FRIENDS Teahouse at SLU, Philippines
Intercultural Passport Exploitation – Endorsement Letter on Institutional Level
FRIENDS Reunion at SLU, August 2022
SLU conducted the FRIENDS Reunion event on 26 August 2022. The Reunion took place face-to-face and was attended by 112 participants, focused on the importance of cultural dialogue and relevance of intercultural engagement and global competence to student employability. This event is part of the internationalization initiatives at SLU prompted to embed SLU with Internationalization at Home strategy. The FRIENDS Reunion intended to educate the Louisan community about the accomplishments thus far of the project and to equip them with the essentials of intercultural awareness and cultural diversity knowledge, mindset, and work skills. The horizons of those who attend SLU should not be bound to the perimeters of the classroom and or campus but infinity and beyond. The FRIENDS Reunions event held by SLU helped to widen the perspectives of its audience on internationalization. This event provided a holistic development of the students to be equipped not only with academic expertise but also with a global mindset, knowledge, and skills for better graduate employability (FRIENDS Reunion Agenda, FRIENDS Reunion Programme Flyer, Event Short Video, Post-Event Evaluation Summary, FRIENDS Reunion Promo Poster, FRIENDS Reunion Script, FRIENDS Reunion Opening Speech at the Saint Louis University, Student Testimonial)
FRIENDS International and Intercultural Day at SLU, May and July 2021
On 7 May 2021, SLU organised the iCREaTE 2021 – International and Intercultural Day Festival. The celebration of unity and diversity was attended online by more than 1100 participants from 163 participating schools and local and foreign attendees. The event included country presenters from Nigeria, Indonesia, Yemen, Mongolia, Korea, Sudan, Thailand, Philippines, and China. During the event conducted under the FRIENDS project, two expert speakers delivered presentations on the topics of “Innovation through Internationalisation”, Ms Chrtistina Armutlieva from VUM, Bulgaria – the FRIENDS project coordinating institution, and “Increasing Access to Global Learning and Intercultural Awareness through Digitalisation”, Ms Ayse Deniz Ozkan from IAU in Turkey. The agenda of the International and Intercultural Festival at SLU could be found here.
In addition to this, another half-day event entitled “ASEAN International Festival” was held on 27 July 2021 as an online celebration of different countries and cultures. In addition, the IACD MOOC as one of the main components of the Intercultural Passports was discussed and presented. The topic of Whys & Wherefores of Multicultural Diversity was broadly discussed with the participants at the event and several presentations were provided as well. The agenda of the celebration could be found here.
Event Calendar (version as of July 2022)
Event Calendar (version as of May 2021)
Official Opening Event at SLU, November 2020
The launching of SLU FRIENDS Teahouse under the auspices of the External Relations, Media, and Communications, and Alumni Affairs (ERMCAA) Office was held on 25 November 2020 to coincide with SLU’s 109th foundation celebration. The physical setup was blessed by the President himself – Rev. Fr. Gilbert Sales. The Teahouse is located at the second floor of SLU’s Administrative Building in Baguio City and has a backdoor entrance for easy access of the students. The SLU FRIENDS Teahouse is an integral component of the University’s purposeful integration of intercultural dimensions into its formal and informal curricula. It aims to strengthen SLU internationalisation capabilities and to develop local and international students’ global competence. Moreover, the FRIENDS Teahouse provides to clients incl. faculty, staff, visitors, and even the alumni occasions for academic, research, and cultural exchanges. This commitment is also extended to SLU’s relevant partner communities to foster cooperation. Finally, the International Students Association (ISA) at SLU that became operational in September 2019 is now placed under the FRIENDS Teahouse’s supervision.
