Sophia Magazine vol.5 / SUMMER 2017

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Fr. Sheeran (S): Jesuit higher education institutions are known for consistently high academic quality, which is a source of great pride among our faculties and all the Jesuits who support these institutions. But we believe that academic quality is meaningless unless we are able to shape our stu-dents into leaders who will spend their lives in service of oth-ers. If students acquire an excellent education and only use it to enrich themselves, then we have failed in that mission. Fr. Augustine (A): That’s an accurate description, and I would add that Jesuit higher education encompasses edu-cation, research, and the development of people while up-holding the identity and mission of the Jesuits. For this, value-based leadership is essential at every level. As Fr. Sheeran mentioned, our mission is to shape students into leaders, but not necessarily politicians or managers. Rather, our goal, in the words of Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, is to develop people with conscience, competence, and compas-sionate commitment. This is echoed in Sophia University’s aim of educating “Men and Women for Others, with Others.”S: And, just to further expand on your point, the advance-ment of scientific thought and other areas of academia are important. But for us, what really matters is whether you can look back on your life from your deathbed and say that you left the world a better place by using your position to, for ex-ample, make advances in chemistry, achieve breakthroughs in health sciences, or improve lives through technology. We measure ourselves not only based on academic strength, but also on our ability to foster people who go away with a deep commitment. That is the development that Fr. Augustine mentioned that you find everywhere in our schools.A: Yes, and this Jesuit vision of education is unchanging, even within a non-Christian context such as in Japan and many other countries in Asia. It is necessary that both the noun “university” and the adjective “Jesuit” always remain fully honored in Jesuit higher education institutions. We always honor the adjective Jesuit, even when using non-religious terms to describe the three leadership qualities of self-awareness, social awareness, and transcendental aware-ness. S: That’s right. What’s more, our Jesuit language can be equally valued whether it is religious or secular. We are currently in what can be termed the era of the laity, and in-creasingly laypeople are taking on leadership roles in our institutions. Even though the number of Jesuits is declining markedly, our lay leaders still live by our vision that if you have an education, you have an obligation. S: One challenge that we can particularly observe in the U.S. is that politicians tend to not see the value of higher educa-tion. They tend to think that all schools should do is prepare students for their first jobs. That stands in contrast to the original model of higher education which fostered students to become responsible citizens. But that is not something the government is interested in, and accordingly it is not something they are willing to pay for. The lack of govern-ment interest and funding has led to financial problems for our schools, forcing us to keep tuition high to maintain our academic excellence and give fair compensation to our valu-able educators. We worry that this could lead to the closing of some schools.A: And this trend can also be seen in other Asian countries. The challenge is to define the role of higher education in the Digital Age where information can be accessed in an instant. So we are working with governments to make changes and address the issues Fr. Sheeran mentioned. Administrative difficulties include the fact that due to aging societies in many countries, the numbers of university students are de-creasing. This is a survival issue for universities. So often the efforts of administrations become overly focused on trying to find people to enroll, leading to a declining emphasis on aspects such as developing responsible leaders and address-ing social issues.S: To add to your point about our digital future, Jesuit uni-versities are making many positive developments in this area. For example, digital archives are being developed, and I believe Sophia University has a leadership role in that. We are now working on the development of a single worldwide portal where you can input any topic on Jesuit education over the last 500 years and receive digitized literature or in-formation on where physical books and other resources are kept. This will help us make strides to save on research time. We can also achieve financial savings by having schools share technology and consolidate physical literature resources in fewer schools. S: Technology has also enabled us to expand our reach and form connections with students and schools abroad. There is now a great amount of cooperation among the 28 AJCU schools in the U.S. and 30 Jesuit institutions in South Amer-ica, as well as institutions in other countries. Through the internet, Jesuit researchers in multiple countries can read each other’s papers, have discussions, and critique each oth-er’s ideas. And this works well because, as they work at Jesuit institutions, they all have the same starting point in the way they ask questions. We are also expanding and achieving success in our online degree programs. For example, AJCU member Regis University offers an online MBA program with small classes which include participants from coun-tries in Africa. The African students offer perspectives that benefit their fellow American business students, and are also valued in their communities for holding a degree from an American institution. A: What Fr. Sheeran is describing is an expansion of the geo-The Mission of Jesuit Higher EducationChanges and Challenges of Jesuit Higher EducationGlobal Jesuit Institution Partnershipand Networking Initiatives21Special Talk