JESUIT HIGHER EDUCATION
INTERNATIONAL MEETING REPORT
Summary of Responses

REPORT

To prepare for the meeting, during 2007, the members of ICJHE surveyed the rectors/presidents in their regions on these two questions:

• What are the five main challenges and priorities facing our Jesuit universities in the next decade?
• What are some current practices of cooperation among universities and other apostolates?

This is an executive summary of the responses from the regions in three sections: challenges and priorities, regional priorities and issues, and some current practices of cooperation. 

Introduction

The need to transform the overall higher education process arises from the emerging phenomenon and effects of globalization, the new realities of today’s world, and the new  generation of students who will both create, particularly with technological social-networking, and inherit a world much different from the one of even a decade ago.

Jesuit colleges and universities, in every dimension of their institution, embrace academic excellence as the sine qua non of Jesuit education.  With the inspiration of the Ignatian ideal of the magis as an orientation for the education of the whole person, a measure of educational excellence is to strive for personal perfection in our relationship with God and to serve the world and society, particularly those most in need. 

Rooted in the rich Catholic and Jesuit intellectual and social tradition, Jesuit universities are urged to respond with a new pedagogy of engaging the world.  Its aim is learn, cherish and respect the dignity of each person and good that is common to all.  Father Kolvenbach in 2000, as new standard for Jesuit education, articulated the key elements of this pedagogy when he noted: 

Tomorrow’s “whole person” cannot be whole without an educated awareness of society and culture with which to contribute socially, generously, in the real world.  Tomorrow’s whole person must have, in brief, a well-educated solidarity.  ….  Solidarity is learned through “contact” rather than through “concepts” ….  [by letting] the gritty reality of this world into their lives…  They [students] should learn to perceive, think, judge, choose and act for the rights of others, especially the disadvantaged and the oppressed.   

This pedagogy of engaging the world to learn with and from all, especially the poor, enhances the quality of research, teaching and learning.  While one measure of its success is “who our students become as whole persons with a well-educated solidarity,” another key measure is the quality – depth and breadth – of both knowledge and research that analyzes root causes of problems facing our civilization and earth as well as advancing the discovery of knowledge and truth to address those problems.  And an integral dimension, then, is how to use wisely and humanely the power of  knowledge and technology to construct a more humane, sustainable, faith-filled, and just world, giving special consideration to those most in need. .

Jesuit higher education institutions, as part of the entire cohort of higher educational institutions, are becoming more global in orientation and fact and must attend to enhancing academic excellence both by the quality of research and teaching and by their distinctive orientation.  In other words, integrating the mission for faith, culture, and justice (GC34.D3,4,5) enhances, not diminishes, academic excellence because Jesuit education must ask the great questions of history and address the key problems facing our world.

Jesuit education, then, embraces the intellectual dimension of ministry as an essential quality of asking ultimate questions about the mystery of God, life and the human person and, second, believing knowledge must be used to construct a more, faith-filled, just, humane, sustainable world.   Faith and interreligious dialogue, culture, and justice are intertwined and integral to our mission. It might be helpful to think of the new realities in terms of faith, culture, or justice although each connects to the other.

Section One. Challenges and Priorities

1. Research, teaching and curriculum
2. Service to society – local, national, and global
3. Service to the Church
4. Catholic identity and Jesuit educational mission
5. Fiscal realities

