Collaboration

Loyola University hosted a working session at its Seville campus with rectors and senior leaders from the institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities in Africa and Madagascar (AJCU-AM). These sessions built on prior meetings held throughout 2024 in the Democratic Republic ofthe Congo, Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, which gradually shaped a group of institutions aroundan initial proposal of collaboration. The program provided a space to exchange ideas about the structure of the group,identify priority areas for collaboration, and explore funding opportunities for joint international projects.

In response to Fr. Arturo Sosa, S.J.'s call for collaboration among Jesuit institutions, the Jesuit School of Theology (JST) at Santa Clara University organized a forum in Nairobi, Kenya, in July 2024 to advance the Global Theology Initiative (GTI). Launched in 2019, GTI connects seven Jesuit theology centers worldwide to enhance theological education and foster solidarity.

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.