Latest News

Tony Blair joins 1000s of students in Mexico for a live video discussion on faith and globalisation

Tecnológico de Monterrey is the first Latin American university – and the fifth in the world – to partner with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s Faith and Globalisation Initiative. This month the university began their version of the Faith and Globalisation course “Globalisation and Belief Systems”. One hundred and ninety five students from 8 different campuses around Mexico have enrolled in the course.

Today the academic community from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Latin American countries and Tony Blair will take part in a live discussion on faith in the modern world. They will also discuss the unique contributions and perspectives Mexico can bring to this course. The video conference will take place live at 11.00am (CDT) on 24th August 2010. The discussion will be available to watch on both the websites of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and Tecnologico de Monterrey after the event.

Tecnológico de Monterrey is already at the forefront of using technology to bring education to people wherever they are. Through its Virtual University, Tecnológico de Monterrey has been able to expand its academic coverage to more than 136 000 students on 31 campuses around Mexico and in 30 countries, which creates the exciting opportunity to involve thousands of people in discussing the crucial issues of faith and globalisation.

The “Globalisation and Belief Systems”course will be taught in an innovative combination of classroom and internet settings, made possible by Monterrey’s Virtual University. This exchange is therefore fitting and typical of the way the university conduct many of their classes. Students from all 8 campuses offering the “Globalisation and Belief Systems” course will be able to interact with one another through the Virtual University Given Mexico’s strong Catholic heritage, the course initially focuses on making students literate and aware of the world’s vast diversity of faith traditions, then moving on to exploring how these religions influence and interact with processes of globalization.

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s Faith and Globalisation Initiative brings together a network of leading universities across the world to try to understand how different religions interact with each other, the rest of the world, and with the forces of globalisation as they manifest themselves in different societies. It aims to help emerging leaders understand how faith can motivate and impact new trends in the modern world and highlights the implications to the wider world.

“I would like to welcome Tecnológico de Monterrey into my Foundation’s Faith and Globalisation Initiative. They are the first university from Latin America to join the network and we are very excited about the unique contributions and fresh perspectives they will bring to the course. They are already at the forefront of using technology to bring education to people wherever they are. There is huge potential for Tecnológico de Monterrey to ensure that right across the continent, we are involving thousands of people in discussing these crucial issues. I am eager to meet with the students and answer the questions they have for me on the course.” Tony Blair, Founder and Patron of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation

“We believe that our student´s awareness of the different belief systems that exist in the current context of our global society is a very important part of their preparation as citizens of the world.” Rafael Rangel Sostmann, President of Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Tecnológico de Monterrey joins the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s existing partners; Yale University in the US, the National University of Singapore, Durham University in the UK, McGill University in Canada and the University of Western Australia. Discussions are under way with leading universities in Australia, Africa and Europe to ensure the network is fully representative of different geographies and cultural tradition.