As Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan (Xavier Ateneo) journeys closer to its 100th Anniversary, a sub-theme will be launched every year of the preceding decade during the celebration of the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola in July, to direct the mood and emphasis of each celebration.
The sub-theme Onward to Stronger Connections and Newer Grounds was simultaneously launched with the Centennial logo on November 23 at the XU Little Theatre.
Engr. Lennie K. Ong, Project Manager for Xavier Ateneo’s Campus of the Future, shared how XU consulted ADMU’s School of Education & Learning Design, Fr Johnny Go, and Maria Teresa Rosario Irvine, Executive Director of its new Research Institute for the Futures of Education, to help imagine the future as the university approaches its 100th Year.
The sessions captured two insights: With tailored learning, care and community will matter more than ever, and relationships and partnerships will be critical to operational sustainability.
“A stronger organization means a more solid employer and economic contributor to the country. A stronger school means a healthier supply of workers and leaders for the world. Stronger partnerships create mutualistic symbiosis that can strengthen society. Stronger connections to humanity and the divine provide clear vision and direction,” Engr. Ong stressed.
“This is our challenge: how to harness heads, hearts and hands, to share with and care for this dream-in-progress that is Xavier Ateneo. In the next ten years, how do we bring everyone together behind our vision: to be a leading ASEAN University forming leaders of character?” she added.
Newer Grounds
Another insight gleaned by Fr Johnny: Tradition and fast-moving technology can co-exist.[There is] a call to determine the ambition and scope of work for the next decades.
The past and future can co-exist. We are not abandoning history but are moving forward enhanced by it. It is Futures in the plural that are possible, not a singular future that is set. We determine how and what kind of dream becomes future reality, Engr. Ong notes.
“This is our desire: to be able to write a grand history of Xavier University not just in the next 10 years but for its next 10 decades.”
Campus Of The Future
As perhaps the most ambitious project that any Jesuit University in the Philippines has embarked on, this is the vision of the Campus of More — more than books, more than classrooms, more than paths, more than encounters.
It is more than buildings; rather, it is the Xavier University of the Future. This is not just the idea of past and present Trustees, Presidents and administrators. This is our future, the University of Magis and magis.
We dare to dream big because we believe in the future of education in the Philippines, in the potentials of the Filipinos, and the role that a Catholic, Jesuit, Filipino University plays for the country and our people.
This is our prayer: that we all work together to create the Xavier University that is for the next century.
Fr Masterson once said, “My friends, only those who can see the invisible, God in man and His providential actuations, can do the impossible.” This is us, going boldly into the future, daring the impossible.
Let us build the future together.
As Fr Tan succinctly puts it: “Looking ahead, we recognize the strengths of our university and the abundant opportunities that lie before us: the vision and mission we cherish; the Jesuit ideals that have guided us for nearly a century; the commitment of our university community; the unwavering support from our alumni and friends; our well-considered future plans—including the Campus of the Future in Uptown and the new College of Agriculture Farm Laboratories in El Gaucho Upper Puerto; as well as our strategic goals enshrined in the 2019 University Strategic Plan—combined with our strong belief in God, give us much hope and motivation to continue our story, our journey, and our mission.”
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