The University of Pretoria is a member of the University Social Responsibility Network and as such had the opportunity to host the steering committee of the Network in April 2017. The international committee consisted of representatives from Sichuan University, the University of Haifa, the University of Manchester, the University of New South Wales, Peking University, Washington University, Kyoto University, Tufts University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Yidan Foundation and the University of São Paulo.

On behalf of Prof Norman Duncan, the host for the steering committee, the Department of Marketing Management was requested to share how it incorporates social responsibility into the curriculum. For this purpose, Prof Melanie Wiese and Dr Liezl-Marié Kruger decided to use the Marketing in Practice-module as a case study during their presentation.

The module is one of five modules in the BCom Honours (Marketing Management) programme that focuses on utilising industry clients to cultivate and implement strategies. The community engagement projects shared were the fundraising initiatives, which realised a value of R176 767 for the non-profit organisation Phyllis Robertson Home, which provides care and accommodation for adult disabled persons, and the development marketing campaigns to create awareness of the Gautrain partnerships, which included non-profits such as Freedom Park and Pink Drive.

Prof Melanie Wiese (left) and Dr Liezl-Marie Kruger (right) presenting a community engagement case study to the steering committee

Using practical examples from the 2016 projects, Prof Wiese and Dr Kruger showed how the module facilitates marketing strategies in both a profit and non-profit context by engaging with the community. Summarising the ethos of the presentation was Prof Wiese's comment that "we (the Department of Marketing Management) believe in developing young marketers with a business as well as a social conscience". The presentation was well received by the steering committee and sparked a lot of interest from the members.