The project is based on compulsory social work that is worth 10 credits on the degree courses in civil, electronic, industrial and systems engineering. As a result of this practice, an average of 200 students work in institutions or communities that do not have the professional resources for their development.
The programme provides for students who wish to spend a semester doing social work, although this is not compulsory. Students at the University may choose the alternative of spending six months outside Bogotá helping the communities affected by armed conflict. The initiative is given financial and academic support. The University currently has agreements with 26 private and public institutions all over the country.
Technical advice and training are the main areas in which institutions receive support.
The country's specific needs can be said to lie in the lack of material wealth and problems of social exclusion, which in turn lead to greater needs in infrastructure, productivity, competition and technological development.
In its mission statement, the Javeriana University claims that "In the immediate future, the Javeriana University will give priority to research and comprehensive training in its syllabuses; it will strengthen its position as an interdisciplinary university; and it will bolster its presence in the country by placing special emphasis on finding solutions to the problems of intolerance and a lack of awareness of diversity, on the one hand, and social discrimination and the centralisation of economic and political power, on the other." Therefore, there is a clear need for instructing its students of engineering in social practices that are in keeping with the country's social reality and the mission statement that the University has chosen to adopt.
The project is based on compulsory social work that is worth 10 credits on the degree courses in civil, electronic, industrial and systems engineering. As a result of this practice, 200 students on average work in institutions or communities that do not have the professional resources for their development.
The programme provides for students who wish to spend a semester doing social work, although this is not compulsory. Students at the University may choose the alternative of spending six months outside Bogotá helping the communities affected by the armed conflict. The initiative is given financial and academic support. The University currently has agreements with 26 private and public institutions all over the country.
Technical advice and training are the main areas in which institutions receive support.
Within the framework of the University's mission statement as regards social responsibility:
Students are taught about the country's social reality.
They will use the specific knowledge they have gained to make positive contributions towards solving problems or improving certain situations, within the framework of projects that ensure the continuity and impact of such actions.
The mission statement also tries to encourage students to think about the social aspects of their most immediate surroundings.
Some of the specific objectives are:
To design and implement technical support with the aim of solving the problems encountered in the different institutions.
To promote leadership and the management of the processes that bring about social improvement.
To generate areas for reflection and awareness-raising in a socially relevant context.
To apply engineering knowledge and skills to social problems.
To contribute to students' comprehensive training by strengthening their social awareness.
To increase students' research skills and creativity, so that they can hold any post within the profession.
In 1977, the University set up an area called University Consultancies. Its main aim was to carry out professional, interdisciplinary consultancy services in Colombia's most deprived areas. This would ultimately encourage people to adopt a more helpful attitude in their professional activities and it would make it possible for students and lecturers from the various faculties to gain first-hand experience of deprived backgrounds.
In 1984, the Faculty of Engineering made a firmer commitment still by making the "University Consultancies" subject compulsory. The idea behind this experience was to favour comprehensive training that combined technical aspects and social action.
In 1992, the Pontificia Javeriana University began a strategic planning process, which consisted of reviewing its syllabi with the aim of involving students more directly in the national reality in the different fields of engineering. The strategic planning programme has been periodically revised in order to fit in with the constant changes the country faces.
2004 saw the end of the process of reflection and syllabus assessment for several of the engineering courses taught at the Faculty; as a result, the name of the subject was changed to University Social Project.
At present, once students have enrolled on the subject, they go on to do a number of support activities, which include a general introduction to social practices, workshops in social skills that are coordinated by the Academic Vice-Chancellor and an introduction to the project, which consists of meetings between the students and the lecturer or engineer in charge of the project, and on occasion members of the institution that is to receive support. Three complementary seminars on social awareness are held and students go on guided visits once the work placement begins.
During the semester, students are given guidance and assistance by a lecturer. If required, students may seek advice in a specific field from the relevant department.
The institutions must be non-profit-making organisations. They may, for example, be foundations for people with physical or learning disabilities, workshops in prisons, communities in socially deprived areas, and small businesses lacking professionally trained staff.
The main fields in which the students offer advice are automation; systemisation; the improvement of production processes, management processes and services; consultancy and drawing up of business plans; and the revision of development plans for infrastructures.
As far as training is concerned, the students focus on using technology, adapting facilities, promoting the entrepreneurial spirit, managing productive businesses and devising business plans for setting up new companies or for making non-profit organisations self-sufficient.
For the University:
Results falling into the category of social accountability.
For the beneficiary institutions and communities:
Optimising the limited technological resources institutions have.
Teaching people from socially deprived areas or who have physical and/or learning disabilities how to use computer technologies to facilitate their access to education and the job market.
Training communities to act as managers in processes for building local infrastructures, such as roads, aqueducts, schools, etc.
Training owners of small companies in business management skills.
Improving the processes and management of projects within institutions such as the penitentiary system, foundations, health care centres, etc.
For the students:
Applying the knowledge acquired during their training to specific situations.
Raising their social awareness as regards the country’s specific problems, such as poverty, unemployment, etc.
Adopting values such as solidarity, generosity, tolerance, respect, equality, etc. and putting them into practice.
For the lecturers:
Enhancing their teaching and professional activities.
Participating in interdisciplinary processes.
For the academic programme:
Providing feedback on the aptness and effectiveness of its teaching processes and on the professional profile of graduates of the University.
An assessment of the University Social Project revealed the following aspects as particularly positive: the change in the way the students see their country, an increasing awareness of the social and economic reality of the communities and the desire to undertake a serious commitment to transforming the country.
The projects are increasingly in tune with the needs that are being addressed and the times in which they are carried out, and the students prove their ability to undertake these processes despite differences in socio-economic and educational background. As regards aspects that could be improved, an attempt is being made to make a greater impact by making projects more interdisciplinary. There is also an aim to identify management indicators more clearly and to assess the social impact of all the social practices more effectively.
In order to ensure that the University Social Project programme is fully implemented, it must form part of an institutional policy that is embraced by the whole of the University and is a significant part of its raison d'être.
In order to ensure that the social work prepares students for the professional environment in which they will find themselves once they graduate, the activities carried out must be of a multidisciplinary nature. This will ensure that students’ vision goes beyond their specific technical knowledge.
A balance must also be found between the above-mentioned goals: relevant teaching practices ensuring comprehensive academic training and effective social benefits.
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