Mission, Vision and Values
We are part of the Fundación Universitaria San Pablo CEU and our mission is:
- To contribute to the improvement of society through the provision of comprehensive education at our teaching and research facilities.
- To offer an educational model which draws inspiration from Christian humanism – the values which can be seen in the Gospel – encouraging action in public life in favour of justice, the defence of the human being and the common good.
In accordance with the approach promoted by Father Ayala – the founder of the Asociación Católica de Propagandistas – our educational approach is that of active pedagogy or comprehensive active learning: a new way of teaching which draws on different areas of knowledge and which aims to enhance the individual qualities of each student and encourage a solid grounding in spirituality.
Vision
Our desire is for CEU UCH to be known and recognized across society for:
- Seeing the whole person as valuable and educating comprehensively: at the human, intellectual and professional levels, so that our graduates can contribute positively to society and improve it.
- Being an international university, because knowledge knows no borders and we want that to be the same for our students too.
- Being an innovative university in how we strive for academic and professional excellence, because we know that the way students learn today is significantly different from how it happened in the past.
- Being a people-focused university, because it is only by centring our attention on each person's needs that we can really help them to grow.
- Developing employability: the University is pioneering the development and certification of our students' skills and competencies, using a model that has been created in-house.
Values
Our values guide our decisions and are the basis for our organizational culture.
· Freedom
We understand education as a task which demands that we instil in the whole university community the desire to seek out the truth, whether this is scientific, ontological, anthropological or moral in nature. If the truth is what brings us back to the origin, basis and ultimate meaning of reality, freedom is the open road that can lead us there. It derives from being able to use one's own initiative and to encounter other ways of thinking, to discover new knowledge, to engage in dialogue and to put oneself at the service of others.
Our educational approach draws inspiration from the tradition of Christian humanism.
Our aim is to develop all of our students' ability to think critically so that they can weigh every decision they must take in their lives carefully and effectively.
· Commitment
We understand commitment as an acceptance of responsibility:
- Responsibility for the dignity of every person, as a guiding principle in life.
- Responsibility for talent development, so that the principles guiding every person contribute to the common good.
- Responsibility for the compliance with the rules of the educational community as they are the basis for everyday harmony.
- Responsibility for one's own decisions, actions and their consequences.
· Standing out from the crowd
We support people who do not want to simply settle for what they have already achieved; who believe that they can keep on growing, both at a personal level and in the contribution they can make to society; and who do not give up when circumstances are unjust, but instead are prepared to work to change them and seek to improve knowledge and freedom.
We want to foster an attitude of continual improvement: at the personal level, this means enhancing career prospects and quality of life; and at the institutional level, this means seeking to move our collective project forward.
· Generosity
We should share our knowledge, time and opportunities.
Because generosity is about offering something rather than imposing. And a fair society will always be a generous one, and opposed to individualism.
Because we think that talent that is not given an opportunity is wasted. Generous people offer solutions to problems, seeing them as opportunities to get involved and transform the way things are.
· Listening and speaking up
When we listen, we pay attention and try to understand other people. Only when we listen can analyse and reflect: to find the real meaning of things; to empathise and understand other people; to move beyond the superficial; to identify deception where it exists.
It is no coincidence that our patron is St Paul. His encounter with God's truth made him exchange the sword for the Word.
The words that we use express what we think, what we are and the truth we believe in. Words enlighten, lead us to the truth and stimulate the will of those who freely see them truth in them and decide to follow them. We want to encourage the attitude of enlightening others through words, and to move away from any thought of violence – the pen being, of course, mightier than the sword. It is through their words that our lecturers, students and graduates will improve the world.