Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences Auxilium

The Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences «Auxilium» is an ecclesiastical Faculty which was founded canonically at the Istituto delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice (Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians or Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco) in 1970.

Its origins date back to 1954, when the Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice founded the International Higher Institute of Pedagogy and Religious Studies in Turin, which was recognised and approved by the Sacred Congregation for Religious in 1956.

In 1966, by Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities, the Institute was incorporated into the Higher Institute of Pedagogy at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome. The legal and academic ties between the two bodies were later redefined so that by 1970 the «Auxilium» had its own statutes. To this day, however, the Faculty's Chancellor, the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, also heads the Salesian Pontifical University.

In 1978, the Faculty moved its headquarters to Rome. Faithful to the original inspiration and guidance of the Magisterium of the Church, it is committed to understanding the requests for training from different cultures in order to provide adequate responses and new perspectives. With the Holy See becoming a signatory of the Bologna Process, the Faculty is working to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher education, aiming to foster mutual recognition of training courses.

The «Auxilium» continues to carry out its academic mission with the practicality and vision typical of the Salesian approach, a heritage which the University preserves and develops.

The Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences «Auxilium» fosters and promotes research in the field of educational sciences and trains researchers, teachers and professionals, at various levels, in the field of education.

Following a Christian perspective and aiming to help people fully achieve their potential, the Faculty believes that philosophy and theology play a fundamental role in well-balanced training in the field of educational sciences.

The Faculty's understanding of educational sciences respects the different dimensions of education, approaching it from various angles - philosophical, theological, psychological, sociological, historical, legal, methodological and communicative.

The Faculty therefore offers general teacher training, together with specialised study in one of the fields of educational sciences. In keeping with Don Bosco's principles of Christian humanism in education, the Faculty studies the educational issues related to infancy, childhood and adolescence, with special attention on the development of women. Auxilium is a leading Faculty for the training of education professionals.

The Faculty operates primarily in the fields of training, study and research, and has the following aims:

• To maintain its position as a leading training institution for education professionals through constant innovation in the training provided and in the teaching and learning strategies applied;
• To provide comprehensive training in the field of educational sciences;
• To train both lay and religious students within the context of the new evangelism, preparing them for intercultural and interreligious dialogue;
• To be involved in the international scientific community as a significant point of reference for reflection and research in the field of education;
• To promote humanism which comprehensively protects and educates individuals, using development and innovation to empower women and young people.