Renew and Promote Research, Teaching, and Curricular Content

Introduction or Context

Challenges/Priorities

• Incorporate Globalization into research, teaching, and curricula.  Globalization, the new contextual horizon for education, impacts every dimension of life and learning. Education has an obligation to pursue a deeper understanding of the new realities of globalization
• Integrate liberal arts (humanistic education) with professional and technology or scientific education.  Professional education (vocational or applied technology courses) is gaining priority over a liberal arts (humanistic) education.   Promoting humane values – a social and justice sensitivity – in the face of changing values such as consumerism speaks to the need of Jesuit education; achieving this ideal is a key challenge.  [SoAsia]
• Create and promote socially significant knowledge -- search for knowledge through scientific and humanistic research, separately and integratively - to overcome  injustice and exclusion, especially of the poor. [LA]
• Discover and use knowledge to overcome poverty and economic inequality, especially where either or both are increasing.  This is, within and among nations, perhaps the key challenge of our times.  Not only is overcoming the massiveness of poverty a huge challenge and necessary for the dignity of each person on earth, but increasing inequality, in all probability, also leads to violence and polarization.  [Commission on Social Justice]
• Discover and use technology and science.  Adapting leading edge technologies and scientific understanding to benefit humanity is integral for education.  Technology and science, accompanied by rapid geopolitical, socioeconomic, and cultural changes, are creating both new opportunities and new forms of marginalization for indigenous people and cultures.  (GC 34, D 26, nn. 18-20).  “We need global citizens trained in the new technologies whose religious faith and culture can sustain their commitment to justice, peace and reconciliation for all persons across boundaries.”  [Commission on Social Justice]
  
  Today, being a university is synonymous with being a technological platform that serves both students and the world.  Technology also provides new teaching and learning strategies. 
  
• Understand and advocate for a culture of life that is contrary to a culture of death.  A commitment to the culture of life is needed to overcome a fragmented and broken world.  People are displaced due to poverty, oppression, armed violence, ethnic differences, and other factors.  To promote peace and justice, the commitment to a culture of life and solidarity must extend from the beginning of life to the end of life and include any action that takes life (abortion, war, capital punishment).  Civil society and effective governance must be based on principles of fair legal and political systems that eschew corruption and power.  [Commission on Social Justice.].
• Research and advocate for ecological sustainability.  Sustainability requires understanding the need to change life-styles both individually and collectively, of both developed and developing nations, for civilization and the earth to continue to exist as we know it.  To be well-educated in today’s world, one must understand ecology and the moral consequences of our actions; there are both moral and theological grounds to preserve and care for the world and humanity itself.
• Educate for religious understanding and tolerance; advance dialogue among religions, while addressing the essential problems of Fundamentalism in a postmodernism and post-Christian era.  Religion and science, religion and culture, religion and secularism must do more than coexist as separate but equal, must seek to overcome conflict, and must work toward peace and justice.
  
  In a world characterized by religious and cultural pluralism and postmodernism, it is not enough to claim that the mission of our colleges and universities is rooted only in the Catholic intellectual life and social teaching tradition. 

Service to Society:  The Commitment to Use Knowledge for the Well-being of Each Person and Community – Local and Global – and Civil Society.

Introduction or Context

The vision of Pope John Paul II in Ex Corde Ecclesiae made service to society an important characteristic of Catholic universities when he wrote:  “Every Catholic university, as a university, is an academic community which, in a rigorous and critical fashion, assists in the protection and advancement of human dignity and of a cultural heritage through research, teaching, and various services offered to the local, national, and international communities.”   This is consistent with Ignatius’ view of educating for the contemporary (global) culture (world).

Challenges/Priorities

• Educate to strengthen the political dimension of life in the complex process of globalization, which then contributes to the strengthening of civil society and “institutional citizenship” for democracy.  [LA]

• Establish a relationship between educating and learning with the local and global community.  Both as individuals and as a university, social responsibility to contribute to just communities and society is required, which ensures a commitment to democracy and overcoming poverty and all of the deleterious effects of being poor.

• Develop a holistic education that connects our identity and mission of faith doing justice, preserving indigenous culture, promoting interreligious dialogue, and ensuring sustainability. 

• Provide a locus for dialogue of key issues affecting communities and culture/s such as faith/technology and public policy, globalization and indigenous culture, interreligious understanding and fundamentalism. 

• Create and promote socially significant research, in all areas of knowledge, that leads to making socioeconomic and geopolitical structures more inclusive of the poor and marginalized and to overcome injustice and exclusion. [LA]

• Reinforce social commitment and human formation. [EU]

• Education for citizenship, professional values, ethics, which also fosters genuine understanding of civil society, promote the dignity of each and common good.

Service to the Church                                                               

Introduction or Context

The Society historically has served the Church in many ways – intellectually, spiritually, pastorally, and theologically.  Jesuit universities have been a critical part of the intellectual, theological, and social teaching tradition.

