Fortiores 2030 is the product of a year-long process of conversation, confluence, and co-creation. It integrated strategic thinking with our Ignatian spiritual practices of reflection and prayer.
It drew inspiration from the Church synodal ways-of-proceeding, a legacy of Pope Francis.
The Strategic Planing Process
Fortiores 2030 crafted the following statements that elicit resonance, commitment, and excitement for our shared future:
Our Identity presents who we are, essentially.
Our Vision describes what we aim to build as a University.
Our Mission is our reason-for-being: it focuses our distinct role in forging the Vision.
Our Values define the foundations of our thought, reflection, and action.
Our Strategic Commitments frame our strategic choices, themes, and thrusts.
Our Strategic Initiatives identify major specific actions needed for operational planning.
Together, they give life to Fortiores 2030, to guide our being and doing, to facilitate our synergy, to keep us inspired in community and mission.
The Ateneo de Davao University is a Catholic, Jesuit, and Filipino University.
As a University, it is a community engaged in excellent instruction, holistic formation, robust research, and vibrant community service.
As Catholic, it proceeds ex corde ecclesiae, from the heart of the Catholic Church.
As Jesuit, it lives out the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and the global mission of the Society of Jesus.
As Filipino, it commits to the Philippines’ attainment of peace, social justice, democracy, and sustainable development, with focus on Mindanao.
A world of global citizens in solidarity and community, inspired by their faith, working for peace, social justice, democracy, and sustainable development.
A nation rooted in God-centered values and empowering culture, with democratic leaders and engaged citizens forging a just, prosperous, sustainable, and peaceful society.
A Mindanao that enjoys sustainable peace and development, thriving in the diversity of its cultures and faith traditions.
We in the Ateneo de Davao University educate students through excellent academic instruction, robust research and innovation, and vibrant community engagement and advocacy for social transformation. Our education is rooted in the formation of values that are based on our Christian, Catholic, Ignatian, and Jesuit tradition. We aim to produce discerning leaders and citizens distinguished by their character, competence, compassion, conscience, courage, cultural-rootedness, and commitment to community and the common good.
Our Values
The Ateneo de Davao University as institution and community is defined by its values. Our values encompass seven aspects of care. These serve as the foundations of our life and mission, our love and service, our ways of proceeding.
We care for the holistic formation, growth, and wellbeing of the individual human person, in mind, heart, body, and spirit. We uphold the fundamental value of human life and human dignity. Our work of education is essentially formative and transformative of the intellectual, psychological, relational, affective, social, physical, and spiritual dimensions of authentic humanism.
2. CURA COMMUNITATIS (Care of Community)
We care for the nurturing of relationships toward building community. We respect and uphold diversity, and we work for unity in purpose and action, among all members of the University, and with external partners in mission. We deepen community life as “friends-in-the-Lord,” through commitment, collaboration, conversation, and celebration.
3. CURA SOCIETATIS (Care of Society)
We care for society and its transformation toward our vision. Our ADDU education is essentially societal at different levels: Davao, Mindanao, the Philippines, and the world. We engage society through service and its various dimensions: social justice, empowerment of the poor, peacebuilding, civic participation, protection of human rights and democracy, advocacy for structural transformation, and the witness of responsible power for service of the common good, all grounded in Catholic social teachings.
4. CURA NATURAE (Care of Nature)
We care for our Earth, our Common Home, our sustainable future. Inspired by the call of Pope Francis (Laudato Si, Laudato Deum), we commit to protecting our global and local environment through environmental protection, sustainable resource management, climate change activism, and a spirituality of stewardship.
5. CURA APOSTOLICAE (Care of the Apostolate)
We care for the apostolate, our means of being “apostles” or followers of Christ, which is through our work in the educational and intellectual apostolate. With humility, we nurture our role as facilitators of academic excellence, teachers of faith and ethics, exemplars of truth and virtue. We form ourselves and others as prophetic and servant leaders. We journey with fellow educators and formators in the Church global mission of Catholic education.
6. CURA ECCLESIAE (Care of the Church)
We care for the Church and its pastoral mission of evangelization. We respond to the call of Pope Francis to evangelize the Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium) through our institutional mission. This inspires our work with the Local Church in Davao, extending to the Philippines, Asia, and the world, in communion with others (local clergy, religious organizations, lay faithful), in a spirit of synodality and profound interfaith dialogue.
7. CURA MISSIONIS SOCIETATIS IESU (Care of the Mission of the Society of Jesus)
We care for the Society of Jesus, its ministries, and its global mission. We are rooted in Ignatian spirituality and its principles of discernment, companionship, magnanimity (magis), interiority, humility, and transcendence. We belong to the global community of Jesuits and lay colleagues co-discerning the signs of the times and its universal apostolic preferences. Through the diverse ministries of the Society of Jesus worldwide, we engage the world and its complexity, with the strength and courage of faith (Fortes in Fide).
