Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

People on the Move

N° 110, August 2009

S.E.C.I.S. General Assembly

and Conference 2009

The Service of the European Churches for International Students General Assembly and conference took place between 16^th - 18^th July 2009 in Bonn, Germany. There were 11 participants, 7 of which were delegates, two graduate students, the observer from the PCPCMI and the treasurer of the organization. In all, 5 countries were represented and there was one ecumenical delegate.

The subject chosen for this year was "Higher Education as a commodity?- Pastoral challenges for our work with international students."

The Assembly began with the Report to the Board which was made along with the Financial Report for the past year and the Budget for 2010. It continued by hearing different country reports and the Message of Greeting from the President and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. These reports continued on Saturday morning.

Interesting in the above reports was the extensive work of KAAD itself and the news of its recent golden jubilee celebrations. Alongside the ecumenical delegate from the Lutheran Church, it is clear that the Church Tax in Germany enables the Churches there to support international students, especially through scholarships, in a way not possible in other European countries. An interesting development was outlined in the report from Austria where the government has recently decided to substantially reduce the funding of foreign students in its own country and will instead financially support the development of universities and higher in the former countries of origin. An interesting Ecumenical International Students Chaplaincy has recently been developed in the Hague.

The afternoon on Saturday 17^th July was held in the offices of KAAD with a talk by Dr. Thomas Kriiggeler, head of the Latin American Department of KAAD. He spoke interestingly of higher education and sustainable development and the creation of universities and research capacities in developing countries. He touched on the subject as to whether and what type of education was a human right, the internationalization of higher education and world-wide co-operation and the element of Social Justice in access to Universities and research. A wide ranging discussion followed developing many of these themes, particularly speaking of the concepts of "brain drain" and "brain waste" that sometimes occur with students from developing countries.

Whilst the SECIS group continues to be small, there were some interesting topics raised and a generous spirit pervaded the days together. Of particular importance was access to the very recent Green Paper from the EEC on the subject "Promoting the learning mobility of young people" which is the response to the changes being brought about by the Bologna Process.

The future of SECIS seems still difficult with one very committed delegate retiring this year. It was unfortunate that there were no delegates from the UK, Ireland and France, three of the biggest receivers of foreign students in the continent.  

Mons. Jeremy Fairhead

Official of the Pontifical Council

for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People