María Rosa Tapia, Coordinator of the Uniservitate network, together with participants of the meeting held at USAT.
The university in Chiclayo, Peru, where Cardinal Robert Prevost was Grand Chancellor, prioritized the solidarity service-learning approach during a week dedicated to University Social Responsibility (USR). CLAYSS was invited to participate in the event, hosted by the Universidad Católica Toribio de Mogrovejo (USAT), from 23rd to 27th June in “the city of Pope Leo XIV” —as numerous billboards on the streets welcomed visitors after the election of the new Pontiff. Within this framework, María Rosa Tapia, coordinator of the Uniservitate programme, delivered two lectures, led a workshop and held a meeting with more than fifty community partners.
The USAT University Social Responsibility Week, “Construyendo saberes desde nuestro entorno [Building knowledge from our environment],” offered activities for different members of the educational community and organized a fair where students presented their USR projects.
“Peace be with you all,” said María Rosa Tapia at the beginning of her presentation, in clear reference to the first words of Pope Leo XIV, who addressed an affectionate greeting to the diocese of Chiclayo, where he was bishop until a few years ago. Open to the entire educational community, Tapia’s lecture described how the Catholic university can fulfil its mission through solidarity service-learning, inspired above all by the words of Pope Francis and as part of the Global Compact on Education.
Afterwards, she led a workshop on solidarity service-learning institutionalization, attended by over 30 people from USAT management, including the rector, Patricia Julia Campos Olazábal, and the USR director at that university, Ricardo Chávarry Castillo. The workshop analyzed the “bibingka” approach used by De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines—available in one publication of the Uniservitate collection—and also tackled the self-assessment of the service-learning institutionalization. “USAT is already working very hard on USR at the institutional level. I am confident that the workshop can contribute to the service-learning institutionalization process, which is already underway, regardless of the terms used to describe it,” said Tapia later.
Patricia Julia Campos Olazábal, Rector of USAT, receives the publication CLAYSS-UNESCO (2024)
from María Rosa Tapia, Coordinator of the Uniservitate network.
At another point, she held a very significant meeting on the role of community partners as training facilitators. More than 50 people, including Salvation Army members and small business owners, expressed their gratitude for USAT’s commitment to addressing various personal and collective problems through their initiatives.
Tapia also led the session “Construyendo universidad con sentido: RSU desde el quehacer administrativo [Building a meaningful university: USR from an administrative lens],” praising the commitment of those who do not have a teaching role but are equally committed to building a fraternal community that places the heart at the centre of the university. She shared the inspiring example of Blessed Francisco Gárate, a Jesuit religious who was a doorman for 41 years at the University of Deusto and had a kind word, a gesture, a smile, or a charitable solution for everyone; he was always open, welcoming, and benevolent. The lecture gave way to service-learning projects that the administration could carry out in areas such as tutoring to provide psychological support to students or organizing libraries for community children.
A result of CLAYSS’s visit to USAT was a bridge built between that higher education institution and the Universidad del Salvador (USAL) in Buenos Aires, regarding a service-learning experience including Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV. Upon learning that USAT was designing a regional tour of places visited by Cardinal Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, María Rosa Tapia facilitated an online meeting with the vice-rector of USAL, Romina Cavalli, since this Argentinian university is already offering a ‘Pope Francis tour’ in the city of Buenos Aires. USAL is a Uniservitate member, and this experience will be one of the highlights of the programme’s global meeting next August in Buenos Aires, with USAL tourism and translation-training course students guiding the delegations participating in the Bergoglian tour. Tapia highlighted that these two institutions shared experiences, reflections, and discussions, as both were blessed to have in their classrooms those who later became Pope and, for that reason, today also feel themselves custodians of their legacy.