Our Strategic Commitments
Fortiores 2030 directs the University toward seven Strategic Commitments. Three Goal Commitments, three Institutional Development Commitments, and one Process Commitment define our strategic directions.
Our Three Goal Commitments
1. Produce Discerning and Adaptive Leaders (DAL)
We shall form our students with the depth, strength, and stability of our values, identity, vision, and mission, ready to face the turbulent VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world. They shall be leaders who are discerning of the signs of the times, open to continuous and lifelong learning, adaptive to the rapidly changing world of work, agile and capable in developing new skills and competencies needed in the 21st century and beyond.
2. Engage Communities as Prophetic Leaders and Citizens (PLC)
We shall engage communities as prophetic leaders and citizens: courageous in proclamation and critique, with the Gospel as our reference, and the Kingdom of God as our vision. We shall nurture a humble stance of helping build God-centered structures, systems, and processes, while denouncing those that counter our values and principles. This prophetic role applies to our work in community engagement and advocacy, in spheres of social justice, ethical governance, civic participation, peacebuilding, environmental activism, and democratic politics.
3. Deepen our Work in Peace and Development of Mindanao (PDM)
We shall recommit to our mission in Mindanao through our continuing engagement with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the Indigenous Peoples (IPs), and marginalized communities. All our initiatives will be planned with this priority perspective of transforming Mindanao toward sustainable peace and progress, through its vibrant culture and arts, interfaith dialogue, contextual theology, local development initiatives, socio-economic development, environmental protection, international diplomacy and security, and others.
Our Three Institutional Development Commitments
4. Advance Digital Capabilities and Innovation (DCI)
We shall advance the University in digitalization, technology, and innovation, ensuring human-centered, ethical, and sustainable digital transformation. By integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics, cybersecurity, and hybrid learning, we shall foster equitable access to technology, faculty and student digital literacy, and mission-driven innovation. This will also integrate our best features in science, engineering, environment, management, entrepreneurship, social sciences, and the liberal arts.
5. Integrate Teaching, Research, and Community Engagement (TRC)
We shall tighten the integration of teaching, research, and community engagement toward greater impact in our goal commitments. Academic departments, research units, and community engagement initiatives will work more closely together, aligning themselves in
unifying frameworks like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), interdisciplinarity, and University vision and mission.
6. Strengthen Local and International Partnerships (LIP)
We shall make partnerships and networking more integral to our mission. We shall pursue more strategic collaborations like those within the Jesuit global network, local and international educational and development institutions, government bodies and agencies, industries and business organizations, local and global Church, civil society, and diverse communities of peoples and cultures. Through this, we will foster the necessary link of global and local perspectives, realities, and impact.
Our Process Commitment
7. Institutionalize Processes that are Strategic, Synodal, and Spiritual (SSS)
We shall institutionalize processes and practices that are strategic, synodal, and spiritually grounded in our Ignatian and Jesuit culture and tradition. Our central administration shall manage our human, financial, and material resources with strategic operational efficiency and stewardship balanced with communal discernment, collaboration, gender sensitivity, and social inclusivity. Our institutional leadership shall strive to flow with the Church call for synodality, journeying together in faith, committed to and effective in our mission for God, our country, and our people.
(1) This diagram translates our core values into action. It includes three primary goals: to produce discerning and adaptive leaders, to engage communities as prophetic leaders and citizens, and to deepen peace and development efforts in Mindanao. Supporting these goals are three institutional development commitments: advancing digital innovation, integrating teaching, research, and community engagement, and strengthening local and international partnerships. At the core is a process commitment to institutionalize processes that are strategic, synodal, and spiritual, ensuring alignment with Jesuit governance and principles.
(2) This diagram shows how these strategic commitments are interconnected. It emphasizes that leadership, community engagement, and Mindanao peacebuilding are closely linked with digital growth, academic integration, and partnerships. The process commitment anchors these efforts, ensuring consistency and cohesion across all strategic actions.
(3) This diagram emphasizes the flow of influence and integration. Here, the synodal, strategic, and spiritual processes are shown as the starting point, from which arrows extend outward toward the institutional development commitments (digital innovation, academic integration, and partnerships). These, in turn, channel their influence into the goal commitments. This visual structure highlights that all university strategies are initiated, shaped, and sustained by the foundational processes, ensuring coherence, direction, and depth in the implementation of Fortiores 2030.
Our Strategic Initiatives
Strategic Initiatives translate each Strategic Commitment into general targets. These are needed for operational planning of units, councils, departments, and offices of the University.
1. Produce Discerning and Adaptive Leaders (DAL)
1.1. Updated and operationalized Profile of the Ideal ADDU Graduate, which integrates the following: ADDU Values, Vision, Mission, Blue Knight Leadership Framework, 21st century skills and competencies, Jesuit philosophy and theology, and others.
1.2. Students who have undergone continuing formation on (1.1), in both co-curricular (e.g. service learning) and extra-curricular (student organizations) dimensions.
