The aim of the study was to identify the pedagogical mechanisms for developing students' civic engagement and to analyse the role of higher education as an institutional factor in the formation of a socially responsible individual during a period of dynamic changes in the social order. The study employed a systemic approach, structural-functional analysis, the comparative method, regulatory-legal analysis, and content analysis of scholarly sources and strategic documents from foreign countries. The findings of the study established that youth social responsibility is a three-component quality combining cognitive, emotional-motivational, and behavioural dimensions, with the development of only one failing to ensure the formation of stable responsible behaviour. Six structural elements of the university environment were identified that differentially influence the development of students' civic stance, namely the content of curricula, active learning methods, extracurricular activities, student self-governance, volunteering, and the institutional culture of the establishment. It was determined that civic education in Ukraine is fragmented compared to the systematised approaches of Great Britain, Germany, Finland, the USA, and Zambia, where the corresponding preparation is implemented as a distinct compulsory course with clearly defined competencies. It was ascertained that digital responsibility constitutes an independent, new dimension of youth social responsibility requiring targeted pedagogical elaboration. A set of proposals for enhancing the effectiveness of civic consciousness formation within the higher education system at its various organisational levels was developed. The core pedagogical conditions for fostering social responsibility were identified as the integration of a cross-cutting value-oriented environment, the incorporation of reflective practices, and compulsory real-world community practice. The practical significance of the obtained results lies in the possibility of their application in devising university strategies for educational work, updating curricula content, and shaping state educational policy towards the systemic cultivation of citizenship

prosocial behaviour; moral consciousness; youth centres; digital activism; reflective practices; psychological-pedagogical factors