As all institutions of higher learning across the world today, Catholic higher education is faced with the challenges of adapting its design to a rapidly changing societal landscape. In addition, Catholic universities and colleges must also reflect on the meaning and significance of their specific educational mission in an academic environment that is becoming increasingly commoditized and now privileges STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) curricula at the expense of the humanities.
This evolving trend poses questions that are unique to Catholic higher education, in particular with respect to the place that spiritual guidance and humane values should occupy in such a context, described by many analysts of academia as the bearer of unprecedented transformations. Through the activities of its foresight unit and other research departments, IFCU proposes to make available to its member universities an array of data that supports reflection on this crucial transition and the ways in which it can be dealt with successfully.
Corinne Mellul
email : corinne.mellul[@]bureau.fiuc.org