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USJ elected Executive Secretariat of ASEACCU at its 28th Conference and General Assembly

2022-09-01

01

Sep

01/09/2022

The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) has been elected to serve as the Executive Secretariat of the Association of Southeast and East Asian Catholic Colleges and Universities (ASEACCU) for the upcoming term of three years, starting in September 2022.



The University of Saint Joseph (USJ), represented by the Rector Reverend Professor Stephen Morgan and Vice-Rector Professor Álvaro Barbosa, participated in the 28th Conference and General Assembly of the Association of South East Asian Catholic Colleges and Universities (ASEACCU) from August 23 – 27, 2022 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This year’s conference theme was “Memory and Identity”.

The opening ceremony celebrated the 12th anniversary of the Host Institution, the Saint Paul Institute, with welcome messages from the Executive Board of ASEACCU, including the present general secretary, Fr. Richard Ang form the University of Santo Tomas in the Phillipines, H. E Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, the Cambodian Minister of Education, Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Dr. Phon Sophal, President of  the Saint Paul Institute in Cambodia, and Professor Isabel Capeloa Gil Rector of the Catholic University of Portugal and President of the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU).

During the Conference at Saint Paul Institute, Rector Morgan also delivered a key note speech on the topic of “Culture and Identity”, for an audience of over 120 students and delegates, where USJ was represented by a group of students from the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy.

Furthermore, during this general assembly, USJ was unanimously elected for a three years term to serve in the role of ASEACCU’s  Executive Secretariat, as recognition of USJ’s contribution to numerous ASEACU’s initiatives during the ceasing term of the University of Santo Tomas at the Executive Secretariat of ASEACCU. 

According to Rector Morgan, “It is a great honour for us to assume such a position of leadership of the nearly 100 Catholic Colleges and Universities of Asia.

USJ is presently the editorial host of the ASEACCU’s biannual Newsletter, and will undertake the remaining responsibilities as Executive Secretary on the 1st of September 2022.The next ASEACCU Conference will be held in the summer of 2023 at the Saint Louis University in the Philipines’ Baguio province.