1.3. Faculty and staff formed and trained in (1.1), who have integrated (1.1) in their teaching and formation work.
1.4. Revitalized curriculum responsive to the rapidly changing needs of life and work.
2. Engage Communities as Prophetic Leaders and Citizens (PLC)
2.1. Community engagement and advocacy programs of centers with clear strategic plans aligned with prophetic leadership and citizenship.
2.2. Student leaders, faculty, staff, and alumni who are more involved in societal issues related to democracy, ethical governance, human rights, peace, social justice, and environmental protection.
2.3. University events and programs that address social and political issues related with prophetic leaders and citizens.
2.4. A Center for strategic engagement in
the reform of the educational system based on the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) findings on the Philippine learning crisis.
3. Deepen our Work in Peace and Development of Mindanao (PDM)
3.1. Formulation of strategic plan for our work in Davao and Mindanao.
3.2. Curriculum review across all academic units on the integration of Mindanao history and situation.
3.3. More research and community engagement and advocacy initiatives focused on our strategic plan for Mindanao.
3.4. Strategic plans and directions for our work with the following partners in Davao and Mindanao: BARMM government, Davao City local government and other local governments in Davao and Mindanao, the Mindanao Development Authority, Davao Association of Catholic Schools, Davao Colleges and Universities Network, Davao Medical School Foundation, St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute, and others.
4. Advance Digital Capabilities and Innovation (DCI)
4.1. A University-wide Digital Transformation Roadmap, with specifics on hybrid learning, data management, resource generation and allocation, capability-building, re-skilling, benchmarking, technology access and equity, and systems change.
4.2. A University policy on AI use in education, covering aspects like ethics and boundaries.
4.3. Mainstreamed innovation initiatives in instruction, research, engagement, and administration through the ADDVentures Innovation Center and the development of programs in aerospace, robotics, renewable energy, business and social entrepreneurship, computer studies, natural sciences, and technology.
5. Integrate Teaching, Research, and Community Engagement (TRC)
5.1. Strategic review of the University Research Council (URC) and the University Community Engagement and Advocacy Council (UCEAC), their structures, processes, and programs, toward alignment with Fortiores 2030.
5.2. Strategic and Operational Plans for all University Centers and Institutes in the URC and UCEAC with their corresponding academic departments, units, and offices, toward greater integration of teaching, research, and community engagement.
5.3. Instruction, research, and community engagement programs are planned, implemented, monitored, and evaluated based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) framework, interdisciplinarity, and University vision, mission, and values.
5.4. Deepened capabilities of faculty and students in teaching, research, and community engagement, separately and as integrated, individually and collaboratively.
5.5. Revised institutional mechanisms like work loading and rank and promotion to facilitate performance of integrated teaching, research, and community engagement.
5.6. Systematic integration of innovation in Teaching, Research, and Community Engagement.
6. Strengthen Local and International Partnerships (LIP)
6.1. University-wide partnership framework, ensuring scalability, impact, and alignment with Fortiores 2030, including Strategic Plans for the Ateneo Internationalization for Mindanao Office, the Office for Pathways for Institutional Advancement and Alumni Engagement, and local partnerships of academe, industry, government, and civil society.
6.2. Systematic mapping and management of partners across sectors and disciplines, including intensified donor and alumni relations, joint program and project agreements, vibrant cross-sector collaborations, and participation in Jesuit networks (Society of Jesus Educational Apostolate, Jesuit Higher Education Commission, Jesuit Basic Education Commission, Mindanao Consortium of Ateneos, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities in Asia Pacific, International Association of Jesuit Universities, and others).
6.3. More organized and mobilized ADDU alumni and basic education family (e.g. parents, guardians) networks committed to Fortiores 2030.
6.4. Expanded participation of faculty, staff, and students in local and international educational, social, and cultural exchanges.
7. Institutionalize Processes that are Strategic, Synodal, and Spiritual (SSS)
7.1. A University community formed and mentored in the ways of strategic thinking and management, synodality, and spirituality in the Christian, Catholic, and Ignatian tradition; this includes formation and training in strategic, synodal, and spiritual leadership and management; strategic alignment of the Ignatian Spirituality and Formation Office and the Office of Strategic Management and Quality Assurance.
7.2. Central administration (university governance, leadership, human resource, finance, physical plant, academic administration, information technology, quality assurance, planning and management) is strategic and sustainable in its operations, synodal in its processes, and spiritually-discerning in its decision making; strategic alignment of the Office of the President, the Offices of the Executive Vice President, Vice President for Higher Education, Vice President for Basic Education, Vice President for Finance and Treasurer, Human Resource Management and Development Office, and others.
7.3. A University community united in its commitment to the values, vision, mission, and commitments of Fortiores 2030, with articulated individual and office roles and contributions to its fulfillment, celebrating with humility and gratitude its 77 years of mission, with strength of faith (Fortes in Fide), for the greater glory of God (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam).
Institutional Convocation and Presentation of the Fortiores 2030 Strategic Plan
13 June 2025
