2019 ACUCA Management Conference and General Assembly Official Recap Video

Special thanks to Cyril Ortega and the Renaissance Youth Leaders Forum for making this awesome recap video possible.

Official delegates and attendees of the recently concluded 2019 ACUCA Management Conference and General Assembly strike a pose at the garden area of the Luce Auditorium at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, right after their Plenary Session which featured a panel and a keynote presentation on Whole-Person Christian Education.

More details on the various events of the Management Conference and General Assembly soon.

About ACUCA

The Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA) is a community of Christian institutions of higher learning in Asia which work closely together to benefit each other as well as the societies in which they exist.

The ACUCA Secretariat is designed to be instrumental for creating the environmental prerequisites for active interaction and participation among the member-institutions to take place.

Through cooperation, mutual support, and encouragement, the Association endeavors to help the Christian universities and colleges in Asia to:

• Develop and maintain their Christian character
• Enrich the quality of their educational programs and those of the other institutions of learning
• Re-examine the relevance of their objectives and programs in relation to the needs of a changing society

Currently, ACUCA has 64 member institutions from 9 countries/regions of Asia, namely Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Myanmar, and Thailand.

The ongoing activites that ACUCA supports include:

• Student Mobility and Faculty Mobility Schemes
• Biennial Conference and ACUCA Student Camp
• ACUCA Management Conference and General Assembly

Reflection

Staying On Course Together

Betty Cernol McCann, Ph.D.

President, Silliman University

Colleges and universities face a sudden and major disruption with the outbreak of the coronavirus. The COVID19 pandemic triggered not only a global health crisis but also economic and social challenges, as well as deep psycho-spiritual anxiety and despair. Today, Christian educational institutions are pressed to organize new resources and find the resolve to weather the storm, thus opening some pathways to a shelter in which creative and constructive initiatives can be explored.

Due to the pandemic, colleges and universities must resort to cancelling in-person classes and moving to alternative learning systems. Within higher education, programs for flexible learning are fast-tracked, while extensive retooling and capacity building are undertaken in the areas of human and physical resources related to information technology. Partnerships with public and private agencies are being pursued in the acquisition of skills and equipment, and the enhancement of goodwill in the communities we serve.

Today’s students will have a different school experience - social distancing restrictions will cause alternative forms of instruction, staggered days on which students attend classes, virtual counseling services and psychosocial support interventions, creative internships and remote graduations, to mention some.

Given the disruptions caused by the pandemic, existing management and operational processes must be given rigorous review, and new approaches must be explored that address both continuity issues as well as the challenges of a not-so-certain future.

As a Christian institution of higher learning, Silliman University remains committed to carry on its ministry of teaching, healing and witness, especially at this time of the pandemic. As a teaching-learning community, we ask ourselves:

• What immediate challenges are we facing due to Covid19 and what preventive as well as proactive measures can we take?
• What will the new realities for our own university look like?
• What can we do within our own institution to prepare for the post-Covid19 scenarios that are likely to emerge?

There will always be answers that look good on paper. We must sift through these to find realistic strategies to help us through the rough-and-tumble times. We will find ways to catapult us into new situations, on the lookout for innovations that will not allow us to slide back to our not-so-relevant old ways of doing things.

These are trying times that will test our resolve: to hope more than despair, to advance more than retreat, to have courage more than fear, and to trust more in the capacity of people to work together towards a common goal.

It is important for us to focus on a sense of the future, and to remind ourselves that we are in this with others. The Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA), inspired by the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, has demonstrated the efficacy of working together towards a common purpose. Our special charge is to reflect the Christian character of our institutions through cooperation, mutual support, and encouragement. How can we fulfill this charge during this Covid19 crisis? Let not the pandemic defeat us; let our faith and Christian character define us.

Dr. Betty Cernol McCann is currently the President of the Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA).

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