In a climate of profound academic harmony, on 18th June, the Pontifical University Antonianum of Rome and the University of St. Buenaventura of Bogotá (Colombia), signed an agreement for a double degree that represents a highly significant step in the internationalisation processes of the two institutions and in the enhancement of the heritage of Franciscan thought in the global context.
The agreement came about in response to the invitation made by the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor during the Congress of OFM Study and Research Centres, held in 2023. On that occasion, Br Massimo Fusarelli, urging closer cooperation between the Order's Higher Study Centres, said: “I hope that we can arrive at not only a greater collaboration, but even at the construction of a network of the Study and Research Centres, which is veritably its very own. I hope this Congress can help us to achieve this goal, which could infuse a new and stimulating impetus into the academic spheres of our Order” (Address of the Minister General to the participants of the Congress, Rome - General Curia, 4 July 2023).
The agreement forms a part of a framework of institutional collaboration aimed at promoting joint scientific research, the co-designing of integrated training programmes and the coordinated publication of studies and contributions in academic journals and periodicals. In this perspective, the cooperation between the two universities takes the form of a strategic platform of multilevel collaboration, capable of strengthening international academic networks, boosting the mobility of lecturers and researchers and enhancing the role of the university as an active player in social and cultural transformation.
The official signing ceremony was held in the presence of the Rector of the Pontifical University Antonianum, Br Agustín Hernández, OFM; the Chancellor of the University of St. Buenaventura and Minister Provincial of the Province of Santa Fe of Colombia, Br José Alirio Urbina, OFM; the Rector of the of the University of St. Buenaventura of Bogotá, Br Andrés Miguel Casaleth Faciolince, OFM; the General Secretary of the Pontifical University Antonianum, Br Efrén Parmenio Ortiz; the Dean of the Faculty of Theology of the Antonianum, Br Carlos Salto Solà, OFM; the Director of the Development Office, Mr. Paolo Cancelli; as well as of numerous eminent institutional and academic representatives of both universities.