John Paul II, in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, noted the importance of service to the Church:  

Through teaching and research, a Catholic university offers an indispensable contribution to the Church.  In fact, it prepares men and women who, inspired by Christian principles and helped to live their Christian vocation in a mature and responsible manner, will be able to assume positions of responsibility in the Church.  Moreover, by offering the results of its scientific research, a Catholic university will be able to help the Church respond to the problems and needs of this age. [n.31]

Challenges/Priorities

• Foster the Catholic intellectual life and the Catholic social tradition.  A focus on a vibrant Catholic intellectual life and a strong Catholic social tradition is critical both to overcome misunderstanding of the meaning of “Catholic” and to offer a coherent world view in a climate of (religious) pluralism and postmodernism. 
  
  
• Educate for faith and justice as a dimension of Catholic intellectual, ethical and social teaching.  Integrate social justice as systemic to academic quality in teaching, learning, and research .

• Adopt or advance the pedagogy of engagement to learn with and from the poor and marginalized, including those in developing areas of the world

• Root academic excellence in the magis which, by focusing on both spiritual formation and intellectual development. Hence, learning to respect the dignity of each person and good that is common to all gives glory to God.

• Form competent professionals who are committed, conscientious citizens who seek social justice.  .

6. Educate the people of God for a Church in the Modern World (Second Vatican Council).  This also requires the teaching and research of Catholic theology, not merely religious studies, but within a context of a plurality of religions and cultures.   Catholic universities serve the Church by doing its best thinking, learning, and teaching; by interpreting and reflecting the intellectual, theological, and social teaching of the Church; and contributing to the Church as a learning and teaching institution/community.

Sustain and Advance our Catholic Character and Jesuit Educational Mission.

Introduction or Context

The distinctiveness of Jesuit education insists that both discovery and use of knowledge are critically important, for they benefit individuals – the ordinary, rich, and especially the poor – and society.  The Gospel preference for the marginalized, the vulnerable, the needy, the impoverished, the youth, and the elderly is an essential characteristic of Jesuit education.  The poor, more often than not, are excluded from access to knowledge needed to overcome root causes of the social problems from which they suffer.

Realizing that new global realities are analyzed and addressed best by our distinctive education, Jesuit universities can play a significant role in educating for a globalizing world.  This provides the best rationale for the importance of preserving and enhancing the Catholic identity and Jesuit educational mission.  Jesuit identity and mission are becoming a concern for a number of reasons, ranging from the technical thrust of education to the diminishing number of Jesuits, from secularization of society to professional education of faculty.  Hence, a clear commitment to the mutually enhancing dialectic of academic quality and distinctiveness will require on-going attention by both lay and Jesuits colleagues.  The key to sustaining and advancing the character and mission of Jesuit colleges and universities requires constant development of people, programs, and culture. 

Governance in a rapidly globalizing and diverse world requires a new way of leading and managing colleges and universities; equally challenging for effective governance is collegiality among the various constituencies:  Jesuit and lay, faculty and administrator, governing boards and campus community, Jesuit Provincial/community and campus community.

[Some Jesuits are challenged by their lack of understanding of university work, low research and teaching performance, passive attitude, weakness in evangelizing work, and isolation from the main lifeline of the university upon reaching a certain age or upon retirement.  Other Jesuits need to learn more about how to work within university structures such as respecting institutional processes and mechanisms and sensitivity to their role within university structures.  And other Jesuits need to develop a greater appreciation of Jesuit ministry or apostolate presence and participation in community events which are important to the university.  And still other Jesuits need to help the next generation of Jesuits to understand better their roles and responsibilities of witnessing to core values and presence. [EAO]]

Challenges/Priorities

To this end, specific suggestions, in the regional reports with minor edits, include:

• Enhance the Catholic Identity and Jesuit Mission
• Be effective in implementing the magnanimous vision of Ex corde Ecclesiae in service to the Church and modern world. 
• Be more explicit about relating “faith” and “Catholic” with “justice” and “Jesuit.”
• Ensure broad ownership of our Catholic/Jesuit identity by all university constituencies – trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni.
• Renew the Ignatian and Christian inspiration of Jesuit education through engaging and intelligent conversations.     
• Incorporate institutional mission/identity effectively within the curriculum.
• Balance the commitment to identity (character) with a serious commitment to diversity as a means of enriching the educational experience and responding to demographic shifts so that the institutions truly reflect their own culture, whether Asian, African, North American, South American, European, etc.

