Confident that they are already “transforming higher education from within” and committed to finding together the ways to deepen this change, more than 200 representatives of Catholic universities from 35 countries engaged in solidarity service-learning practices attended the V Global Symposium Uniservitate in Rome on the 7th and 8th November. An additional 300 people followed the event via streaming from around the world.
Organized by the Latin American Center for Service-Learning (CLAYSS) and LUMSA University, the event closed with a private audience with Pope Francis. The Holy Father praised the work of Uniservitate and the theme of the Symposium. “We cannot change the world if we do not change education; we need to think together how to bring this change to life and lead it,” he said.
Private audience with Pope Francis at Sala Clementina, Vatican
In addition to the team of Uniservitate, a Porticus programme coordinated by CLAYSS, 33 rectors, the discussions included presidents and authorities from Catholic universities, researchers, professors and students who carry out solidarity service-learning projects, alongside representatives of social organizations involved in these experiences as community partners.
Transformation from the Heart. In addition to the word “transformation” (or “change”), the other most repeated term during the two days was “heart”, in line with Pope Francis’ proposal to integrate it with the mind and the hands. “From the heart of the universities, we want to see how to further develop this pedagogical proposal (solidarity service-learning) to give a significant response” because “the world needs us,” said María Rosa Tapia, coordinator of Uniservitate.
María Rosa Tapia, coordinator of Uniservitate programme
At the V Symposium, “we focus on an inner aspect of service-learning, on its potential to transform the university from within,” said Richard Brosse, Director of Catholic Higher Education Programmes at Porticus, during the opening. He explained that, in a sense, a similar process was proposed to that of the Church with the Synod that has just ended, reinforcing the understanding that the nature of the Church is synodal. “Similarly, we hope that this Symposium will help to understand the nature of universities, at least Catholic universities, so that they are service-driven and service-oriented,” he said. Brosse also encouraged the audience to reflect on a remark made by the Pope during his recent visit to the Catholic University of Louvain when he said that “a university degree indicates a capacity for serving the common good.”
Richard Brosse, Director of Catholic Higher Education Programmes at Porticus
On this matter, Mons. Davide Milani of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Culture and Education affirmed that education is only fully achieved if it is jointly between school, family, civil society, the Christian community, business, the world of work, sports and cultural institutions. “From the first Gospel image, that of the fishermen’s net, a paradigm and cornerstone of the characteristic nature of the church, we understand that to be faithful to ourselves and the truth of our mission, we need to work together to serve the common good.”
Earlier, the rector of LUMSA University, Francesco Bonini, had thanked the institutions belonging to the Uniservitate global network because, he said, we truly need to make a community in our universities and throughout the world; alone we are poorer and we are even more alone, instead, we need to grow together.
Francesco Bonini, rector of LUMSA University
Polyhedron in movement. During the plenary and simultaneous sessions, it was possible to see the value of the joint work that Uniservitate has been developing for the last five years. Divided into seven regional hubs and guided by an Academic Sounding Board consisting of service-learning specialists from different countries and institutions, this Programme has alliances with international associations and entities such as the Global Compact on Education, Scholas Ocurrentes and the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU). During the Symposium, the membership of the Organization of Catholic Universities in Latin America and the Caribbean (ODUCAL) and a collaboration agreement with the International Association of La Salle Universities (IALU) were formalized to promote solidarity service-learning in the associated universities.
Plenary and simultaneous sessions during the V Global Symposium Uniservitate
The academic work, which took place in an unusual atmosphere of fraternity for this type of event, began with a presentation by María Nieves Tapia, founder and director of CLAYSS, who presented service-learning and its institutionalization process. “Service-learning is not just practical work by students. It’s not just offering a service to the community. It involves transforming the way we teach. So we seek to transform the university from within, from the way we teach and research,” she said.
María Nieves Tapia, founder and director of CLAYSS
This institutionalization process was then analyzed in detail through the presentation of case studies, with students and professors sharing their achievements and challenges. The spiritual dimension of SL experiences inside and outside the classroom was also addressed. In addition, participants could talk with students who led the winning experiences of the Uniservitate Award 2024 during presentations organized according to the SDGs and the following pillars of the Global Compact on Education: poverty, health, education, common home and fraternity. All of them shared valuable experiences. For example, in the group on Fraternity, a professor from Thomas More College in Australia explained how, thanks to the conviction and strength of a student, he was able to support a petition to stop the demolition of four buildings with about ten thousand residents. Similarly, a student from Tangaza University shared her satisfaction with the results of the workshops on psychological guidance for prison officers in two large prisons in the African country; the students identified with the experiences of the officers, and this, in turn, led the officers to empathize with the prisoners’ problems, thus significantly improving the bonds between people.
The busy schedule was coordinated and organized between Buenos Aires and Rome by a tireless team including representatives of LUMSA, Maria Cinque, Carina Rossa and Irene Culcasi, among others, from Italy, and Uniservitate-CLAYSS, from Argentina. They arranged everything from the guests’ transfers to accommodation and transport in Rome between the three LUMSA venues where the event took place.
Maria Cinque, Academic Sounding Board Uniservitate – Prof. LUMSA
The day before the Symposium, the Uniservitate team shared a day at the Roman campus of the Australian Catholic University, which included a meeting with the students and educators who won the Uniservitate Award 2024 and another one with researchers. The Uniservitate Academic Sounding Board members researching different service-learning dimensions talked with colleagues from several regions receiving this year’s Small Research Funds as an incentive for their projects in motion.
Discussion between rectors. In the context of the Symposium, there was a meeting of university rectors and authorities participating in Uniservitate. The meeting took place at the offices of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, where the Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, delivered a lecture to the visitors emphasizing, among other concepts, the importance of networking. ‘In addition to the fundamental theoretical reflection, it is also important the action that encourages us to open up to others and work in a network. The Uniservitate network is an example of an educational alliance, concerned with the richness of each people’s cultural diversity,’ he said.
Character education. This Symposium also included an interesting academic novelty. In partnership with the Templeton Foundation and Porticus, for the first time, a workshop was held on ‘Character Education, Virtuous Leadership and Service-Learning,’ areas of interest which, while sharing many themes, have developed as separate research fields.
Let the wheat grow. In the closure, the topic of the Symposium resounded once again. Italo Fiorin, founder and president of LUMSA’s Scuola di Alta Formazione, said that in these times, when there are multiple crises, a growth of selfishness and the disappearance of traditional solidarity, “the invitation is to look with the heart” (…) because “the university has the task of introducing young people to the world’s reality not only by taking care of their specialized skills but even before that, with the education of the heart.” He added: “In this light, service-learning is an extraordinary, necessary, revolutionary educational proposal.”
Italo Fiorin, founder and president of LUMSA’s Scuola di Alta Formazione
After the formal conclusions, the Symposium closed with a quintessential gesture of thanksgiving: The Eucharist. Mons. Paul Tighe, Secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education presided over the Mass at the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica. Several priests participating in the Symposium from different continents and cultures joyfully concelebrated.
Nieves Tapia alluded to the Gospel parable of the Wheat and the Tares to thank those who participated in the Symposium. “In this meeting, I felt I was with people busy growing wheat and, despite the bad news, do not waste their time with the tares. I thank each of you enormously for caring for the growing wheat (…) Each of you, in your communities, is fighting against the lions of poverty, injustice, selfishness and the culture of every man for himself, to contribute to shaping people who will continue to help us change the world. Thank you for these days of fraternity. We know a fraternal world is possible because we are experiencing it ourselves.”
Carina Rossa, Irene Culcasi and LUMSA Volunteers at the audience with the Pope Francis
