Universidad Politecnica Salesiana (UPS) is the venue of the 8th IUS (Salesian institutions of Higher Education) America Conference, the opening ceremony was held in our branch campus in Quito and attended by Alfredo Espinoza, Archbishop of Quito; Marcelo Farfán, General Coordinator of IUS; Francisco Sánchez, Inspector of Salesians in Ecuador and Chancellor of UPS; Javier Herrán, President of UPS and Mario Olmos, Coordinator of IUS - America. Salesian inspectors from Chile, Carlos Andrés Lira, from Colombia, John Jairo Gómez and from Bolivia, Javier Ortiz also attended.

The conference is a continental meeting of great importance in Latin America, it is made up of academic authorities from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Argentina, El Salvador, Bolivia, Chile and Guatemala, who will review the common IUS program, ratify joint actions and create networks. "There are 29 IUS in this part of the world with around 110,000 students", said Fr. Farfán.

"UPS is honored to host the VIII IUS Conference. Its organization has been a motivation for teachers and administrators of the University who have a field of learning proposals in a Salesian context and with Latin American identity", said Javier Herran.

Marcelo Farfan said the challenge is to continue having a common ground in diverse contexts, which is characteristic of each society. "The common challenges are how to combine sustainability with economics, defining a university educational model, salesian identity, pastoral activities in the university, encourage research and internationalization of salesian universities", he said.

Mario Olmos said they will work on three main topics: the challenge of giving poor people priority treatment and analyze sustainability in institutions, respond to the new challenges of a digital world and pastoral activities in pedagogical models. Pablo Farfan, UPS professor, presented the keynote speech "The future of salesian higher education in the digital world", he said IUS must develop social intelligence and digital interaction based on intelligence + research + development + innovation in a context of salesian identity. 

As part of the opening ceremony, attendees watched a video created by Audiovisuales Don Bosco to commemorate the university's 25th anniversary. Alfredo Espinoza, Archbishop of Quito, celebrated mass; "I wish you the best so you can our students", he said. 

Watch the inauguration of the conference: