar institutions; n=120). We analyzed these documents applying techniques of qualitative text analysis by Kuckartz (2014), suggestions for the methodization of discourse analysis (Diaz-Bone, 2006) and categorizing procedures in discourse analysis (Glasze, Husseini, & Mose, 2021). In our presentation, we focus on uncertainties expressed in mission statements and related concepts of social responsibility. Based on these findings, we can shed light on the relationship between growing uncertainties in Europe and worldwide and the necessity to deal with social responsibility in HEIs.

Diaz-Bone, R. (2006). Zur Methodologisierung der Foucaultschen Diskursanalyse. Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung, 31(2), 243–274. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/20762129 Elven, J. (2022). The Negotiation of Social Responsibility in Academia. An Analysis of Ethical Discourses on the March for Science at German Universities. Zeitschrift Für Diskursforschung, 10(1). Glasze, G., Husseini, S., & Mose, J. (2021). Kodierende Verfahren in der Diskursforschung. In Handbuch Diskurs und Raum: Theorien und Methoden für die Humangeographie sowie die sozial- und kulturwissenschaftliche Raumforschung (pp. 293–314). Bielefeld: transcript. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839432181 Kuckartz, U. (2014). Qualitative Text Analysis: A Guide to Methods, Practice and Using Software. London et al.: SAGE. Retrieved from https://books.google.com?id=9B2VAgAAQBAJ Pinheiro, R., Edelhard Tømte, C., Barman, L., Degn, L., & Geschwind, L. (Eds.). (2023). Digital Transformations in Nordic Higher Education. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27758-0 Schneidewind, U., Singer-Brodowski, M., & Augenstein, K. (2016). Transformative Science for Sustainability Transitions. In H. G. Brauch, Ú. Oswald Spring, J. Grin, & J. Scheffran (Eds.), Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace (pp. 123–136). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43884-9_5 Seth, S. (2009). Putting knowledge in its place: Science, colonialism, and the postcolonial. Postcolonial Studies, 12(4), 373–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790903350633