History
AN INITIATIVE OF THE FRENCH DOMINICANS
Domuni-Universitas was officially founded on November 21, 1998, following the simultaneous votes of the provincial council of the Dominican Province of Toulouse and that of the Dominican Province of France. These councils met in Toulouse to embark on a new venture: the creation of an online university. The Dominicans thus anticipated the emergence of the "digital continent," a concept that would become popular a few years later.
This project took shape and developed within the Dominican Order, a Catholic religious community founded by Saint Dominic in the 13th century, present on all continents and dedicated to preaching, teaching, and intellectual research.
The Dominicans played a crucial role in the development of medieval universities in Europe, and later in America and Asia. They have been influential teachers and administrators in many prestigious academic institutions. One of the most famous examples is Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican whose philosophical and theological writings have had a lasting impact on university education.
The Dominicans' commitment to teaching and the dissemination of knowledge is also evident today through initiatives like Domuni-Universitas, an online university that continues this tradition by adapting to new technological means to disseminate knowledge on a global scale.
The history of the creation of Domuni-Universitas illustrates its current functioning: communal, international, and online. Let's go back to the initial intuition...
ORIGINS IN PERU
In 1997, Brother Michel Van Aerde, a Dominican, directed the Bartolomé de Las Casas Center, an NGO focused on action-research in Cuzco, and discovered the beginnings of the Internet. At nearly 4,000 meters above sea level, in the heart of the Andes, he found himself in a context of great poverty and insecurity, worsened by the recent civil war led by the Shining Path group. The surrounding cities and villages were particularly isolated.
Even in its early stages, the Internet allowed breaking isolation and connecting to the most advanced centers of study and research. Michel Van Aerde, an agricultural engineer specializing in development, quickly perceived its great potential. He understood that true progress lay in supporting and including marginalized populations, thereby enabling collective growth and equitable development.
Initially, Domuni-Universitas was conceived for the most disadvantaged. This initially targeted those who lacked financial means or lived too far from a university or training center. It soon became clear that those who lacked time to travel and attend classes due to their professional obligations were also excluded from the traditional university system. As soon as it was necessary to work to meet one's needs, pursuing university studies became impossible.
The Dominicans have an ideal of diffusion manifested through their commitment to transmitting and sharing knowledge. Thanks to the Internet, Dominican teaching, once reserved for a minority, is now accessible to everyone, everywhere in the world. The Internet allows for pooling, sharing, and making available resources such as teachers, courses, research, documents, and a network of universities and research centers.
Since its creation, Domuni-Universitas has adopted a network university model. As Michel Van Aerde points out,
"The Dominican tradition is based on transmission and exchange. It was inevitable to encounter a technology promoting a horizontal exchange model."
The network university connects various institutions, teachers, researchers, and students worldwide. This model allows for pooling academic and pedagogical resources, thus offering accessible and flexible education.
TOULOUSE, THE STARTING POINT
Elected provincial of the Dominican Province of Toulouse in July 1997, Dominican Michel Van Aerde, back in Europe, presented his project to Hervé Ponsot, also a Dominican, a former student of HEC and an IT expert, who became enthusiastic about the idea.
The latter brought it to reality by finding the name DOMUNI, as in Dominican University, and creating the first site: Domuni-Universitas was born. Gradually, a network of professors, mainly consisting of Dominican teachers, formed and attracted a growing number of students.
Domuni-Universitas was registered with the rectorate of the Toulouse Academy (French Ministry of Higher Education) and officially became a French private higher education institution in 1999. An association was founded to manage the newly established institution.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLATFORM
The development of the platform took place in stages, with courses being gradually put online. Specific programs were then created, accompanied by the formation of dedicated teaching teams to welcome and support students.
Since 2005, Domuni has integrated into the European Higher Education Area by adopting the Bologna norms, including the use of ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits.
The ECTS is a credit system used in the European Higher Education Area to facilitate the recognition and transfer of studies between institutions in different countries. They are a standardized unit of measure for the workload of students for courses and programs.
UNIVERSITY NETWORKING
Adopting the Bologna norms and the ECTS system allowed Domuni-Universitas to enter into agreements with other universities, facilitating the mutual recognition of credits, student and teacher exchanges, and the creation of joint degree programs.
Continually supported by the General Chapters and responding to the requests of locally established Dominicans, Domuni-Universitas has continued its development on the scale of the Dominican Order, opening programs in English, Spanish, Italian, and Arabic, in addition to the French model.
The participation of partner universities in Europe and other regions of the world has helped expand the academic network and enrich the online training offer.
GROWTH AND CURRENT STRUCTURE
To provide quality support to each student and teacher, the institution has structured itself into three faculties and two interfaculty institutes. It has also created a publishing house and a research institute.
Equipped with academic statutes and adapted governance, as well as a quality assurance system, Domuni-Universitas offers multilingual services and bodies, operating in a collaborative network, thus embodying the "Domuni spirit."