Salesians Sarrià has participated for another year in a top-level global educational project. The MISTI Global Teaching Labs, an initiative of the prestigious United States university, has included the Catalan school among the centers selected to collaborate jointly. In this way, the excellence of Salesians Sarrià and its International Baccalaureate is recognized. In Catalonia, the program is coordinated by the La Caixa Foundation.
The program selects schools from 25 countries on 5 continents. In the last edition, it mobilized 400 students from the last courses of MIT. The objective is to give students the opportunity to interact with young university students from the environment of the Massachusetts technology center.
MIT is one of the most prestigious entities in the world in the field of innovation and research, as well as in entrepreneurship. A recent study estimates that MIT alumni have launched more than 30,000 companies and created 4.6 million jobs. Among its faculty there are about 80 Nobel Prize winners, 52 National Medal of Science, 45 Rhodes Scholars and 38 MacArthur Fellows.
Thus, for three weeks in the months of January and February, Salesians Sarrià has had a luxury professor: a student from the last year of MIT, specialized in Computer
The classes, which are taught in English, provide first-hand knowledge of MIT teaching methods, focused on problem solving. All sessions take place with the Hands-On methodology, a multisensory approach that stimulates curiosity, experience, knowledge and retention. In this way, both centers (MIT and Salesians Sarrià) come together to share an educational experience of great academic value. The visiting professor is Ashar Farooq, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Economics and Data Science. To facilitate his immersion in the local culture, he has stayed with the family of a student from the center.
The students of the Salesians Sarrià International Baccalaureate already use English in some subjects as part of their training. “It is about giving students the tools to develop in an increasingly global environment, where interculturality and international experiences are a basic element,” explains Montse Llorens, coordinator of International Entrepreneurship Projects at Salesians Sarrià.
The school has previously participated in all kinds of international experiences and innovation, and has received different awards and recognitions for its work in this field. Salesians Sarrià has already won the Educaixa Challenge twice. The last one, this last academic year, with a project prepared by International Baccalaureate students that was selected, among 1,400 works submitted, and that will take the winning students to Silicon Valley.
Similarly, a group of students participated in the Barcelona New Economy Week, after winning the Youth Start European Entrepreneurship Award for the best entrepreneurs in Europe. Finally, another group from the Baccalaureate obtained the Blanquerna Impulsa award for their innovative work.
In addition, the teachers regularly attend international training and experiences and each year renew their official seal of Multilingual School.
