Berkley Center

The International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) Global Citizenship Curriculum Project completed its fourth semester of operation in fall 2025. Seventy faculty members from 33 Jesuit institutions in 19 different countries were involved, virtually convening over 900 students to discuss global issues.

The project honors Father Arturo Sosa, general superior of the Society of Jesus, and his call for “education for world citizenship” made during his first address to the IAJU Assembly in 2018. The IAJU Global Citizenship Curriculum Project is part of the Culture of Encounter Project supported by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University and led by Director Thomas Banchoff, Director of Student Programs Nick Scrimenti, and Project Manager Jane Fitzpatrick.

Academic Resources for Action Beyond the Classroom

Courses within the IAJU Global Citizenship Curriculum Project incorporate a shared course module and reading resources. The project supports a wide array of academic studies, including Community Development and Social Change taught by Mark Anthony Abenir at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines and Theology and Society taught by Berkley Center Research Fellow Eduardo Federico Gutiérrez González at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia. In India, Joy Cheruvathoor, Komal D’Souza, and Caren Rodrigues taught Environment and Sustainability with the Global Citizenship module at Saint Joseph’s Institute of Management in India.

In addition to the course module and readings, students also participate in Global Student Dialogue sessions where they meet peers from other schools across the global Jesuit network and share their ideas and experiences with module topics. The sessions are a space where students learn directly from one another about the global issues they each face in their local communities, including climate change, social inequalities, and health challenges. Dialogue facilitators guide students in their collaboration with each other to generate ideas for how students at Jesuit colleges and universities can contribute to solving these global issues.

Ildikó Szegedy-Maszák of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Law School shared that incorporating the project into her course on transnational law in fall 2024 benefitted her students’ learning and connection.

The Global Citizenship module was fitted into the curriculum with ease and greatly enhanced class experience. Students enjoyed Global Student Dialogues and commented in class that it was the first time they closely felt to be part of the international Jesuit academic community.

Jesuit Values and Community Building

Dedicated to connecting a worldwide network of colleges and universities through their shared Jesuit tradition, the Global Citizenship programs reflect on the resources and opportunities available to a uniquely intertwined collection of institutions. Students learn how to embrace Jesuit values in their mission to become leaders of global citizenship, regardless of their personal religious or non-religious backgrounds.

For the past three years, Catarina Vieira da Silva of Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon, Portugal has taught the modules in her classes on contemporary social work.

This project has been profoundly impactful for all students, offering a powerful platform to engage with urgent and emerging global issues while fostering meaningful internationalization. At its core, the Jesuit identity stands as a transformative pillar of the program, shaping both its vision and its impact.

While common goals such as caring for the earth, serving their communities, and embodying empathy serve as drivers for the project’s mission, the history and legacy of the Jesuit tradition undergirds the IAJU network’s interconnectedness and the opportunity for global citizenship education. Faculty and students are encouraged to keep the values of the institutional network as a baseline for understanding the efforts and impacts of global citizenship.

Laura Muro believes the global citizenship curriculum has profoundly impacted her as a professor and as an advocate of sustainability, and she has registered her courses on sustainability in fall 2024 and fall 2025 at Saint Louis University’s Madrid campus.

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this international network of educators committed to fostering dialogue, civic engagement, and transformative education for a more just and sustainable world.

Growing Collaborative Initiatives

The fall 2025 semester introduced two new collaborative programs within the IAJU Global Citizenship Curriculum Project: a faculty working group that includes professors from across the Jesuit universities network and an alumni ambassadors program consisting of student alumni of the IAJU Global Citizenship Fellows Program.

The global citizenship faculty working group strengthens and honors the commitment of core faculty who have enthusiastically supported the growth of the project. This group convenes to incorporate a wide range of global perspectives in shaping the future of the program.

The global citizenship alumni ambassadors are a group of students who previously participated in the IAJU Global Citizenship Curriculum Project and were selected to join the IAJU Global Citizenship Fellows Program. Members of the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 cohorts helped to facilitate the fall 2025 Global Student Dialogues as part of the project, establishing the virtual space as a positive environment for students from across the world to work together and discuss global issues.

Director Thomas Banchoff expressed confidence in the project’s advancements. “Establishing these two new groups was essential to our growth as a program,” said Banchoff. “With the help of our most supportive faculty and students, we look forward to creating a wider spread of global citizenship education that celebrates a diversity of perspectives and instills hope in our future.”