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The Mission of AJCU

The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) is a national voluntary service organization whose mission is to serve its member institutions: the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. Though each institution is separately chartered by the state and is legally autonomous under its own board of trustees, the 28 schools are bonded together by a common heritage, vision and purpose, and engage in a number of collaborative projects.

For almost 500 years, Jesuit education has made its mark on the world.
 
In the United States, the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities are located in 19 states across the country. Their shared goal is to provide an excellent education to develop competent, compassionate and committed leaders in the service of the Church and society.

Committed to our Mission

Since the time they launched their first school in 1548, the Jesuits have believed that a high quality education is the best path to meaningful lives of leadership and service.  They have understood that the liberal arts, the natural and social sciences, and the performing arts, joined with solid philosophy and theology, indeed all the branches of knowledge, were a powerful means to develop leaders with the potential for influencing and transforming society.  Committed from the very beginning to educating the whole person, the Jesuits adapted the best educational models available while developing their own pedagogical methods to become the “schoolmasters of Europe.”

The best of that tradition finds contemporary expression in innovative and quality teaching, learning and research, and a focus on educating for a more just global society. Jesuits and their lay partners welcome the contributions of other religious and ethical traditions that enrich and complement the Catholic intellectual tradition and social thought.
 
Engaging the Mind

Jesuit colleges and universities are places of intellectual integrity, critical inquiry, and mutual respect, where open dialogue characterizes an exciting environment of teaching, research and professional development. The Jesuit ideal of giving serious attention to the profound questions about the meaning of life encourages an openness of mind and heart, and seeks to establish campus communities which support the intellectual growth of all of its members while providing them with opportunities for spiritual growth and development. 

It is no surprise that Jesuit graduates have included Descartes, Moliere, and Gerard Manley Hopkins in the past, and that today an increasing number of women and men are winning Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Truman and Sloan scholarships and fellowships.  Distinguished faculty members win national teaching and research awards, and MacArthur fellowships. The colleges and universities themselves enjoy not only high rankings, but more importantly, the esteem and respect of their peers.

Educating for a Global Society
 
Each of the 28 Jesuit institutions is committed to educating for global competence and concern through the curriculum, immersion experiences, study abroad programs, overseas faculty projects, and volunteer and service opportunities for students.

As part of an ever-expanding base of international programs in 96 countries, Jesuit institutions sponsor study abroad and faculty exchange programs on five continents. They offer a highly successful International MBA and an innovative undergraduate immersion program in Beijing, China.  Students participate in a vast array of foreign study programs around the world, and immersion experiences in El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Kenya and elsewhere.  An increasing number of trustees, administrators, and faculty join in these immersion experiences as an important step in internationalizing our campuses.

AJCU institutions enjoy a special relationship with their 29 sister institutions in Latin America in promoting a variety of collaborative ventures, including institution-institution exchanges, shared research projects, and the exchange of online courses through the Jesuit Distance Education Network (JesuitNET).
 
Ethical Concern and Commitment to Justice

Jesuit education seeks to integrate academic excellence with social responsibility.  Fundamental to that responsibility is a consistent concern for the ethical implications of every field of endeavor, so that contemporary issues of social ethics, business ethics, and bioethics become increasingly important in the curriculum. Graduates of Jesuit schools are expected to integrate critical intelligence with an ethical perspective that today leads to generous service of others and a commitment to help build a more just and humane world.

Jesuit education has consistently sought to educate "the whole person" intellectually and professionally, psychologically, morally and spiritually. Living in a “global village” of great possibilities and deep contradictions, today’s whole person must be in solidarity with women and men around the world, with their needs, concerns and potential.

The idea of “helping others” was the original goal of Ignatius and the early Jesuits and was soon built into the Jesuit philosophy of education.  The early Jesuits experienced how profound a conversion occurred when one personally encounters pain and suffering, and economic and social marginalization.  Serving those on the edges of society was an early Jesuit priority, and today it takes the form of a commitment to educate for justice. 

A commitment to justice moves beyond service based on charity to a concern for changing the structures that lead to injustice. In addition to offering courses in various disciplines that explore the causes of injustice and possible strategies for restoring justice, Jesuit colleges and universities provide opportunities for students and faculty to spend time with and learn from individuals from different cultures and economic and social strata.  By addressing the issue of poverty both in themselves and in others, students and faculty better understand and work for genuine human dignity.
 
Educating Responsible Citizens

The commitment to academics, ethics and a faith that does justice at Jesuit colleges and universities produces competent leaders of conscience and character.  In fact, many Jesuit institutions have been recognized by the John Templeton Foundation as “Colleges that Encourage Character Development.

Jesuit college and university graduates are making a difference, in medicine, law, public service, advocacy, education, social work, technology, finance, business and the arts.

The nearly 1.8 million living alumni of U.S. Jesuit colleges and universities are impressive examples of the “men and women for others” that Jesuit institutions profess to educate. They are the best proof that a Jesuit education works.