Sophia University: Open Day 2014

Each year, the university institute which is based in Loppiano, has an open day to communicate its educational project to anyone interested in learning more about Sophia. This event took place on 2^nd May and offered an opportunity to live a typical day at the university, including lessons of economics, politics, Trinitarian ontology, moments of sharing, and dialogue with teachers and students.

At the heart of it all lies the choice of a new interdisciplinary academic approach, combining study and experience, helping students from different continents to acquire a “global vision”, as explained during the presentation.

The testimonies included that of Fabio Frisian, age 23, from Messina: “After three years study of Psychological Sciences and Methods, I enrolled in Sophia. The main reason for my choice was rooted in the substantial difference that I found between the traditional academic world and a world which was not just a course of study in order to feel satisfied, but something more. It was already the end of the summer and, after my degree in psychology and an experience of volunteering in Africa, I was still undecided. The last few years had given me so many doubts: should I continue to study following a pathway in which a strong “technologizing” of knowledge and unbridled competition among students prevailed?

I felt quite sad. Despite my desire to return to Africa, I felt that I would have to give myself time to acquire a more complete education, also in order to be able to understand, in a less superficial way, the reality of Africa. I had heard of the Sophia project and I sensed that it could be the best solution for my needs. Now, after six months of this experience, I can say it was the right decision”.

And with regard to the itinerary of Sophia, Fabio continues: “From the professors, to the students, to the staff, the IUS is a new academic pathway. At the heart of the curriculum is the opportunity to gain knowledge and develop interdisciplinary skills. The constant search for this complementarity is an essential feature of the dialogue that takes place in the classroom between the different disciplines, and also in our personal relationships. The challenge of the Institute is to experience a new way of studying and doing research, to develop culture and to share it.

This produces a specific teaching methodology: the exercise of thinking requires you not to be in a hurry and to allow time for questions, so as not to end up confused by approximate conclusions. The invitation is to ask one more question each day, to get to the roots of the problems and to rework them, abandoning ideological solutions.

Each person becomes the protagonist of social and political change, confronting the problems and endeavouring to untie the most complex knots at the service of our cities and our peoples. I feel my way of thinking is becoming more and more open. It is a commitment that is renewed every day. If what drives us is the aspiration to build universal brotherhood, we know that to fly so high we need to start from the testing ground of everyday life.”

Source: Istituto Universitario Sophia