Australian Catholic University will welcome more than 200 Catholic higher education leaders and students from institutions across Asia and Australia for the 30th Association of Southeast and East Asian Catholic Colleges and Universities Conference.
The conference, to be held this Wednesday to Friday at ACU’s North Sydney Campus, will reflect on the identity and purpose of a Catholic university, including the social impact of Catholic higher education in secular societies, and the value of service-learning in university curriculum.
ACU vice-chancellor and president, Zlatko Skrbis, said the North Sydney campus “is an ideal venue to reflect on the mission of Catholic universities, as the campus is situated at the site where Australia’s first saint, St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, spent her final years.”
“ACU takes inspiration from our first Australian saint, and patron of our university, and we are delighted to share this history with our distinguished guests from ASEACCU,” Professor Skrbis said.
“Like Mary MacKillop, ACU makes a significant contribution to global dialogue on education, specifically Catholic higher education, and the pursuit of the ideas of Catholic institutions as expressed in Ex Corde Ecclesiae.
“I look forward to welcoming all our international guests to ACU.”
During the conference, ACU will also bestow an honorary doctorate on Vincentian priest and former president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Fr Dennis Holtschneider CM.
The award is recognition of Fr Holtschneider’s outstanding contributions to Catholic higher education, both in Australia and globally.
The Association of Southeast and East Asian Catholic Colleges and Universities is a regional association of higher education institutions from Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Macao, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
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(ACU)
