(ANS – Rome) – About sixty people, Salesians and lay people, nineteen countries and thirty-nine institutions represented are some of the figures connected with the VI General Assembly of the Salesian Institutes of Higher Education (IUS) which ended on Saturday 14 July at the Salesianum in the Generalate in Rome.

The General Assembly is the organisation which every four years gathers together the Provincials and those principally responsible for the Institutes of Higher Education to draw up common working guidelines.

There were three main objectives of this VI Assembly starting on 10 July: the assessment of the implementation of the “Policies for a Salesian Presence in Higher Education 2003-2011”; the drawing up of a new series of Policies for the next few years; and the election of new members of the Executive Committee of the IUS.

Three main challenges emerged from the days of discussion: the impact of formation of the lives of the students; the educative pastoral aims proper to every Salesian presence; and finally the sustainability of access to the education on offer through proper economic and financial management.

Two objectives were identified for the shared future policies of the IUS: to give continuity to the process developed by the  IUS in recent years, ensuring a consolidation of the Institutes; ensuring the achievement of the educative pastoral aims and guaranteeing  the quality and the impact of the formative, educative and  cultural proposals provided.

The Assembly was not only an occasion to identify common challenges and to take decisions for the future, but also an opportunity to re-affirm the shared Salesian identity which is the feature of all Salesian Institutions and to look with great experience and optimism at the development of the Salesian presence among the young who are entering the world of Higher Education.

The members of the new committee are: the IUS General Coordinator, Bro Mario Olmos SDB, a member of the Youth Ministry Department; Fr Marcos Sandrini, Director of the Don Bosco Faculty in Porto Alegre (Brazil); Fr Félix Serrano, Rector of the Mesoamerican University of Guatemala; Fr Stephen Mavely, Vice-Chancellor of the “Don Bosco University” in Guwahati (India); Fr Onofre Inocencio, Principal of the  “Don Bosco Technical College” in Mandaluyong (Philippines); Mr. Arduino Salatin, Principal of the Salesian University Institute in Venezia-Mestre (Italy) and Bro  José Chivinda SDB, Administrative Director of the  Don Bosco Higher Institute in Luanda (Angola).

Published 16/07/2012