Department of Missions

The Advisory Department ensures the consistency and growth of the Missions model:

• Monitors and evaluates each programme, ensuring that it is aligned with UFV’s mission statement and educational objectives.

• Designs and proposes new Mission initiatives, aligned with the real needs and specific priorities of each department.

• Facilitates the administrative and management processes and protocols necessary for the smooth operation of each programme, ensuring that all departments involved work in a coordinated and efficient manner.

Training is essential to ensure meaningful, responsible, and transformative mission experiences:

• We coordinate the training programs for all Missions initiatives.

• We foster the School for Trainer Training, aimed at the leaders and trainers of missionary teams.

• We produce publications that support training before, during, and after missions, offering resources that enrich the preparation, accompaniment, and final reflection of students and trainers.

• We support trainers by offering them spaces for reflection, listening, and support to give meaning to their work and strengthen their capacity for guidance.

• We help them integrate the missionary experience into their educational practice and university life, promoting a servant and conscious leadership style.

• We advise on the management and organization of all UFV Missions groups.

• We seek funding, sponsorships, and resources to facilitate project development.

• We are launching new projects in various countries to provide more opportunities for students.

The academic dimension of the Misiones project also includes a commitment to applied research, focusing particularly on the areas of poverty, hunger, sustainability, and comprehensive human development.

Through the UFV Research Group on Poverty, Hunger, and Sustainability, reflection, interdisciplinary dialogue, and the production of knowledge are promoted to better understand the realities in which we work and to generate transformative solutions.

The commitment to disseminating knowledge and experiences from Misiones is also reflected in various publications promoted by UFV.

Among them, the following stand out:

• “Miradas de Julio” – UFV Editorial, a book that brings together reflections, testimonies, and humanistic perspectives related to experiences of service, the meaning of suffering, human dignity, and social commitment.

• “International Solidarity Missions.” UFV Publishing. International Solidarity Missions – UFV Publishing

More than 3,000 students have already participated in UFV Missions. Each year, new missionaries join, consolidating a university culture of commitment, service, and reflection that encompasses all faculties, graduate programs, alumni, CETYS, Colegio Mayor, and ELU.

Dozens of professors and trainers actively participate in preparing, accompanying, and monitoring missionary teams. This experience allows them to renew their educational vocation, share lessons learned, and strengthen UFV's teaching and humanistic identity.

The Department promotes effective coordination between all university faculties and services. The Missions have become a joint project that brings together different disciplines, fostering networking and a sense of university community.

UFV Missions represent a pioneering model of comprehensive education, combining academic learning, social commitment, and personal reflection. No other university offers a program of this kind, with comprehensive support before, during, and after the experience.

The scope of the project is growing beyond Spain. More and more institutions and universities in the international network linked to UFV are requesting support to replicate the UFV Missions model, recognizing it as a benchmark in transformative education and university social responsibility.

The Missions consolidate the UFV educational model and reinforce the commitment of the entire university community to the mission of educating to transform the world from within, promoting a common identity based on fraternity, service, and the pursuit of the common good.

Through the UFV Missions, Francisco de Vitoria University raises its profile in the contexts where we work—universities and communities in Africa, Latin America, and Asia—by showcasing our model of holistic education and our commitment to human and social development. In addition, we hold international meetings with organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union, and various embassies, where we share the experience and impact of the UFV Missions, thereby strengthening the university’s global presence and its role as an agent of transformation.

For over three decades, UFV Missions have maintained a steadfast commitment to collaboration with over 70 NGOs and Catholic Church institutions that serve the most vulnerable individuals. Through this joint work, thousands of individuals and communities in various countries have received accompaniment, support, and training.