• Advance the Jesuit Educational Mission

• Define sharply the Jesuit mission in order to set university standards and to integrate university concerns for innovation, creativity, reputation and recognition.
• Define the Jesuit mission considering different norms like academic norms (e.g., academic excellence, research, reputation and ranking, competitive marketing factors) and Jesuit norms (faith, justice, culture, interfaith dialogue) in order to create a balance and synergy and to integrate the worlds of market and mission.
• Advance the Jesuit academic mission and tradition within the different intellectual cultures and currents (prophetic, virtue, research, arts) in order better to understand the diversity of perspectives and stances that co-exist in the university.
• Educate faculty to the benefits of enhancing academic quality through greater integration, even identification, with the distinctiveness of Jesuit education and engage them in projects relevant to the bigger social context.
• Seek, define, and build common identity and culture that govern Jesuit institutions beyond cultural boundaries and differences.
• Convince a greater percentage of our students to embrace the formation aspects of Jesuit education.

• Provide Personal Formation or Development Opportunities

• Offer effective Orientation and Development or Formation programs that advance quality by integrating distinctive qualities of our Jesuit educational mission for faculty, staff, administrators, and trustees.
• Maintain effective faculty development programs to bridge the gap between their typical graduate education and the expectations for faculty on a Jesuit campus.
• Incorporate strong, systematic formation and/or development experiences (leadership and professional development programs) in Catholic character and Ignatian spirituality.
• Dedicate personnel, time, and resources to systematic programs in the formation of the faculty, administration, staff, trustees, parents, etc.

• Develop ways to inspire/encourage participation in the long process of formation/development that has characterized the Society.  (One continuing trend is that fewer Jesuits will be in faculty, staff, and administrative roles, whereas once they held a large percentage of these positions.)
• Dedicate resources (funds), personnel, and time to respond to the challenges of our educational and university mission and to the intellectual apostolic as essential to the charism of the Society of Jesus.  Without fiscal and leadership support and without formation programs for all personnel, prolonged attention to the quality of life of all will be impossible to sustain.
• Ensure the formation of a board of trustees (lays and Jesuits) which begins with the selection of qualified, committed women and men who understand the academic world and bring their experience and skills to govern and inherently lead.
• Promote the vocation of Jesuits and laity which means, broadly, to develop a commitment to the intellectual apostolate and, specifically, to live fully Catholic or Christian or other religious lives in the midst of chaos and the demands of  university work.
• Work with our lay faculty and staff to maintain our Ignatian heritage and, at the same time, encourage them to be our partners. [EU]
• Train competent people with a sense of critique, open to a changing world, to the European move towards a knowledgeable and competent society [EU]

• Clarify Governance, Collegiality, and the Role of the Society of Jesus
  
  
• Engage in genuine partnership with lay colleagues and effective transitioning to lay leadership.
• Overcome obstacles to integrating the distinctive character (identity) and effective management structures to meet the complexity of universities.
• Define the mission and norms for the universities:  the role of Jesuits, the Provincial, the community, the governance structures, and lay partners.
•  Create the best structure to work together in order to foster better collaboration and consensus in view of the vision and future direction of the university.
• Encourage the presence and participation of Jesuits as individuals and as a community in the university and university governance:
• Engage Jesuit communities, as community, in as many dimensions of the apostolate as possible.
• Face the challenge of the dwindling number of Jesuits active in the university and the difficulty of engaging some Jesuits in conversation about university life.
• Realize the impact of the Jesuit community is weakened by current realities like aging membership, culture, basic attitudes and dispositions, perception as an exclusive group.
• Clarify and emphasize the crucial role of the Provincial to encourage and assist the President and Jesuit community to strive constantly to embody Jesuit values in the university structure and to commit capable men for this end.
• Clarify and emphasize the crucial role of the superior of the community to nurture and promote the mission and identity of the university.
• Attend to longer-term planning and missioning of Jesuit manpower for the university
• Help Jesuits understand the importance of their individual and collective roles in the university.

