Arrupe Office of Social Formation Director Ms. Shela Mae D. Jaso and Service-Learning Academic Partner Dr. Doris B. Montecastro of the Environmental Science Department attended the Universitate Asia and Oceania Regional Meeting at Fu Jen Catholic University (FJCU) in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on 23-26 September 2024.
The Ateneo de Davao University recently joined Universitate, a global network of Catholic Higher Education Institutions which promotes service learning “as a tool to achieve its mission of offering an integral education to the new generations and involving them in an active commitment to the challenges of our time.”
The participants visited two sites of service learning programs of FJCU – a homeless shelter and a converted old factory that now houses the designs made by students for the renovation and revival of New Taipei City which they submitted to the city government. The service learning programs gave participants ideas on interdisciplinary service learning projects and how they are successfully implemented by FJCU with financial assistance from their city government.
The next two days were lectures and testimonies on institutionalization of service learning in the member institutions, where Ms. Jaso shared how service-learning is conducted at ADDU. Notable lectures during those two days were by Dr. Andrew Furco of the University of Minnesota, who talked about “Assessing Catholic Higher Education’s Impact for System Change through Service-Learning,” Dr. Stephen Chan of Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s presentation of their preliminary findings on “Setting Global Research Agenda for Service-Learning and Community Engagement,” and the talk of Dr. Carol Ma of SR Nathan School of Human Development on “Opportunities, Challenges, and Future of Service-Learning in Asia.”
Awarding of winners of the Solidarity Service-Learning Awards 2024 in Asia and Oceania was done on the last day, where De La Salle University and Australian Catholic University were the winners and Ateneo de Manila University and University of San Agustin were honorable mentions.
Article and Photos by Dr. Doris B. Montecastro and the Arrupe Office of Social Formation
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