(ANS – Mumbai) – Fr. Barnabe D'Souza from the Indian Salesian Province of Mumbai was inducted recently into the Board of Administration of the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU) based in Paris, as its Deputy Secretary General. He took office on 3 March 2014, and assists Mons. Guy Real Thivierge, the current Secretary General.

Fr. D’Souza, is the first Salesian to be part of the board of administration of IFCU. There are currently about 200 members in this International coordinating body which facilitates research, partnership and exchange programmes among Catholic institutes of higher education the world over.

Fr. D’Souza  holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Coventry, U.K, and has lectured in several Universities in Asia, Africa and Australia. He has 17 publications to his credit and several presentations on social research, community development and the social sciences at various international fora. He was the Founder and Director of the Don Bosco Research Centre and Connect all India, an initiative for Social and Financial Inclusion of poverty groups. He brought several innovations to the organizations for the marginalized he has worked with in Mumbai province for close to three decades.

The IFCU  was created by Papal Decree in 1948 under the Sacred Congregation for Education to look after the higher education policies in the Catholic Church. At the moment it has members in 58 countries covering all the continents.

Fr. D’Souza has high hopes that the International Salesian Institute of Higher Education (IUS) will join hands with IFCU network and benefit  in a major way from the resources and possibilities the IFCU has to offer as well as to strengthen it with its own contribution.

Published on 22/05/2014