Only with a collegial governance system will the commitment to quality research and teaching flourish.  Further, having a long-term strategic vision is one thing, but its effective implementation, in large part, depends on the collegial commitment and competence of faculty, staff, administration, and governing boards to implement the plan’s goals. 

Ensure Fiscal Stability and Economic Sustainability while meeting the Challenges of Affordability, Accessibility, and Accountability

Introduction or Context

To develop the resources to ensure stability and to sustain the institution’s ability to perform its responsibilities is, without a doubt, a challenge-priority.  Funds (resource base) are required to secure a quality Jesuit education in the midst of a competitive, rigorous academic world.  Yet access to resources from all sources is limited.
           
In an era of globalization, infrastructure and competition from other institutions that are mushrooming around us are challenges to our institutions.  The entry of corporate business houses and foreign universities has begun and is inevitable.  On the one hand, we need to raise funds (we need to have top class facilities) and so change fees, and on the other hand we need to find a way to cater to the marginalized, not merely admitting them but establishing structures for ongoing care and support.  We need to break new ground to introduce new, relevant courses that would lead to humanized, sustainable development. [SA]

Challenges/Priorities

• Learn better how to function within resources’ constraints.  The complex mix of factors – ranging from setting priorities and allocating resources to proving the means for students who come from low income families or impoverished sectors – is another dimension of the challenge to obtain funds and resources for economic sustainability.

• Higher education is becoming increasingly costly.  Find the resources to support our distinctive mission of educating young women and men as well as doing research and social analysis. 

• Develop programs to secure a quality Jesuit education in the midst of a very competitive academic world.  External sources of funds must be raised in ways that do not produce a dependency (public or private) that will hinder the focus on academics and a humanistic education.

• Develop new sources of funds to facilitate the access of Jesuit institutions for those from the low income and impoverished sectors as another dimension of the challenge of obtaining funds and resources of our economic sustainability. [LA]

• Developing [up-grading of] staff skills becomes a priority, e.g., students are more digitally competent than staff.  Technological sophistication is very slow to arrive as far as many Jesuit colleges are concerned compared to other colleges of excellence.  The chalk-and- talk method should not be completely dispensed with, but technological aids with Internet connection and laptops with LCD projection have a greater role in the present higher education scenario. [SA]

• Insure affordability for the poor which will require maximizing both operational efficiencies in the pursuit of quality and maintaining a high level of financial aid for the students we have traditionally served.

Accountability:  We currently operate in a challenging climate where accountability, assessment, evaluation of educational outcomes, and transparency are demanded of our institutions.  The AJCU is currently surveying what individual schools are doing in this regard, with the goal of sharing best practices and demonstrating that we have found ways to be accountable and transparent that are appropriate to the kind of education we offer.  We hope to make clear that there is no need for the government to tell us how to do this. [USA]

Section Two.  REGIONAL PRIORITIES

I. The Africa Priority

Introduction or Context

Africa is a priority of the Society.  Hence, its challenges are all of our challenges.  Its unique challenges and its unique characteristics have been outlined as follows:

Some of the common characteristics shared by all institutions in Africa include:  they are few in number; are very young (ranging from two to around ten years); have a weak financial basis (with no endowments or reserves); have few or no teachers of their own and must rely on visiting lecturers from other universities (and consequently suffer economically and educationally); have only one or two Jesuits (who usually are the Director and his assistant); and have students unable to meet the expenses of their education.  All of these institutions are also asked to participate, in one way or another, in the common project of the African University.  [From the regional report of Africa.]

