The students: Sophia University’s greatest asset

There are many ways of implementing change today. And for once it is the youth who lead the way: from Occupy Wall Street, to the Arab springs, and the “umbrella movement” of Hong Kong. The times change, along with the instruments, weapons and of course, the causes, but the biggest drive engine to improve oneself and the world, will remain forever the same. And this was the message launched last 20 October, by the students of the Sophia University Institute, during the opening ceremony of the Institute’s seventh academic year.

From the general view, to a close up on this tiny Tuscan university that has made its entry into the worldwide panorama – the 115 students come from 30 different countries – Ukraine, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, Cameroon and Congo. “Hot-spots,” but in search of redemption, as can be seen from the choice of many young people, who are the new assets of these nations, and last but not least, of Sophia.

They are eager for knowledge, education, and the wish to prepare to work on themselves and the world they live in. With the globalisation phenomena it is undoubtedly much easier today, since there is also a Sophia Foundation that collects funds and awards scholarships that allow Indian, Brazilian and also European and Italian students to enrol and train themselves in a culture of unity. Sophia has undertaken its utmost commitment to balance the academic offer on the basis of the needs of humanity, the markets and the employment world, as the Dean, Piero Coda, underlined, though this is not all. The “gold mine,” the added value of this place is also its “human assets,” the students themselves, who had the sensibility to see the novelty behind it and the revolutionary capacity of the courses offered, whether in politics, economy or ontology.

Samar Bandak is 30 and a Jordanian of Palestine origins. He returned to Amman more than a year ago, after completing his course in politics at the IUS in 2012.  He is currently one of the directors of the National Caritas association, heading the department for the educational support of millions of refugees who have sought refuge in a country with a total population of five million. This explains his academic choices which are not really “obvious,” considering that he graduated in Nutritional Sciences: «I discovered that the principle of universal brotherhood can be a real political category alongside with liberty and equality. It is a choice, an answer that mends injustice. We don’t only study at Sophia, but give experience a central role. »

Patricio Cosso, currently student representative, comes from Argentina. «Five years ago my aim in life was to specialise in Finance or Business Administration in order to work in a bank or do something similar to what they do in Wall Street,” he said. “Then in 2011, in a bookshop I found a text that spoke of Economy of Communion. This byword seemed to me, quite impossible since it attempts to conjugate egoism and sharing. How can these two realities coexist? I would never have imagined finding myself here today, trying to make professional training comply with ethical convictions. Here I have started to discover that every query receives its proper importance in the quality of brotherhood I imbue in my relationships, cultural and religious divergences, wars, and the economic crises of our peoples.”

“Imagine and experiment on a new culture in all fields of social life:  from the family to politics, and economy. That is, the culture of relationships: in the words of Pope Francis.”  Yes, because in his overwhelming video message, in Italian, for the 50th anniversary of the International Town of Loppiano, he also mentioned Sophia, (“wisdom” in Greek), among the experiences he recalled, and confirmed that the route to follow starts from “Wisdom, sparked by the sincere desire for education” and that “dedication to education is love.”