The role of the Federation is:
To promote collective reflection on their mission amongst Catholic higher education institutions;
To foster academic cooperation in the field of research, as well as the valuation and dissemination of research results towards decision-making communities;
To promote experience and skill exchange among Catholic higher education institutions;
To represent Catholic universities at the international organizations and associations and to collaborate with them in line with its institutional priorities;
To contribute to the development of Catholic higher education and to the assertion of its specific identity.
Open to international cooperation, our Federation has a consultative status with the following organizations:
The United Nations (UN), in New York
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in Paris
The Council of Europe, in Strasbourg
In addition, IFCU ensures an international presence within the following commissions:
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), in Vienna
The Commission of Human Rights, in Geneva
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in Vienna
Our presence in these organizations aims at promoting the expertise of our universities and of their research centers; our representatives’ mission, in relation with our existing academic networks, is therefore to disseminate relevant knowledge to international decision-makers.
IFCU is also a member of the Conference of International Catholic Organizations (CICO) and works closely together with International Catholic Centre for Cooperation with UNESCO (CCIC).
Furthermore, IFCU collaborates actively with various academic networks at the national, regional and global scales.