Challenges/Priorities

Challenges for achieving the African priority of a high quality and effective education of young men and women who will serve their respective countries and the Society of Jesus, the challenges include the need to:

1. Improve the educational standards of the existing universities.
2. Encourage the Province to have a greater commitment in making Jesuit personnel and  financial resources available.
3. Establish programs appropriate for the African context with regard to globalization and world issues such as the environment and governance.
4. Educate teachers who are able to implement these culture-specific programs in a context where the crisis of education in general makes this resource rare.
5. Recruit and select qualified (good) students in a context where the standards of education have fallen low in primary and secondary schools, and where many are not able to meet the expenses of their education.
6. Develop and/or gather the financial resources necessary to fund a good Jesuit university for the educational benefit of students and Africa.
7. Foster and/or develop regional and international collaboration and partnership with other higher education institutions.
8. Ensure the continuity of a Jesuit staff and of other men and women who understand Ignatian spirituality and values.
9. Work with and learn from Africans as equals what they wish and hope for Africa B as nations and as a continent.  Africa in the geopolitical context is an apostolic priority for the Society but needs the attention of the entire world.  Africa must be understood not mainly in terms of what non-African can Ado@ or Agive@ to Africa, but what we can do together as equal partners.  All gain from an exchange with Africa based on recognition, respect, and joint ventures.  [Commission on Social Justice]

• China:  opportunity/challenge and risk/cost
• EAO:  social analysis and poverty, identity and mission
• SA:  Technical training over humanistic, value oriented education
• USA:  Leadership transfer and Fiscal
• EU:   Bologna, collaboration between centers of theology and philosophy, Jesuit identity and faculty formation
• LA:   Democracy, Justice, and post Christian society

Section 3. Collaborative Practices among Jesuit Universities and other Apostolic Sectors

Introduction or Context

We must take advantage of the international dimension of the Society to internationalize our campuses, including making it affordable for students and faculty to engage in intercultural and international experiences, and assisting struggling institutions in the developing world.

The pros and cons of establishing a positive synergy among Jesuit institutions lie in the conscious awareness of virtually all Jesuit colleges and universities globally.  Thus, to establish an effective collaborative intranet among the Jesuit institutions, other apostolic works, religious life, and the Church, we need to make this a challenge-priority for the next decade. 

As far as the Society is concerned, the challenge includes the possibility of establishing a global system of Jesuit universities that brings consistency to the shared work.  This collaborative intranet of our intellectual apostolic work should be regarded as a priority in our Jesuit mission.

On the other hand, this collaborative intranet among the Jesuit universities cannot be conceived as something unique to the Society or the Church.  What is unique is the ready made global network, connected more by the Ignatian inspiration and values systemic to our Jesuit educational mission.  Yet, by its very nature, colleges and universities are open to the world, and their academic effectiveness is indissolubly linked to their active participation in the global community and the connection of all (and between) the Jesuit institutions around the world and to other Jesuit ministries such as JRS, K-12 education, the social apostolate, spirituality, and so forth.

A priority goal is to take advantage of the international dimension of the Society to internationalize our campuses, including making it affordable for students and faculty to engage in intercultural and international experiences, assisting struggling institutions in the developing world...  [LA]

B.  Challenges/Priorities

1. Establish a collaborative intra-network:  The pros and cons of establishing a positive synergy amongst Jesuit institutions lie in the conscious awareness of the AUSJAL members.  Thus, to establish an effective collaborative intranet among the Jesuit institutions, other apostolic works, religious life, and the Church, becomes a challenge-priority for the next decade.

2.  Establish a global system of Jesuit universities that brings consistency to the shared work and a commitment to making this collaborative intranet of our intellectual apostolic work is a priority in our Jesuit mission.  This collaborative intranet among the Jesuit universities cannot be conceived as something unique to the Society or the Church.  By its own nature a university is an open institution, and its effectiveness in the academic field is indissolubly linked to the active participation in the global community and the connection of all (and between) the Jesuit institutions around the world.  [LA]

3. Collaboration at the national and international levels:  pooling of staff with specific expertise among Jesuit Universities across the globe is a major challenge and opportunity.

(At present, colleges of a Province where more than one college exists function as independent units with the only connective link being the religious getting transferred from one institution to another.  Some colleges, however, share the academic expertise by being external members in the Board of Studies in designing the curriculum. There is a need to constitute a common body/committee which could oversee the curricular, administrative, evaluative, and other such matters at a closer level, so that colleges in a Province could share a larger sense of commonality among them.  Perhaps such colleges could unite as a Province-level common university).

