News | Verso il 2028
Il futuro dell’Ateneo è anche quello dei territori
Il ciclo di incontri sul Piano strategico ha mostrato il profondo legame tra i destini dell’Università Cattolica e quello delle città dove ha sede
| Redazione
A School of Knowledge Integration, the valorisation of research and young researchers, a high-quality educational offer, internationalisation and the Africa Plan, and fundraising inspired by institutional and identity principles: these are the five pillars of the 2026-2028 Strategic Plan of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, presented on Monday 20 April at the Rome campus of the University by the Rector, Elena Beccalli.
The result of a participatory process involving all members of the university community, the Plan outlines initiatives which, by making a real impact, can leave a lasting mark and be fully integrated with teaching, research and Third Missions activities.
At the presentation, alongside Rector Elena Beccalli, His Excellency Monsignor Angelo Vincenzo Zani, Archivist and Librarian Emeritus of the Holy Roman Church, also spoke.
“The new Strategic Plan of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore is based, first and foremost, on a participatory approach, on the active collaboration of the entire university community, on co-design, and on listening to key stakeholders in order to shape the University’s future together over the next three years,” began Professor Beccalli.
“There are three guiding principles behind our institutional mission,” continued Beccalli, “namely: enhancing the identity of the University as a non-profit Catholic University; promoting the full integration between the roles of educational community and research university; creating a place where knowledge is experienced, not merely transmitted. This means, for example, implementing innovative educational initiatives such as service learning, based on involving the student community in programmes of active citizenship and social participation, or peer mentorship, to provide peer support on content, knowledge and skills.”
The new Strategic Plan of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, structured around five interconnected pillars, is the result of a collaborative process that began nine months ago, comprising 34 thematic workshops attended by 665 members of the university community, 1,711 respondents to the online survey, and 54 project proposals submitted via the call for ideas.
“The initiative, promoted by the Rector since the start of her term of office and wholeheartedly supported by her colleagues and by lecturers, represents an original and innovative approach within the current academic landscape,” said Monsignor Vincenzo Zani in his address. “In particular, it has the great merit of defining the identity, vision and mission of the University of Catholics in Italy and positioning it on the international stage,” through three fundamental elements. “The first,” he continued, “is the cultural and geopolitical context that forms the backdrop to the Strategic Plan. The Rector’s deliberate choice to steer the University towards the future, giving substance to the idea of a better university for the world, cannot fail to refer back to the very roots, to the DNA of this institution. And I would like to emphasise that, as the implementation of the Strategic Plan gets underway, Rector Elena Beccalli has been elected a member of the International Federation of Catholic Universities (FIUC/IFCU), founded by Gemelli, as well as president of its European section, the FUCE. This role of our Rector will undoubtedly help to further enhance the international dimension, scientific research and the academic quality of our University, as is clearly emphasised in the pillars of the Strategic Plan.
‘The second factor that makes the Strategic Plan unique is the method used in its development, which holds great human, cultural and academic value, within an extraordinary workshop for dialogue and exchange that has made everyone a key player in a university community that reflects on and becomes aware of the significant role it has to play in a society undergoing profound changes. Another factor concerns the content, organised across the five pillars of the Plan, of which I would particularly like to highlight the School of Knowledge Integration and the promotion of research.” The School of Knowledge Integration, in particular, must have “as its vital objective the reform of thought by coordinating separate cultures and fields of knowledge. Interdisciplinarity is insufficient to remedy over-specialisation.” “In this sense, the first two pillars—the integration of knowledge and the quality of research—represent a significant challenge, the true added value that Università Cattolica courageously offers within the landscape of academic studies today.”
