
(Istituto Universitario Salesiano de Venezia, Italia) – The Salesian University Institute of Venice (IUSVE), part of the Salesian Don Bosco complex in Mestre, celebrated its ‘Dies Academicus’ on the afternoon of Thursday, 19 February 2026, in the university’s Aula Magna, as an encounter, reflection and sharing of academic life and a formal act of opening the new Academic Year.
There were two new features that characterised the 2026 edition: the invovlement of students and teachers in the organisation of the entire event and the delivery of criteria for the use of artificial intelligence, criteria which, in the coming months, will lead to the definition of guidelines drawn up by a commission with the active involvement of students, as a concrete expression of educational co-responsibility.
‘The co-construction of the Dies Academicus and the shared launch of a process aimed at generating ethical, scientific and institutional guidance for the use of Artificial Intelligence in the university environment,’ said the Director of IUSVE, Fr Nicola Giacopini, ‘express our way of being an academic community: a place where students and teachers think together about the present and take responsibility for the future together.’
It was an afternoon that intertwined thoughts, experiences and perspectives, oriented towards looking to the future with responsibility and hope. The opening address, entitled ‘Drawing new maps of hope. Living in the present, inhabited by the future’, was accompanied by speeches by the Director of IUSVE, Prof. Giacopini, Prof. Domenico Simeone of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, and Prof. Flavio Ceravolo of the University of Pavia.
During the inauguration of the academic year, the annual report on the activities of the university and some experiences of the IUSVE community were also presented, and merit awards, scholarships and Lions Club Mestre Host thesis awards were presented. The day ended with the Solemn Academic Ceremony proclaiming the start of the new academic year and a convivial moment that renewed the bonds of fraternity among all those present.

Source: ANS – “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana”
