The General Director of La Salle Campus Barcelona–URL, Josep M. Santos, has been appointed Regional Director of Europe and French Speaking Africa of the International Association of Lasallian Universities (IALU).
The appointment took place as part of the XII IALU Meeting, held at the La Salle University of Mexico City (ULSA), from 19 to 21 June, with the theme “Strength in Diversity”.
The meeting was attended by 150 representatives from 57 different universities, out of a total of 61 universities that are currently part of the international association. The common objective was to set new actions to further integrate, consolidate and develop the university network, laying out the priorities in the network's mission of contributing to human development as set out in the UNESCO Millennium Development Goals.
The countries present were Spain, Singapore, Philippines, United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, France, Andorra, Palestine, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Bolivia, Venezuela, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.
Brother Superior of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools of La Salle, Robert Schieler, opened the Congress by highlighting the importance of higher education within the Lasallian Network, an idea that was also emphasised at the last General Chapter. In his inaugural address, Brother Schieler stressed that “this is the time of the Institute of Lasallian Higher Education. It's time for the network of Lasallian universities (IALU) to have a positive impact on the transformation of society in a global world without borders”.
IALU
The International Association of Lasallian Universities was officially created in 1998, and currently serves 60 institutions around the world and is the network through which Lasallian higher education institutions collaborate to contribute to better articulation of the La Salle University identity.
This organisation was born from the common vision of the international La Salle community, an interconnected, collaborative network, faithful to a mission and clear in its purpose.
It is governed by a Board of Directors, which has also seen a new appointment with its new President, Brother Andrés Govela, Rector of La Salle Nezahualcóyotl (Mexico), and a new Vice-President, Brother Dennis M. Magbanua, President of La Salle College – Saint Benilde (Philippines). All regions are represented on the Board, through their directors, the General Council, the General Council for Association and the Mission, and three members at large, in charge of Mission and Identity, Research and Internationalisation respectively.
The 75 La Salle-inspired universities, 61 of which belong to the IALU, together account for nearly a third of the more than one million students from the 82 countries where La Salle is present.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the IALU, the forum also served to take stock of everything that has been achieved over the years in terms of strengthening the worldwide network that La Salle represents, and to identify new challenges and concrete actions to reinforce the international educational network, based on its mission of identity, research and international vocation.
In the region of Europe and French Speaking Africa, in addition to La Salle Campus Barcelona – URL, La Salle Campus Madrid, ECAM Lyon, ESAIP Angers, Institut Polytechnique La Salle Beauvais, La Salle ISFEC Mounier, ECAM-*Rennes, CELAF Ivory Coast and the UOLS Open University of Andorra.
