The international conference on Jesuit Collaboration for Global Citizenship Education took place on Tuesday, 19th of November at Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Spain. This conference brought together leaders of different Jesuit higher education institutions and of global initiatives, we counted with panelists such as Daniel Villanueva SJ, Director of Entreculturas and leader of Jesuit Networking, Francois Kaboré SJ, President of AJCU-AM regional network, Gonzalo Villagran SJ, Rector of Facultad de Teología de Granada and Nancy Tuchman, Dean of the Institute of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago.
This international conference was a great opportunity to learn more about Jesuit collaboration and the potential of the Jesuit higher education network (International Association of Jesuit Universities, IAJU) to educate global citizens who would lead a globalization of solidarity and a cooperation with a global consciousness and commitment to the world. The conference allowed international attendees to share their knowledge and experience, which we hope will result in further synergies, cooperation and joint projects.
Moreover, the conference was a great Jesuit identity and mission formation session for the university community who was introduced to many of the global collaboration initiatives and networks within the Society.
Rector, Gabriel Peréz Alcalá, remarks to the audience.
The event started with the welcoming and remarks of Universidad Loyola Rector, Gabriel Pérez Alcalá. Then the panels were moderated by Borja Martin, Director of International Relations, who also introduced the Magis Exchange Program, a multilateral agreement for student exchange that brings together Jesuit universities from all over the world. In the first panel, Daniel Villanueva SJ, set up the stage with an introduction to the different Jesuit networks and with an update on the last directives on global governance of networks. He encouraged all of us to continue to contribute on the development of this new Jesuit structures for the future. Gonzalo Villagran SJ made then a very clear explanation and dissemination of the four Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAP’S) and framed examples on what universities are called to work on towards contributing to these preferences.
The Association of Jesuit University and Colleges in Africa and Madagascar (AJCU-AM) was constituted last September and it’s president Francois Kaboré, SJ gave an update on the association and told us about the different higher education projects that are developing in the continent.
Finally, Nancy Tuchman talked about her living online text book Healing Earth a book that continues to grow in usage, which will soon be available in Spanish and Portuguese. Nancy is also leading the IAJU Task Force on Environmental and Economic Justice and she announced the different projects that the IAJU is pushing in this direction, such as the “Annual Global Climate Change Conference” or the “New Paradigm in Business Education” project.