The research projects launched in 2023 through Uniservitate’s Small Funds are nearing completion. We still receive reports that significantly contribute to knowledge production on different aspects of solidarity service learning.
Uniservitate launched the first call for financial support in 2023-2024, distributing €70,000 among the 33 winning projects across the seven hubs of the programme. These research projects involved 28 universities from 18 countries worldwide.
Daniel Giorgetti, the initiative coordinator, and Ezequiel Caride emphasized the depth and quality of many works carried out with this modest financial support. They also highlighted the projects’ role in fostering collaboration and mutual enrichment between universities in different countries, the professionals involved and the Uniservitate Academic Sounding Board.
The research explored four key areas connected with solidarity service learning: the spiritual dimension, its contribution to the identity and mission of Catholic higher education institutions, the evidence of its contribution to the holistic education of undergraduates, and the processes of its institutionalization.
Four projects awarded by the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) hub shared their findings and experiences in two webinars on 11th and 18th July. In the first meeting, Joao Elton from the Universidade Católica de Pernambuco (Brazil) discussed solidarity service learning as a possibility of holistic education and to transform the students’ way of being in higher education. In turn, María de los Ángeles Wlasiuk from the Universidad Católica de La Plata (Argentina) presented her case study on planning and launching the Santa Clara Solidarity Service Learning Centre (CAYSS) at that university, entitled « De la extensión como servicio de transferencia al diálogo de saberes [From extension as a transfer service to the dialogue of knowledge] ». During the second webinar, Constanza Martínez from the Catholic University of Córdoba (Argentina) discussed a study on service-learning to predict student’s academic and social engagement in the Nutrition course at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Universidad Católica de Córdoba. In addition, Edgar Rojas from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Ecuador (Ecuador) discussed the project on family and community strategies to tackle child malnutrition and as a means for holistic learning in students of the Nutrition and Dietetics course.
The research findings will soon be on the Uniservitate repository. It will be a new step towards achieving one of this global network’s objectives: advancing knowledge regarding solidarity service learning and its potential to transform Catholic higher education institutions.
Webinars organized by the LAC hub for the presentation of research advances