Musings from the VI Uniservitate Global Symposium
By Ms. Shela Mae D. Jaso, Arrupe Office of Social Formation
I had the grateful opportunity to represent our university at the VI Uniservitate Global Symposium held on 5–7 November 2025 at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany. It was a deeply enriching and mission-affirming experience that brought together rectors, professors, researchers, students, and leaders in solidarity service-learning (SSL) from the Uniservitate Global Network. At least 97 participants—including speakers, reactors, and moderators—from 28 countries across Asia-Oceania, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas shared their inspiring experiences of the transformative praxis of service-learning within their universities, highlighting the strength of collaboration and the impact of student-led S-L initiatives.
Pre-Conference Activities
On November 4, delegates from the Asia and Oceania Hub were treated to an inspiring glimpse of the service-learning initiatives at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, particularly those led by Education and Music majors. Education students, enrolled in a course on teaching strategies for second-language learning, reached out to refugees from Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan by offering tutorials for children and organizing Deutschcafé sessions for adult learners. Meanwhile, Music majors created “community music” spaces where people of all ages—refugees, foreigners, and Germans alike—could learn instruments, explore body percussion, and sing together. As a heartwarming bonus, a group of children and young people, mostly Ukrainian refugees, performed songs in both Ukrainian and German.
On 5 November, representatives from the Uniservitate Asia-Oceania Hub gathered to report on the progress of S-L institutionalization in each member university (based on an assessment tool submitted prior to the conference). The group also explored possible creative S-L social innovations moving forward.
Photos by Uniservitate Asia-Oceania Hub member-universities with team Uniservitate-CLAYSS and Fr. Ezio Lorenzo Bono, CSF. Global Compact on Education. Dicastery for Culture and Education
Catholic Universities “drawing maps of hope” through S-L
In the days that followed, the conversations and exchanges revealed how strongly service-learning emerges as a way through which universities nurture peace and hope in a world wounded by conflict, inequality, and social and ecological injustice.
The plenary and parallel sessions created space for universities and institutions to share how their contexts shape their Service-Learning initiatives.
Particularly poignant and moving were the stories shared by the faculty and students from the University of Bethlehem and the University of Ukraine, who witnessed the power of service-learning amid ongoing conflict.
For the University of Ukraine, even as the war continues, they have chosen to move forward—beginning the long work of rebuilding, healing, and restoring hope within their communities. Dr. Taras Dobko, the rector, shared that 86% of their S-L students are engaged in volunteer service. He reflected, “When everything around us is uncertain, values and principles become solid ground to stand on, helping people to focus not only on survival but also on the victory of good, establishing dignity, showing solidarity, and caring for the common good. That is why participating in service-learning before the full-scale invasion was a crucial decision for our university; it prepared our community to endure the turbulence of war.”
The stories shared affirmed that service-learning is a key component in how Catholic institutions respond to today’s urgent societal and ecological needs.
Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Letter Drawing Maps of Hope, celebrated Service-Learning as a hopeful space where the mind and heart walk together, calling it “one of the most promising ways to combine knowledge and solidarity, intellect and compassion.” Pope Leo XIV echoes this by emphasizing that education and service form an indivisible pair: “S-L is the pedagogy of reciprocity, where one learns by serving and serves by learning.”
Photo by Parallel Session on Education and Promotion of Peace and Citizenship Service-Learning as a Pathway to Active Citizenship and Conflict Transformation Facilitator: Candelaria Ferrara. Uniservitate regional hub coordinator – CLAYSS. Reactor: Fr. Ezio Lorenzo Bono, CSF. Global Compact on Education. Dicastery for Culture and Education. Sophia Opatska and Khrystyna Rutar– Ukrainian Catholic University. Ukraine Dr. Maximiliane Schumm, Laura Kovac and Dr. Petra Hiebl – Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany. Rev. Dr. Mark Owusu – Catholic University of Ghana. Eduardo F. Gutiérrez González, SJ – Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, Facultad de Teología Asst. Prof. Froilan A. Alipao Simbahayan – University of Santo Tomas, Philippines.
Meeting of University Rectors
On November 6, we participated in a hybrid meeting of university rectors, which deepened our connections within the Uniservitate network. What stood out powerfully was our shared commitment to advancing the S-L pedagogy—indeed, a way of proceeding—rooted in “social love,” solidarity, and integral human and ecological development.
I shared how our university, through Fortiores 2030, promotes Service-Learning as a core formation component, especially in forming our students as “persons for and with others” – discerning leaders and citizens distinguished by their character, professional competence, compassion, conscience, courage, cultural rootedness, and commitment to community and the common good. S-L becomes integral—not simply an add-on but a way of proceeding grounded in the Ignatian pedagogical paradigm. Through discernment, accompaniment, dialogue, and journeying with partner communities, we form students who not only learn about society but learn with and from it. In light of Commitment 2, we maximize Service-Learning’s integrative power, positioning it at the intersection of teaching, research, and community engagement.[i]
Listening to the sharing of others reminded me that while our contexts differ, we share one horizon: to accompany students in becoming compassionate, discerning, and engaged persons —and, in doing so, to help nurture a peaceful, hopeful, and sustainable planet.
Hybrid meeting of University Rectors and Vice Rectors on 6 November 2025
“To educate is always an act of hope.”
This year’s global symposium reaffirmed a truth I continue to rediscover. Despite the complexities of our time—named so vividly by Pope Leo XIV in his recent Apostolic Exhortation Drawing New Maps of Hope—he reminds us of the “lodestar” that is the Global Compact on Education: “Each star has its own brightness, but together they chart a course… Unity is our most prophetic strength.” Every university, institution, educator, student, and community partner shines in its own way, yet together we form a constellation that points toward the future of education.”
In his concluding message, Fr. Ezio Bono, representing the Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, echoed the Pope’s call to “restore to education its spiritual breath—as spaces of silence, conscience, and dialogue with God.”
Service-Learning is a “pedagogy of the deep.” It invites us to accompany young people in their search for meaning, to educate them for service, and to witness to wisdom that heals and to knowledge that becomes loving action. “To educate, then, is to pour out the oil of love that heals the wounds of those entrusted to our care.”
As universities and institutions, we are called to “draw new maps of hope” among the constellations of our sky. Educators and formators can become constellations of meaning—capable of illuminating the darkness of our time and guiding young people who often feel lost. And even when we cannot see the stars, we can be certain that they are always there.
I carry these insights with me as AOSF continues to carry out its commitment to Fortiores 2030 with renewed hope and imagination.
[i] Fr Antonio Basilio, SJ discusses this at length in his paper entitled, “Interweaving Research and Service-Learning: A Jesuit Framework for Integrative Higher Education” which he presented at the Service Learning Asia Network (SLAN) 10th Asia-Pacific Research Conference on Service-Learning last 8 October 2025, hosted by the Ateneo de Davao University.
All photos courtesy of Uniservitate-CLAYSS team.
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