COLLABORATION

In the past eight years, the MAGIS Exchange program has impacted the lives of people all around the globe. They have operated in six regions worldwide, with a total global network of 42 Jesuit universities.

On 30-31 March 2026, the Board of the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) met at the General Curia in Rome to review the ongoing implementation of the Strategic Agenda (2024-2028) and the priorities defined at the Assembly in Bogotá in July 2025. At that Assembly, leaders from around the world identified six major challenges at the global level: democracy and global citizenship, student mental and spiritual health, secularization, Artificial Intelligence, migration and refugees, and environmental justice, along with a call to concretely increase collaboration among institutions.

Scholars, researchers, and academic leaders from Jesuit universities around the world gathered from 9 to 12 March 2026 at the Ateneo de Manila University for the Inaugural Symposium of the Global Research Alliance of Jesuit Universities (GRAJU), marking a major milestone in global collaboration among Jesuit institutions of higher education.

In February 2026, the music program at the University of Alberto Hurtado, located in Chile, collaborated with the Franz Liszt Conservatory of Weimar, Germany, to bring Indigenous Chilean music to Germany. This event strengthened inter-regional ties, and reaffirmed UAH’s promise to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding through music.

The conveners of ten working groups of the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) met for the first time in Rome from December 15 to 16 with the aim of fostering collaboration and aligning efforts towards a common vision: Jesuit universities as agents of social transformation in a world that desperately needs it.

This past August, the Jesuit commitment to the Universal Apostolic Preferences came to life through an inspiring global initiative connecting two continents. The Xavier Institute of Engineering (XIE) in Mumbai, India, and the Xavier Jesuit Institute (XJI) in Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria, joined forces once again to deliver Joy of Python—a program designed to expand educational opportunity and help close the digital divide in the Nigerian cities of Benin City and Lagos.

In August 2025, seven Jesuit universities came together to launch a landmark initiative: the Global Research Alliance of Jesuit Universities (GRAJU). Founded by Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines), Fordham University (USA), Georgetown University (USA), ITESO (Mexico), Sogang University (South Korea), the University of Deusto (Spain), and Namur University (Belgium), GRAJU marks a bold step toward deepening global research collaboration within the Jesuit higher education network.

From February 26 to 28, 2025, the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) International Education Conference was held at Sophia University Yotsuya campus. The theme of the conference was “Challenges and Opportunities for Internationalization,” and the conference brought together approximately 80 faculty and staff members in charge of international education from 44 institutions around the world.

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.

The International Association of Jesuit Engineering and Science Schools (IAJES) has unveiled its strategic roadmap for 2025-2026, outlining key initiatives to strengthen its global network of Jesuit universities.