Mission and identity

Its roots in the Christian tradition lead it to believe that faith in God, as well as giving meaning to life, inspires and stimulates an ever deeper and more critical understanding of any truly human cultural process. Conversely, it recognises that culture, science and technology offer valuable tools for updating the understanding of the Christian message. All of these factors make the university a place for meeting and dialogue between faith and knowledge, transcendental hope and the quest for a more human future for all. This is what its status as a University of the Church mainly consists of.

Likewise, the University of Deusto has been associated, since its inception, with the mission of the Society of Jesus. It is thus part of a worldwide university network and a teaching tradition centred on the person as the prevalent value. Today it also shares the belief that the service of faith entails the promotion of justice. This is why it is committed to making its voice heard wherever man and society compromise their future through reflection on culture and in dialogue with social actors; in particular, in respect for life, the universal implementation of human rights, the fair distribution of goods, the cultivation of peace and the safeguarding of nature.

Within the universal horizon of knowledge and the general interest in human affairs, which characterise the university, the University of Deusto feels particularly close to Basque society, which it wishes to serve as a university institution, both in its cultural needs and in social, technical and economic development at all levels.

The focus on the individual ultimately leads this University to conceive university life as a community of men and women who strive to provide a model of coexistence in which respectful dialogue facilitates relations of collaboration and friendship.

Jesuit universities share the mission of service to the individual and to society with other universities. They carry this out through their contribution to science and culture, while at the same time, as Jesuit universities, they participate in the mission of the Society of Jesus Society of Jesus. Its challenge and foundation is, therefore, to fulfil its mission of service to faith, through its service to science and culture, avoiding any instrumentalisation of culture and the university being.

With the implementation of the new European Higher Education Area (EHEA), which requires a review of degree programmes and a redefinition of academic curricula, the universities and higher education institutions of the Society of Jesus will review, in the light of their identity and mission, the ultimate objectives of their presence in the academic world. In September 2001UNIJES Jesuit-University) drew up a Declaration where the ultimate raison d'être of the Jesuit Higher Education Centres was broadly described. It relates to the current Reflections on i+m facing the new university challenges'

The Mission of a Jesuit University also requires that its objectives (faith, justice and culture) be developed in a climate of dialogue with those religious, cultural or social actors, whose cooperation enables fundamental values such as peace, justice, harmony, human rights and respect to be endorsed and shared between believers and non-believers. 

The University of Deusto, together with eight other institutions, is a member of the Federation of Universities, Faculties and Institutions of Higher Education (UNIJES), institutions created or bound by statutory provisions to the Society of Jesus in Spain.

Deusto has defined Strategic Plans  in recent years that, based on strategic options, establish activities that focus on a Vision defined as its future horizon. Our desire as individuals and as an institution is to contribute something positive to the construction of a fairer, more caring and  humaneworld, following the orientation of our Mission, contained in the Deusto University Project. The University has established the Deusto Educational Framework as the horizon of the educational innovation process that is being implemented as a differentiating response of the university to our current context.

The University of Deusto aims to serve society through a specifically university-based contribution. The 'justice' dimension of the mission is called upon to transversally permeate all university activities. There are also specific centres or services that explicitly aim to promote this dimension. Some of them are:

• Ethics Seminars
• Pedro Arrupe Institute of Human Rights
• Gaurgiro
• Gurya
• University Guidance Service
• Cooperation for development

As stated in the University Project, our roots in the Christian tradition lead us to believe that faith in God, as well as giving meaning to life, inspires and stimulates an ever deeper and more critical understanding of any truly human cultural process.

Our university assumes its status as a Catholic university in that it promotes theological reflection in the European cultural debate. It also offers pastoral services so that students and staff can deepen their faith, based on the Ignatian charism. Some of the centres seeking to promote this dimension include:

• Faculty of Theology
• Higher Institute of Religious Sciences
• Human and Religious Sciences Seminars
• Pastoral Service (Bilbao and San Sebastian)