AFRICA/UGANDA - 21st GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES: NEW TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN PROGRESS. COMMITMENT AND RESPONSIBILITY

Thursday, 17 July 2003

Rome (Fides Service) – Every three years the International Federation of Catholic Universities IFCU, which has about 200 member universities in various parts of the world, holds a general Assembly. This year the meeting will take place in Entebbe Uganda from 21 –26 July and the theme for reflection will be: “ New Technologies and Human Progress: The Commitment of the Catholic Universities”. The meeting will offer participants a chance to reflect together on certain present day problems which are a challenge for Catholic institutes of higher education. New technology refers to those relative to information, communication and life.
Among the objectives to be examined, the African network of Catholic Universities, latest information technology, bio-technology, with special attention for genetically modified organisms and their multiple application in our daily life, in the sectors of food, farming, health and environment. The assembly will strive above all to understand better the scientific and ethic aspects.
The assembly will consider the advantages and disadvantages of Information Technology, IT. To speak of IT means to speak of the Internet and the possibilities it offers, and seeing that the Assembly will be held in Africa, special attention will be given to IT as a tool for development in the university context and in general. It is said that IT in general and the Internet in particular can break the isolation of university students and compensate delay in the field of information on the part of universities in developing countries. Moreover it is a common opinion that IT can improve access to higher education. Nevertheless the IT revolution is not entirely positive and its progress can lead to problems. During the Assembly a whole day will be devoted to the new technologies which involve the human being: after nuclear energy and IT, biotechnology is in fact the object of the third technological revolution of this century. AP (Fides Service 17/7/2003 EM lines 28 Words: 341)


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