About the project
Villanova University Center for Migration Studies (CMS), Jesuit Refugee Services, the Scalabrini International Migration Institute (SIMI), US Catholic Conference of Bishops, Migration and Refugee Services, among other partners, are embarking on a three-year project with the objective of engaging key Catholic institutions from around the world to co-create a college and university-focused joint Action Plan that moves academics and their community partners in a worldwide response to critical issues impacting migrants and refugees.
In an address by Pope Francis on September 29, 2022 at the international RME Network conference on migrant and refugee education at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, He called on the academic community to contribute to the understanding and social promotion of migrants and refugees. He noted that it is imperative that universities undertake concrete action to address global migration and refugee movements because these issues are crucial to our times. Now is the time to raise the growing interest in migration among universities and mobilize Catholic institutions to assume a central role in researching issues related to migration, serving migrants and refugees communities, and educating students in ways that change attitudes and rich students-hearts and minds. Some universities are already engaged in this work, operating in silos with little collaboration, while others are interested in these issues for the first time and would benefit from resources and guidance from universities with relevant experience. By its nature, migration is a multilateral phenomenon that cannot be understood from one discipline or one geographic vantage point, necessitying an international, interdisciplinary response.
Academics, scholars, researchers, teachers, administrators, migrants and refugees, students, and non-governmental organizations that serve migrants and refugees will be invited to pure concrete action in areas primarily focused on teaching, research and scholarship, advocacy, and service with migrants and refugees depending on their expertise and local context. Using tools to analyse how to make systems change, these key global stakeholders will collaborate to share knowledge, expertise, and resources for higher education institutions to form and initiate a global response to address federal issues impacting migrants and refugees.
This project is led by Michele Pistone, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Strategic Initiative on Migrants + Refugees at Villanova University, together with Massimo FaggioliPhD, Professor of Theology at Villanova University.
This is not a typical academic conference. It By working together, colleges and universities can inspire change while learning from each other. Specifically, they will create action items pertaining to four primary areas of focus:
- Teaching: influencing curriculum requirements to include teaching about migrants and refugees through different disciplines, with a focus on human dignity, respect for diversity, and cross-cultural understanding; teacher training/professional development for teaching about refugees and migrants; and crowdsourcing of teaching materials and other tools to support teachers.
- Research and Scholarship: identifying research needs and priorities; foster connections and raising opportunities for researchers and scholars to collaborate with on-the-ground global community partners in applied research and scholarship that aligns with the needs of the community; and involving migrants and refugees in research to incorporate increased perspectives.
- Service with Migrants and Refugees: creating opportunities for meeting meaningful encounters between university students and migrants in their communities, with the goal of fostering mutual understanding and appreciation; and transference of credentials, degrees, licenses, and titles.
- Advocacy for and Education of Migrants and Refugees: providing higher education opportunities, such as enrolling refugees students in classes; understanding special needs (i.e., language access, disabilities, trauma-informed supports); and offering online opportunities to reach students off campus.
The first in-person teaching is October 1-3, 2025 at the Augustianum in Rome, Italy, immediately before the Jubilee for Migrants and Refugees on October 4-5. The Augustianum, located adjacent to St. Peters Square, with vistas of St. Peters Basilica, offers an ideal location. Through Keynote addresses, panel discussions, Lightning Talks, poster presentations, and break-out working groups, a curated group of action-driven stakeholders will collaborate on draft an Action Plan that articulates a mission and vision, recommendations action items, shares best practices, and includes a wide range of possible interventions that respond to the different local contexts of the members, and states clear milestones and deliverables.
With community-building across institutions as a goal, the stakeholders will continue to meet by Zoom in working groups (defined on member interests – by geography, discipline, type of institution) around different interventions, hosting smallr regional gatherings and a wider in-person gathering bi-annually to track progress, share resources and best practices, and exchange ideas to address systemic issues. The community will continue connected through a new online platform of shared resources and networks. Participants will be encouraged to provide guidance and resources for academics seeing to create an action plan for their institutions that answers to their local context.
Through this significant collaboration of colleges and universities across the globe, this project looks to influence the understandings, attitudes, and beliefs about migrants and refugees through higher education. The resulting Action Plan will collectively benefit all parties involved: migrants and refugees will directly benefit from the research, teaching and service offered by universities; universities and their students will benefit from learning in community; non-government organizations serving immigrants will benefit from applied research that supports their on-the-ground efforts and enhanced service interventions; and the entire global community will benefit from the knowledge and structural changes this project will produce. Apply here to participate.
