Instruction on the Aggregation of Institutes of Higher Studies (8 December 2020)

CONGREGATION FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION
(for Educational Institutions)

_________________________________

Instruction on the Aggregation of Institutes of Higher Studies

The aggregation of institutes of higher studies is encouraged by His Holiness Pope Francis’ Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium, which lists the basic criteria for renewing and relaunching ecclesiastical studies for a missionary Church which goes forth. One of these criteria “concerns the urgent need for ‘networking’ between those institutions worldwide that cultivate and promote ecclesiastical studies, in order to set up suitable channels of cooperation” (VG, Foreword, 4, d). This shows the demanding responsibility placed on the various disciplines foreseen by ecclesiastical studies, as well as on the institutions themselves.

Following the promulgation of the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana (15 April 1979), the Congregation for Catholic Education published its Normae de Instituti Theologici Aggregatione (23 June 1993), which were to be used for the other Faculties too (q.v. note 1). After the promulgation of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium (8 December 2017) and the attached Norms of Application (27 December 2017), the Congregation for Catholic Education, drawing on its experience and the invaluable observations that it has received, “to promote with thoughtful and prophetic determination the renewal of ecclesiastical studies at every level, as part of the new phase of the Church’s mission” (VG, Foreword, 1), hereby issues this Instruction on aggregations of institutes of higher studies to ecclesiastical Faculties, to provide both for the on-going progress of the said institutes and their suitable distribution in the various parts of the world.

General Norms

I. Canonical Basis for an Institute’s Aggregation

Art. 1. The aggregation of an institute is governed by article 64 of the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium and by articles 15 § 1 and 51 §§ 1 and 3 of the Norms of Application attached to the same Constitution, as well as on what is defined and described in this Instruction, taking into account the law as hitherto applied in ecclesiastical Faculties (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 1 § 1).

II. Notion and Specific Nature of an Aggregation

Art. 2. The aggregation of an institute, which is different from an affiliation or incorporation (cf. VG, Norms of Application, art. 50-51), is its linking to an ecclesiastical Faculty with the aim of attaining, via the Faculty, the corresponding academic degrees of the first and second cycles, i.e., the baccalaureate and the licentiate (q.v. VG, art. 51 § 1).

Art. 3. The aggregated institute is open to all, ecclesiastics or laity, who may be suitably enrolled in the corresponding cycle of an ecclesiastical Faculty as regards the studies they have already completed and their moral conduct, and can legally give testimony to the same (q.v. VG, art. 31; Norms of Application, art. 26).

Art. 4. It the aggregating Faculty’s task and duty to assist and diligently oversee the aggregated institute, so that the latter’s academic life is fully and regularly conducted. For that to happen more easily, the aggregation is usually to be established within the same region.

Art. 5. The program of studies at the aggregated institute must be harmonized with the norms of the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium and the attached Norms of Application, for that which regards the aggregating Faculty’s first and second cycles. The condition and nature of the aggregated institute’s studies are properly academic and scientific, just as those of the aggregating Faculty’s first and second cycles.

III. Academic Conditions of the Aggregated Institute

Art. 6. The aggregation cannot be granted unless the institute possesses the necessary requirements for attaining the academic degrees of the first and second cycles. In fact, only in this way can there be a well-grounded hope that, via the connection with the Faculty, the desired aim can really be achieved (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 51 § 3). In this regard, the following points are to be observed:

§ 1. One must accurately reflect whether the institute’s creation is necessary or at least truly useful, and whether it cannot be substituted for in other ways.

§ 2. The number and quality of the institute’s teachers must be such as to be able to satisfy the conditions of both the basic-level first cycle and the specialized second cycle.

§ 3. All teachers must have gained an appropriate doctorate (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 19); have shown themselves suitable for scientific research with published works that demonstrate this (q.v. VG, art. 25 §, 3°); and must be free from other, incompatible duties (q.v. VG, art. 29).

§ 4. There should be a suitable number of ordinary students.

§ 5. The institute must have proper academic facilities, including information facilities and technical audio-visual equipment. In the first place, it must have a library (with subscriptions to electronic databases) that fulfils the academic requirements of the second cycle.

