SUMMER SCHOOL

Study and research are, to a large extent, solitary endeavors. However, sharing their fruits is a profoundly communal experience: horizons broaden, love of learning takes root, and the treasure of knowledge –along with the passion for its discovery– spreads and renews itself. For many of us, the longing for the light of truth that rejuvenates the soul was born precisely from encounters with those who live in and from that same spirit.

The university is, by its very nature, the ideal place for such encounters. However, the routine it imposes –with its exams, reports, committee meetings and other administrative tasks– can sometimes dull what originally sparked the desire to attend university. The Juniper-Summer and Dwelling-Winter Schools seek to rekindle that desire by offering an environment of free expression and constant exchange, animated by camaraderie and friendship.

Set to take place in February, the Wacholder Sommerschule, or Juniper-Summer School, opens its doors to students and teachers alike, focusing on a topic of genuine academic interest. There will be presentations, panel discussions and recreational activities that promote dialogue and interaction. An osmotic experience to start the year with a welcoming spirit.

2026 EDITION

SEE OLDER EDITIONS

2026 EDITION

THE UNIVERSITY OF TODAY AND INTELLECTUAL VITALITY

Is the university the place for big questions?
Can we discuss the big issues at the university?
Is the university still a place for thinking?
Does today’s university satisfy intellectual curiosity?

This Summer School aims to reflect on the importance of universities once again becoming places to raise and discuss the great questions of existence with the utmost intellectual rigor and respect for individuals. The initial hypothesis is that the standardization of studies and university degrees according to “market” demands, on the one hand, and a pedagogy obsessed with constant “innovation,” on the other, are antagonistic to the development of a university vocation, characterized by the desire to learn, intellectual curiosity, a passion for deep conversation, and the collective search for truth and its transmission. The distancing—or outright suppression—of the love of truth and the resulting programmatic suppression of intelligence would also be responsible for both student boredom and the growing bourgeoisification of professions, including teaching. These ills can afflict public and private universities, secular and religious ones alike.

The proposal includes panels and presentations on these topics:

Professional training and what else. Intelligence of ends and means.
The rationality of the big questions.
The academic vocation. The false dichotomy between quantitative positivism and relativistic hermeneutics.
Academic career vs. intellectual curiosity.
The measurement of quality and truth as the ultimate horizon.
Pedagogy or pedagogism?

Boredom in studies: causes, opportunities, and remedies.
God and religion in public universities: conviction, conformity,
indifference?
Diversity and pluralism in religious universities.
Para-university institutions: academies, schools, institutes, etc.