Our institutions tend to be islands of excellence but shy away from networking, a reluctance leading to sinful waste of energy and human resource.

Center of Excellence and Institutions need to share their experiences, expertise, information and skills. [SA]

Responses to the Second Question:  Practices of collaboration by region without edit.  Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Latin America, Europe, and United States.

AFRICA

Ecole de sciences morales politiques d’Afrique de l’Ouest  (ESMPAO): The School has just begun; it does not have significant relations yet with other Jesuit university institutions.  It aims, nevertheless, at developing such relationships at first with the « Faculté de sciences sociales et gestion » of the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaounde (Cameroon).

CERAP, which is the managing institution for ESMPAO, handles other apostolates of social action and an editing house with whom ESMPAO have enriching relationships.

Faculté de philosophie St Pierre Canisius, Kimwenza: The School is affiliated with the Gregorian University in Rome, and it is a process of aggregation by the same University.  It has an exchange program with Arrupe College in Harare (Zimbabwe) for professors and students.  It has close relations and shares many facilities with ISAV, which is hosted in its buildings.
The members of its community handle several apostolates such as retreat preaching and parish managing.

ISAV (Institut Supérieur Agro-Vétérinaire), Kimwenza: The school has close relations and shares many facilities with the Faculté de Philosophie, which hosts it in its buildings.
Other apostolates have various collaborations with the two Jesuits committed to ISAV: That is the case with CEPAS (Centre d’action sociale), with retreat preaching and the following-up of candidates preparing themselves to join the Society.

EAST ASIA: AJCU-EAO

Networking and working both among ourselves and beyond (intra and extra) to leverage with international Jesuit connections.

Exploring possible practical entry points and opportunities at the ground level like concrete initiatives of individual schools (e.g.) Japanese programs, Chinese programs, leadership training programs, student exchange programs, online courses.

Building linkages and working toward building Asian Identity and the identity of the Society in Asia.

Assistance in the training of younger generations of Jesuit professors in order to bridge the gap between the young and old generations of Jesuits.

Training of agents of transformation at the Asian level toward the formation of Asian identity like the experience of EAPI and SEARSOLIN and collaboration on specific technology and development projects.

Focusing on leadership formation, particularly investing in those who will be carriers of values.
Sharing of human resources among different Jesuit centers and institutions.

Maximizing the benefits of information and communication technology in our collaborative efforts.

The continuation of regular conversation among ourselves.

A proposed rationale by the AJCU-EAO membership for a Common Project among Jesuit higher educational institutions and other Jesuit apostolates.

• Appropriate the Jesuit mission of the overall society and effectively communicate this mission to a broad audience without the Jesuit jargon.
• Pursue the “four-in-one” mission (Faith, Justice, Interreligious Dialogue, Culture) together.
• Acknowledge the cultural, academic, financial, and legal differences that can make collaboration difficult.
• Build structures of collaboration by building structures of conversation that deal with different concerns.

SOUTH ASIA

At the national level:  In the reports submitted, general dissatisfaction was expressed with the levels of collaboration.  Because of the JEA network, some Principals have been able to elicit guidance and support in areas where they were uncertain about things.  A couple of colleges have had a few programs in which a few Professors and students have been involved at the exchange level.  A few years ago the Principals in the JEA unanimously agreed to help one of the financially weaker rural colleges to set up their library.

In the last annual meeting held at Ahmedabad, the group was challenged to work together.  They set up two collaborative programs – one for the staff of our 27 Grant-in-aid Colleges, and one for the students of our 27 Grant-in-aid Colleges.  The workshop for the staff is being hosted by Loyola College, Chennai, and will take place from 7th – 9th Dec. ’07, and the one for the students will be from 14th – 16th Dec. ’07 and will be coordinated by the AICUF.

Also, the JEA website is being upgraded to include a chat room to facilitate the exchange of ideas among the Principals of the Jesuit colleges.

