A commitment to social transformation: the UC plan to consolidate service-learning in Latin America

Abstract

In March 2021, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC) began its regional support plan within the framework of the Uniservitate project in Latin America. This global project aims to institutionalize and promote the implementation of the service learning methodology in Catholic universities on the continent, in coherence with its institutional mission, thus promoting a comprehensive education that allows the formation of socially responsible citizens. The objective of the article is to show the stages of the UC accompaniment plan for the Catholic universities of Argentina, Catholic of Pernambuco, Pontificia Javeriana of Bogotá and Catholic of Ecuador. The accompaniment plan to institutionalize service-learning in the continent has a defined design with strong elements in training, accompaniment and evaluation, these being the axes for a first stage of implementation in the supervised universities. Service-learning is a methodology that seeks to develop an integral education through the formation of social responsibility in the student body and its institutionalization represents an opportunity for universities to deepen their contribution to a more just and equitable society.