Collaboration

The opening webinar of Best Practices in Jesuit Higher Education Issue 5.1 gathered two distinguished speakers working on the frontlines of supporting refugees and migrants: Gabriela Hilliger, professor at Universidad Alberto Hurtado (UAH) and Legal Director of the Jesuit Migrant Service (SJM) in Chile, and Stephen Raj, S.J., Regional Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) South Asia.

A year ago, two very close universities, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, and Universidad Loyola, España, accepted a stimulating challenge to compare the best practices of their partnerships’ offices. Later, a more interesting approach got the best of us and we decided that we should also ask other partners to share their best practices with us. Thus, we contacted 25 universities and gathered the answers of 15 of them. Indeed, this is by no means an exhaustive analysis, however, this exercise was very insightful and most definitely strengthened our relationship between us and with them. Let us share with you the data and our conclusions.

The JHEASA West Zone in collaboration with Xavier Institute of Engineering, Mahim, organized a One-day intensive hands-on workshop for teachers, was conducted at Xavier Institute of Engineering, Mahim, on 18th January, 2025 by the XIE faculty. The workshop was modelled on the current needs of teachers on Artificial Intelligence tools for teaching and research, curriculum designing and for creative writing.

The UNIJES VUELA Program facilitates meaningful community service through projects across Europe, Africa, and Latin America, emphasizing social action and development cooperation. With over 160 participants involved in 2023 and 2024, VUELA strengthens international collaboration and addresses global social challenges through hands-on service and engagement.

The JCAM Research Network (JCAM-RN) was established to promote collaboration and intellectual dialogue among Jesuit formation centers in Africa, responding to the call of GC 36. This initiative aims to foster a culture of research and publication while addressing logistical challenges to enhance scholarly engagement and quality within the Jesuit community.

The Xavier Institute of Engineering (XIE) in Mumbai is actively collaborating with his sisters' Jesuit universities in Africa, including Arrupe Jesuit University in Zimbabwe and Koshyam Jesuit University of Science in Burkina Faso.

This meeting in the capital of Seville, just one year after the general meeting of rectors and directors of the UNIJES university network, various initiatives and strategic projects were discussed.

In a series of posts, we have shared with you some reflections on Jesuit university networks. In the first post, entitled “A vision on Jesuit University Networks,” we analyzed the context in which these networks have developed in recent decades and raised questions about their usefulness and the circumstances that make their creation desirable.

In line with the willingness to forge academic and research collaborative relationships, last July 2023 two faculty of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Bogota’ visited the campus of Sophia University in Tokyo.

Magis Exchange is an innovative exchange program of the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU), designed to help young people discern their role as agents of global change by encouraging leadership and reflection on current social and environmental issues. The program has gained significant traction since its launch in 2019, with more than 80 students having undergone this transformative experience.

The University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in ways that leverage academic strengths, faculty expertise, resources and technology of each institution to enhance further the quality and breadth of programs offered to students.