(ANS - Mestre)- From 26 to 29 November, at the headquarters of  IUSVE (Salesian Institute Venice) in Mestre, there were two important meetings for Salesian University Institutions: Phase IV of the Intercontinental Seminar on "Education and Social Inclusion"; and the meeting of the Delegates of the Institutes that belong to IUS Education, the assembly that plans the work and, every four years, elects the people responsible for the coordination of the network.

by Mario Olmos SDB

The seminar was organized by the IUS Education Group, which brings together the Salesian Institutions of Higher Education  that are present in the field of education, engaged in the provision of courses in the area of education, research and development of educational projects. The seminar was held at the headquarters of IUSVE, coinciding with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the institution and 10 years of training at the headquarters of Mestre.

Phase IV of the seminar is the summary and conclusion of research and reflection at global level on the challenges of social exclusion, and the responses that are being offered by Salesian Training Centres.. Previous phases had paid special attention to the many ways that exclusion is found in different regions of the world and the responses that educators are giving in their respective contexts. Thus, the first phase in 2013 at the CES Don Bosco in Madrid, Spain, analyzed the European context;  the second also in 2013 at UNISAL in San Paolo, Brazil looked at the sitution in America; and the third in 2014, at the Salesian Institute in Darjeeling, India, studied the Asian context.

The seminar is the way the IUS Education Group has decided to celebrate the Bicentenary of the Birth of Don Bosco, by seeking to understand the new challenges facing  education and the responses that the Congregation is called to offer in terms of Salesian pedagogy.

The work of the IUS Education Group continues today and tomorrow with a meeting of delegates from the member institutions to evaluate the progress made,  to prepare a new work plan for the next four years and to elect a new coordinating committee to guide the activities of the  network.

Published 28/11/2014