ODUCAL, the Organization of Catholic Universities of Latin America, invited 120 institutions to explore join the memberships of the Uniservitate Programme coordinated by CLAYSS
Rodolfo Gallo Cornejo, ODUCAL president and rector of the Universidad Católica de Salta (Argentina), presented Uniservitate in an online meeting: « We see Uniservitate as a well-established programme, which works on an aspect that we think is very important in the present and future of the education of our students, which is service learning ».
During her presentation, the director of CLAYSS, Nieves Tapia, provided concepts and examples of service-learning, while the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile team, presenting the Latin American Uniservitate hub, shared two decades of experience in this pedagogical methodology and its institutionalization process. In addition, Paula Basílico, head of the Uniservitate Membership programme, outlined the specifics of this new approach designed to expand the service-learning global network in Catholic universities.
Gallo Cornejo also highlighted that « there is nothing closer to the mission of a Catholic university than to have a fixed space within its curriculum and training process that allows students to engaged with real-world challenges and change lives « through their professional contribution to fair causes or in critical social conditions ».
In turn, Mario Ochoa, ODUCAL General Secretary, expressed the organization’s enthusiasm and engagement in service-learning by including it as a key objective in the 2025-2029 institutional plan.
