CLAYSS continues its mission to support the strengthening of service-learning at the institutional level in universities around the world. It recently took significant steps in its collaboration with the Pontificia Universidade Católica do Paraná (Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR) in Curitiba, Brazil, an institution that chose service learning as its main strategy to comply with the country’s regulations requiring university outreach in all undergraduate and graduate programs.
The partnership between CLAYSS and PUCPR has been consolidated since 2022, when Rodrigo de Andrade, director of University Extension and Service-Learning at PUCPR, participated as a representative of the Global Compact on Education at the Uniservitate Global Symposium. Since then, both institutions have worked together to facilitate exchanges, webinars, and workshops, and have collaborated on the translation and production of materials. Since 2024, PUCPR has also been one of the universities supported by the Uniservitate program for the Latin America and Caribbean region.
In this context, the PUCPR launched an ambitious training programme on 31st July at a training session attended by Candelaria Ferrara, regional coordinator of the hubs at Uniservitate-CLAYSS. On that day, the first module of the programme was developed: ‘Fundamentals of Service-Learning.’ During the morning, more than 80 people participated in a virtual space where a service-learning project developed by Marcos Jose Zablonsky, professor of Social Communication, was presented. In the afternoon, in a hybrid meeting attended by the Pro-Rector for Mission, Identity and Outreach, Fabiano Incerti, and 20 outreach teachers, different possibilities for incorporating these practices into the institution were discussed.
The training programme will offer other modules featuring different experts and will culminate in an intensive seminar on 6 November with Luz Avruj, head of Institutional Relations and Networks at CLAYSS.
At CLAYSS, we celebrate this progress made by PUCPR, a university with a long history of social commitment through initiatives such as its “Community Project“, which has been running for more than 20 years. This new training programme will empower teachers to continue guiding students in connecting theory with practice, thereby strengthening their education and their contribution to society.
We congratulate the University Extension and Service-Learning Department at PUCPR and thank the team for their great work: Rodrigo de Andrade, Juliana Teodoro, Rafaela Bagolin Bez, and Brenda Gross da Silva.
