The field of social responsibility in higher education encompasses many themes. In this paper we focus on an explanatory model of the USR (University Social Responsibility), as antecedent of the perception of student satisfaction, confirming its generalization to higher education. This study used a semi- structured, self-reported questionnaire, answered on an online platform, by students from the 1 st and 2nd cycle of studies, covering different perceptions and visions of USR by the students of a Portuguese HEI (Higher Education Institution). Some sociodemographic control variables were also introduced. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling through PLS-SEM to test the proposed research model. We note that a positive overall perception of USR leads to student satisfaction. In this way, results suggest the desirability of paying more attention to USR education in environmental and social values, research, internal management and external projection in a university, allowing the possibility of increasing student satisfaction. In this respect, it may be concluded that the early attraction of students to the subject of the USR plays a significant role in their future professional initiatives. Competitiveness in HEIs is a fact, considered a new trend as a business area, SR (Social Responsibility) being an increasingly widespread phenomenon in the economic and political scenario [1]. However, the application of SR in universities has deficiencies similar to those found in the business world, since there is no clear and specific consensus about their meaning and their concrete applications reflected in actions or strategies that allow them to achieve a socially responsible, unanimously accepted behaviour [2]. In recent years, the concept has gained prominence in the academic environment and in the management of HEIs, especially in the strategic management of these organizations, as well as in the creation of specialization and postgraduate programmes associated with this subject [2]. Universities have become a focus of attention in recent years, worrying about having a sustainable and/or responsible campus, publishing institutional reports on USR and trying to relate academic education and research with social participation that supports a more humane, inclusive and sustainable development model ([3], [4]). The paper seeks to fill the gap of the inexistence of studies that relate students' USR perception and students’ satisfaction in Portugal.

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University social responsibility,Student satisfaction

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