Academia, Identity and Sustainability, challenges of UPS in Ecuador

UPS, lunes 26 marzo 2018
Father Marcelo Farfán, during the meeting in Guayaquil
Father Marcelo Farfán, during the meeting in Guayaquil
 
 
Father Marcelo Farfan, the General Coordinator of the Salesian Institutions of Higher Education (IUS), visited the university's three branch campuses in Cuenca,Guayaquil and Quito from the 19th to the 22nd of March to hold meetings with the academic, administration and pastoral departments. The meetings were to discuss the presence of IUS in five continents as well as processes, actions and challenges of having quality education based on salesian identity. 
 
"This visit to several salesian higher education institutions is not official, it is to encourage, coordinate and reflect. I hope I can contribute to what the university is doing to reach its goals", said Father Marcelo.
 
He spoke about three fundamental aspects about the university:
 
- The university has taken academic quality seriously
 
- The university with institutional strength
 
- The university seeks to assure its mission and identity
 
He also explained that UPS aims to cause an impact on students' education, reflection and have preference for poor young people and popular sectors, which means thinking about young people from priority sectors as an academic challenge and sustainability. He proposed sustaining the leadership initiatives of university students, such as FEUPS, the Salesian groups, Coworking spaces, peer tutorials, etc.
 
During the extended session of the Superior Council held in Quito, studies were presented on the need to optimize the profitability of UPS; since professors have given their significant contribution with the hour load and they study new forms of teaching to optimize the results of learning; the contribution of students is verified with a decrease in the number of students who fail or drop out, there is also the work of university students who have assumed the commitment of tutoring their peers. I thank everyone, your work makes UPS possible. Don Bosco offers Paradise to those who work in his house.
 
Finally, Fr. Marcelo invites us to continue working on this Project based on ACADEMY - IDENTITY - SUSTAINABILITY, three interdependent aspects that are led in the Salesian style with familiarity, wit and spirituality. Don Bosco's option for poor youth and popular classes is read from the IUS in relation to university access, permanence and academic results, an option linked to the financial sustainability of the university and its Salesian identity.