Our Strategic Plan: improving the quality of our mission

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Mark A. Lewis, S.J. | Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University

by Mark A. Lewis, S.J.

Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University

The University’s Strategic Plan anticipates and plans the future
of our community, it shows us the path to take to get to where we want
to be in five years. We all have an important role in its implementation:
ours is a living, vital and creative community. The goal is to remain
faithful to our mission, with the hope of improving
and enriching it within the university, the Church and the world.

During the last academic year, the University Community, with the help of the Report of the External Evaluation Commission of AVEPRO (the Holy See’s Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties) and an external consultant, Prof. Francesco Cesareo, first developed a Quality Improvement Plan, and then the Pontifical Gregorian University’s formal Strategic Plan for the next five years (2023-2028). One of the goals of this process was to involve as many members of the university community as possible: a strategic plan for a university must belong to the University Community, not to the rector, a consultant or a committee. After all, we have to carry out this plan together, discerning and discovering the best ways to achieve our goals. The main reason for a Strategic Plan is to think ahead, not simply reacting to the currents of the moment, but anticipating and planning for the future.

 

 

While the development of the Strategic Plan involved a significant number of members of the university community, its implementation will require the imagination, creativity and advice of the entire community. The Plan belongs to all of us and we want to move together in new directions. For the academic staff, last spring, I suggested the image of running towards where the football will be (in the manner of Wayne Gretzky, former ice hockey player and coach). This means that we have to think together as a team to run towards where we believe we should be in five years’ time. The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analyses and our self-reflections should have given us some ideas of where our mission will take us by 2028. But we will have to continue to keep ourselves informed and reflect on the directions in which the Church and society are moving. The goal, if we will, is to remain faithful to our mission and the vision we believe in.

This year, therefore, we will focus on:

  • 1. Enhancing and promoting excellence in the academic and student experience;
  • 2. Identifying potential collaborations for the benefit of the University;
  • 3. Ensuring the growth and diversity of resources for the University;
  • 4. Strengthening the articulation and commitment of the shared educational mission in each area of the University, through the ongoing process of integrating the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute into the Gregorian University.

My hope is that this will also enable us to improve and enrich our personal mission within the university, the Church and the world.