At the international level:  At the international level our colleges have connections to universities abroad for some minor exchange programs but nothing significant is going on currently to satisfy us.

Four years ago the group of Principals decided in very clear terms that foreign universities would not be allowed to set up office on our campus.  They further decided that our Jesuit universities, however, would be most welcome and would be given preferential treatment.  A few Jesuit Universities, e.g. St. Joseph’s, Philadelphia, and Marquette, Wisconsin, have some things going, but put together, it hardly amounts to even minimal international inter-collegiate inter-university collaboration.  We know its importance, we feel its importance, but even from the Society we do not see any initiatives worth its importance.

Collaboration across Apostolate lines:  A few of our colleges have mixed communities where social action and pastoral apostolates are also taking place.  Almost all our Institutions are involved in service learning, which involves, indirectly, the social action apostolate.  The Campus Ministries involve the pastoral apostolate.

After the last Procurators congregation, the Principals of our Institutions considered the possibility of reinforcing the Social Action Apostolate by Research tie-ups with our educational institutions.  While good intentions prevailed, only a couple of them have reported that they have actually initiated any specific programs.  The point has been retained on the ongoing agenda of the JEA meetings, to keep up the pressure on the Principals to go into action in this area.

LATIN AMERICA: AUSJAL

The comments associated with this question were varied: they showed the diversity of perceptions and approaches on the collaborative practices with other apostolic works of the Society.  The relationship between the members of AUSJAL is reflected better in the reports from the administration of the network than through the offered responses in which neither a clear nor a systematic vision of the relations between higher education, other levels of education and other apostolic dimensions of the Jesuit mission occurs.  This commentary does not mean that a complex collaboration between the institutions and the other apostolic work does not exist.  On the contrary, the collaboration exists in diverse ways that allow hope that a programmed direction and actions, in this sense, can obtain the gradual creation of a network of apostolic intracollaborative ties, beginning with the continuous academic focus.

It is possible to emphasize, also, an important growth in the conscience of the directors of the Jesuit universities to establish synergetic relationships among them and the set of the apostolic university mission of the Society.

EUROPE

Make the Bologna process a success:  cf. attached minutes/excerpts

USA:  AJCU

The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) is a network of collaborative relationships of 28 institutions (plus three associate members: the two U.S. theological centers and Campion College in Canada), operating through 35+ conferences (AVPs, Deans, CFOs, etc.), within which much of the collaborative activity occurs.  (For a listing of the conferences, see http://www.ajcunet.edu/tier.aspx?sid=5.)

Collaboration begins with the Presidents, who meet regularly, support the AJCU and its activities, and encourage and support the participation of administrators, faculty, and students in the various AJCU conferences and programs.

A very tangible example of collaboration was the immediate and generous response of the 27 other institutions to Loyola University New Orleans after the recent Katrina disaster.  About 1400 Loyola students were quickly absorbed by other AJCU colleges and universities for the fall semester, and then returned to Loyola for the spring semester.  The other 27 schools waived tuition.  Students and parents involved in this collaborative experience offered eloquent testimony of a Jesuit network being what it professes to be.

The various AJCU conferences engage in a range of collaborative activities:  e.g., librarians have developed a system whereby any faculty member from one AJCU schools has library privileges in all other 27.  IT managers and CFOs regularly conduct benchmark surveys to assist one another in cost-cutting measures.

Both conferences and a number of interest groups (e.g., study abroad coordinators or institutional researchers) regularly use the 45 listservs maintained by the AJCU to share questions, answers and ideas.

JesuitNET, a network of online courses and programs, with 27 of the 28 AJCU schools participating is probably the most elaborate form of collaboration.  It has led to other collaborative efforts, e.g., by educational technology and information technology managers, librarians, and registrars.

Various regional groups of institutions (Heartland Delta, Western and East Coast conversations, etc.) gather periodically in meetings that include provincials, presidents, rectors, administrators, and faculty.

As noted above there is extensive international collaboration, especially with AUSJAL schools, but also with AJCU-EAO, and with other Jesuit and non-Jesuit schools in at least 76 countries (see report on internationalization of AJCU schools).