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Jesuit Higher Education and International Collaboration

Last month, Rev. Charles Currie, S.J., president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), was among 60 adult and distance learning administrators, from over 30 Jesuit colleges and universities in the Western Hemisphere that attended the "Jesuit Presence in Latin America: Commitment and Collaboration" conference at the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua, Nicaragua. The meeting brought together representatives from AJCU and AUSJAL (the Association representing the 29 Latin American Jesuit universities).

"Globalization is a defining phenomenon of our time and offers a very special opportunity for AUSJAL and AJCU institutions to share experiences, capacities, resources and linkages in order to humanize an unavoidable reality," said Currie in his opening remarks at the conference. "Our universities ought to respond to this phenomenon using various strategies to develop international programs and the outreach of our colleges and universities so as to educate our students for "solidarity with the real world."

Consisting of AJCU Deans of Adult and Continuing Education (DACE), Jesuit Distance Education Network (JesuitNET) representatives, AJCU directors of international education, and AUSJAL administrators, the meeting presented an opportunity to discuss the joint development and delivery of a course for both AJCU and AUSJAL students that addresses the issue of poverty.

The basis for the AJCU-AUSJAL undergraduate poverty curriculum project will be an online, undergraduate course called Continental Poverty that was developed by ten AUSJAL institutions two years ago. Each participating institution created a country-specific case study in poverty, and students in the course analyze two country cases in detail - their own and one other. Students compare the different situations and causes of poverty in Latin America and learn how to measure and study contributing factors.

The online AJCU-AUSJAL poverty course will be available in both English and Spanish. According to Dr. Richard Vigilante, executive director of AJCU's Jesuit Distance Education Network (JesuitNET), a small group of AJCU-AUSJAL faculty members will be selected to identify the specific curriculum scope and sequence, and how best to address the language issue for multinational discussions, readings and assignments. Faculty members would then design and develop the poverty course that would first be offered in 2007.

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