Higher education commission members deliberate on issues in higher education

On : 2022-09-20

Members of Province Higher Education Commission (PCHE) met for a day-long deliberation on September 19. Provincial Fr Dionysius Vaz SJ addressed them in the morning.

In his address, Fr Vaz called upon the Jesuits involved in higher education to make higher education to be a ‘social force’. “The core values that need to be interwoven in all your activities are collaboration, depth and discernment. Besides this, the priority issues that are expected to be dealt with are: bringing higher education to the marginalized and disadvantaged; promotion of programmes for the formation of civic and political leaders; promote awareness for ecological and environmental justice; formation for lay and Jesuit leadership; inter-faith dialogue; and peace and reconciliation,” he said.

Quoting El Salvador Jesuit Ignacio Ellacuria, Fr Vaz said that Jesuit higher education should be a ‘social project’. “Dedicated to a transformative education for our students that prepares them for leadership and service, and committed as institutions to being “instruments to contribute to the humanization of the world,” Jesuit institutions can serve as a social project,” he quoted.

He exhorted the Jesuits in higher education to make sure that those passing out of Jesuit institutions be technically proficient, ethically grounded, and able to take a global perspective on issues of importance. “Jesuit graduates would be widely perceived as being different, as offering more,” Fr Vaz said.

Dr Anil Pinto, Registrar of Christ University, Bangalore, spoke on the topic ‘The changing landscape of higher education: Issues and challenges for higher education institutions, disruptive innovations and the future of higher education’. He said that while there was an emphasis on online education world over, experience showed that just about 8-12 per cent were actually clearing the online courses. “There is no substitute to bread and butter physical classroom, and hence a teacher can never be replaced by an online platform,” he said. Dr Pinto also said that it was an effective leader who can change the destiny of education. “Teachers may help you gain knowledge and grow intellectually, it is a leader who can shape what and how you learn and what you become,” he added.

Fr Joseph Lobo SJ spoke on ‘Jesuit principles/characteristics of quality education in today’s context of India-Karnataka: A critical view’. He called upon Jesuits in higher education to have a clarity and agreement on what are non-negotiables of Jesuit education. “Human formation was the fundamental and core principle of all learning according to St Ignatius. Hence, we cannot deviate from this principle when we design our frameworks for higher education,” he said.

Directors of work from various institutions presented the challenges they faced and their perspective plans for the future.