Marist International Network of Higher Education makes positive balance of 2022
Reflect on the impact of strengthening and making the Marist Institutions of Higher Education world-renowned. It is with this motivation that the Director Board of the Marist International Network of Higher Education (RIMES) welcomes the challenges for 2023 based on a balance of the activities that were carried out during the previous year. This was precisely the theme of their last meeting, which included the presence of the Vicar General of the Marist Institution, Br. Luis Carlos Gutiérrez Blanco, and the director of the Secretariat of Education and Evangelization of the Marist Institute, Br. Carlos Alberto Rojas.
Br. Luis Carlos understands RIMES’s operation as an innovative segment of the marist mission in the active pursuit of addressing the needs of young people when it comes to professional and vocational qualification. According to him, “the Institute expects a prominent leadership of the Network to expand conceptual and practical milestones of education and evangelization, in response to the necessities of the youth; a youth that opens up to a professional world which is constantly changing and surrounded by highly complex sociocultural and religious realities.”
Guided by the educational tradition inspired by Saint Marcellin Champagnat’s dream, RIMES offers answers to these challenges presented by reality, creating an international network which believes in a joint journey towards global strengthening of marist higher education in the world. An example of this is the several movements for relationship and promotion of connections with communicators and leaderships from partner Universities and the inter-congregational rapprochement with other higher education international networks.
To Br. Rojas, Director of the Secretariat of Education and Evangelization till December 2022, “the horizon that opens up for the Network in the following years is exciting and encouraging: giving a new meaning to the Marist Institute’s charisma, 200 years after being founded, renewing its presence in higher education. The only thing left to do is to take action and continue to trust that this is the work of Jesus and Mary.”
The path taken in 2022 served as a foundation for what is hoped to be developed in 2023. For Br. Marcelo Bonhemberger, President of RIMES, the last year was marked by a close operation alongside administrators of over 20 marist universities from 10 countries. This rapprochement brought significant progress in establishing discussions regarding the promotion of innovation, development and transformation in higher education. “In 2022, RIMES stood out because of the advancement of a strategic plan for the coming years, because of the commitment of its partners, and because of its role in the comprehensive training of members of the Institutions of Higher Education (IES) they are a part of,” Br. Marcelo points out.
According to Ana Gabriela Aguirre Franco, Vice-president of RIMES and rector of the Marist University of Mexico City, the strategies for internationalization and promotion of cooperation culture were established based on projects which bring together education, research and services offered to the community.
“It is important that in 2023 we continue to develop organizational culture courses and to prepare the current leaders who contribute to the educational marist tradition. This will strengthen corporative identity ties between the three main elements: the brand, the work team, and, mainly, our educational community,” Ana Gabriela states.
For João Fett, RIMES’s Executive Secretary, investing in the quality of relationships with the primary interlocutors was a core commitment made by the Director Board. “We prioritize the strengthening of ties with our partner institutions, especially with their leaderships and communicators, with the hope of letting our purpose be known and establishing our personality as a Network. The possibilities of rapprochement and exchange with other confessional networks of higher education were equally favorable,” he stresses.
In November, RIMES took part in the XIII Meeting of the Association of La Salle Universities, discussing the protagonism in the future of higher education and the cooperation between confessional networks as a promising path to follow.
Synergistic paths for 2023
In 2023, RIMES intends on strengthening even more the ties with partner institutions, showing them the added value and the advantages of being a part of an International Network with a broad and diverse scope of operation, consolidated in several countries. For this year, the work plan stipulates the short, medium and long-term development of strategic projects, like mapping centers of excellence in partner institutions, creating a program to form leaderships and implement a sustainable model for funding of the Network. Actions directed at communication and relationship are also expected, enabling visibility and expansion of operations before strategic interlocutors.
About the Marist International Network of Higher Education
The Marist International Network of Higher Education (RIMES) consists in the union of over 20 institutions and, in accordance with the premises of the General Administration of the Institute of the Marist Brothers, in Rome, intends to create connections of synergy and operations in its mission spaces. Having been founded in 2004, this network aims at creating opportunities of partnerships, qualification and joint projects, maximizing operations in higher education in over 10 countries.
Learn more about the Network here.
