IUS Asia Annual Conference
A Brief Report of the Meeting held at Don Bosco, Goa
5-6 November 2013
A two-day meeting of the Don Bosco Institutions of Higher Education in Asia was held at Don Bosco, Goa on 5-6 November, 2013 with the objective of strengthening networking and collaboration among the individuals and institutions of higher learning in Asia.
The conference had a formal note at the start of the first day with a brief inaugural session at 9.00 a.m. The assembly was welcomed by Fr. Ian Figueiredo, the Provincial of Panjim, who expressed his joy of hosting the conference and gave a short history about the people of Goa and the Province of Panjim.
Bro. Mario Olmos, General CoCouncillorCoordinator, IUS,shared a reflection on Salesian involvement in Higher Education – a global perspective. He highlightedthe need of networking and strengthening collaboration. Speaking about the document of Policies for the Salesian presence in Higher education for the period 2012 – 2017, he pointed out the two major challenges that are underlined in the document: to assure the quality of the formation the institutions offer to the students and the impact of work in the communities and societies where they are located. He called on the members to identify new lines of work that respond to the needs of the young people and of the societies.
Fr. Stephen Mavely, the Vice Chancellor of Assam Don Bosco University and Chief Coordinator of the Conference,spoke about the objective of the conference and stressed on the need to focus on higher educationas a means to be present among those who will impact the society. He threw light on the current scenario of India’s education system and the importance of adopting the method of liberal education that provides opportunity for choice based curriculum to students. He also underlinedthe need of becoming active players in the society by providing education such as Psychology, Counselling, Social Work, etc.
The first session which followed immediately after the inauguration, chaired by Fr. Stephen Mavely gave a forum for the Coordinators of the Provinces’ higher education to make presentations on the current scenario and their vision for the future. Accordingly the following members made the presentations.
- Fr. Mario Vaz-Mumbai
- Fr. George Thadathil- Kolkata
- Fr. Joseph Cherian- Dimapur
- Fr. P.D. Johny- Guwahati
- Fr. Joby Joseph- Silchar
- Fr. Vatti Balashowry Reddy- Hyderabad
- Fr. Koyickal Jose- Karnataka
- Fr.Maria Soosai Adaikalasamy- Chennai
- Dr. (Mrs) Marie Raj- Panjim
- Fr. Thomas Louis- Thrichy
The second session was allotted to make a review of the decisions arrived at the Kolkata Conference in November, 2012. Fr. Thaddeus Singarayanpresented the minutes of the discussions and suggestions made during the meeting at Kolkata and guided the assembly to discuss on some key issues.
The third session of the day was by Prof Dr. Marian Pinheiro on ‘Current Scenario and Trends in Higher Education’. Prof Conrad Saldhana introduced the resource person and chaired the session. Prof Pinheiro touched upon some of the important points such as ‘the Indian higher education scenario’, ‘regulatory bodies’, ‘recent trends and issues’, ‘quality assurance systems’, ‘collaborations’ and ‘need for new thinking’. He motivated members to adapt innovative measures for designing curriculum, to use expertise of foreign facultyand to introduce independent certificate programmes, link programmes,students and faculty exchangeprogrammes etc.
The last session of the first day was kept apart to discuss on the ‘Organisational Structures of Don Bosco India – Higher Education Network’. The session was chaired by Fr. Maria Charles, Co-ordinator of Youth Pastoral, South Asia and Fr. Thaddeus Singarayan. The proposed statutes 2013 were presented and the members had a detailed study on its objectives, plans and policies.
The first session on the second day began with the plenary session by Fr. George Thadathil on ‘Networking possibilities and tie-ups between the Salesian institutions of Higher Education’. He opened up discussions for improving research and publications, sharing expertise for training programmes, faculty exchange and fellowship programmes.
At the second session of the day, Fr. Maria Charles, Co-ordinator of Youth Pastoral, South Asia,made a presentation on ‘The Vision Statement for Salesian Asia’ adopted at the Guwahati Meeting of SPCSA in March 2013. He emphasised its focus to intensify the processes of self-evaluation and re-structuring of the mission to become more active stakeholders in creating a just, progressive and egalitarian society. While concluding the presentation, he said that the Salesian Institutions can play a vital role in building the capacity for youth active citizenship, both through relevant training and learning opportunities and by enabling them to participate in social, political and policy making processes. He spoke about the need of developing mechanisms to generate apt collaboration among youth organizations, Government and other stakeholders. He also reminded the assembly about the need for social inclusion and quality education for the poor and helping the young to imbibe the Gospel values of freedom, justice and love. Fr. Adolph Furtado, Chairman of the session, guided the assembly to discuss on the possibilities of implementing the vision statement. The members came up with some practical suggestions such as:
- To makeand a database and share it
- To set up a counselling centre at the centre
- To launch listening centres to help the youth
- To get youngsters involved into community movements
- To network for research and publication
- To programme a Salesian campus culture that will focus on its identity and culture
- To encourage the practice of mentoring service
- To introduce activities anchoring to citizenship
The last session was a moment to discuss and finalise the proposed Organisational Structures of Don Bosco India – Higher Education Network. Fr. Stephen Mavely chaired the session along with Fr. Adolph Furtado, Fr. Thaddeus Singarayan, Fr. George Thadathil and Fr. Maria Charles. The assembly was guided to study the advantages and disadvantages of getting a registered body for IUS in India and to arrive on a decision. They were given the choices to think about having registered body, a loose body or to elect a fresh set of Executive Board Members.
After detailed discussions and deliberations, the members were asked to vote by showing of hands. 17 members opted for having a registered body, 10 members opted for not having a registered body and others expressed no opinion.
Having arrived at a decision of getting the body registered, the assembly was asked to suggest names of those who would form the executive body. The final decision arrived as Fr. Maria Soosai from Chennai Province accepted to be the main coordinator along with Fr. Joby Joseph from Silchar Province, Fr. Jose Koyickal from Karnataka Province and Fr. Thaddeus Singarayan from Chennai Province.
The new members were asked to take over the session and to lead discussions for implementing some of the plans made at the conference. Following are some of the decisions made to carry forward in the coming years:
- To conduct a national survey on youth
- To make a directory and a website (responsible : Fr Thaddeus)
- To organise seminar on social inclusion (10 members volunteered)
- To include lay people into the executive body
- To encourage getting qualified personnel
- To set up a Counselling Centre which will assist all other centres
- To launch a psychology centre
- To start a ‘listening centre’
- To provide opportunity for virtual course for teachers (responsible: Fr C.M. Varghese)
At the end of the discussion, Fr. Wifred Fernandes was called to present the details of the finance and its management during the conference. A balance amount of Rs. 6,601 was donated to the host institution to be used according to their discretion. The floor was then asked to propose the date and time for the next conference and it was decided to hold it in the last week month of November 2014 at Hyderabad.
The two-day conference came to a close with a vote of thanks proposed by Fr. Kinley D'Cruz of Panjim Province.
Guwahati:
9th November 2013
Comments:
The reports of three groups after the discussion on Networking could be added.