Integrating social action into academic learning, the 10th Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning (APRC S-L) highlighted the growing role of service-learning programs in higher education institutions. 

Gathering delegates from colleges and universities across the globe, the conference sought to develop concrete action plans and partnerships toward the shared goal of “building a just and humane world” through service-learning programs.

In a keynote speech, Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) President Fr. Karel San Juan, SJ, described service-learning as the process of “creative synergy of teaching, community engagement and values formation,” underscoring that it goes beyond community outreach and short-term projects.

“What should be, I think, the components of service-learning? Curriculum, community, contemplation, conversation, change, and the convergence of students, teachers, and administration.”

San Juan emphasized that the academic curriculum must be aligned with the needs of sectors “at the peripheries,” guided by the Catholic Church’s doctrine of serving the marginalized and the disadvantaged.

“How can there be a matching between the course, the curriculum objectives, and the needs of the community? That is one fundamental question we ask in service-learning. Secondly, there’s a choice to be made. The [Catholic] Church has always been exhorting us to serve the underserved communities,” he added.

In this way, he described the service-learning program as a “participatory” process where both the students and the community “learn from each other.”

“They are co-learners… Service-learning facilitates this co-learning, reciprocal process vis-a-vis a process that is one-way: students giving to the community, and the community receiving.”

He further noted the need for collaboration among students, teachers, and administrators in realizing service-learning initiatives, aligning their purpose and mission with the school’s mission and values.

“This should be articulated in the school’s vision-values-mission-goals statement and spirituality. For Catholic schools, the Catholic spirituality moves us to a type of education for social justice, that is, service-learning,” San Juan explained.

The APRC S-L was organized by the Arrupe Office of Social Formation Service-Learning Program in partnership with the Service-Learning Asia Network (SLAN), marking AdDU’s first time hosting the event since assuming the SLAN Secretariat in 2024. 

This year’s conference was held at the CCFC Building, Ateneo de Davao University, last October 6 to 10.