Art. 7. The weekly hours of lessons, exercises and seminars, completed during each student’s personal study and work, must be sufficient to attain the number of formative credits suitable for a year of full-time university studies.

Art. 8. § 1. The means of governing the aggregated institute must be determined in the particular Statutes approved by the Faculty Council (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 14) and then by the Congregation for Catholic Education (q.v. VG, art. 7), making sure that they do not conflict with what is prescribed in the Statutes of the Faculty or University. The academic authorities of the Faculty, both personal and collegial (q.v. VG, art. 15), are ipso iure academic authorities of the aggregated institute, to which one must add the particular authorities who are, at a minimum, the Moderator (the Ordinary of the place, Hierarch or Major Superior), the Director (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 15 § 1) and the institute’s Council Members. The duties and offices of all these authorities must be defined in the Statutes (q.v. VG, art. 11 § 3).

§ 2. The appointment of the Director requires confirmation from the Congregation for Catholic Education, including for any renewal of his or her mandate.

§ 3. It is the Director’s duty to transmit electronically to the Dean of the Faculty (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 17, 6°), whatever is needed for the annual updating of the Congregation for Catholic Education’s database.

Art. 9. If the aggregated institute is joined to a major seminary or college, the Statutes, while maintaining due cooperation in everything pertaining to the students’ good, must clearly and effectively provide that the academic direction and administration of the institute are correctly distinct from the governance and administration of the major seminary or college (q.v. VG, art. 21).

IV. Granting of the Aggregation and the Academic Degrees

Art. 10. § 1. The aggregation is granted by Decree of the Congregation for Catholic Education (q.v. VG, art. 64).

§ 2. The same Decree will have expressly to grant to the aggregated institute canonical public juridic personality, if it did not previously have it.

§ 3. It belongs to the Congregation for Catholic Education to grant by Decree juridic personality to an aggregated institute that forms part of a civil University.

Art. 11. The aggregation can be granted to those institutes that have shown themselves suitable for such over an appropriate length of time, and after favourable opinions have been obtained both from the Ordinary/Hierarch of the place and from the Bishops’ Conference/Oriental Hierarchical Structure.

Art. 12. The request must be presented to the Congregation for Catholic Education by the Chancellor of the aggregating Faculty (q.v. VG, art. 12), after the Faculty Council (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 14) – and that of the University, if the Faculty is part of a University – has diligently examined and approved all the requirements.

Art. 13. The academic degrees of the first and second cycles are conferred by the aggregating Faculty, whose name (and that of the University, if the Faculty is part of a University) must appear on the diploma (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 38).

Art. 14. The degrees awarded are the same as those awarded in the aggregating Faculty at the completion of the first and second cycles. The canonical names “baccalaureate” and “licentiate” can be accompanied by other expressions according to local, civil university practice, as long as: a) they really correspond to the canonical baccalaureate and licentiate, especially as regards the duration of the relative studies; b) there is no possibility of confusion either with similar, local civil degrees or with the expression used for the third-cycle canonical degree, i.e. the doctorate (q.v. VG, art. 46-47).

Art. 15. Any local expressions for the baccalaureate and licentiate, which must be identical for all Faculties of a given nation or cultural region (q.v. VG, art. 47), need the approval of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

Art. 16. The issuing of authentic documents for the granting of the academic degrees, according to established procedures, belongs to the aggregating Faculty, or to the University if the Faculty is part of a University (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 38-39). The aggregated institute will take care of issuing any further documents (such as the Transcript of Records, which attests to the examinations sat by the student).

V. Procedure for Obtaining or Renewing an Aggregation

A) Prior Examination and Approval of the Institute to be Aggregated

Art. 17. The proposal to create an aggregated institute must be drawn up by the Ordinary, Hierarch or Major Superior of the place where the institute is located, who must address his request to an ecclesiastical Faculty which can assume the academic responsibility for the institute in question.

Art. 18. The aggregating Faculty, via its delegate or commission for the aggregation (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 14), must first verify whether the institute satisfies the prescribed academic conditions (q.v. VG, art. 64), including by means of on-site visits.

Art. 19. If the results are favourable, the Chancellor (q.v. VG, art. 12) of the Faculty (or of the University, if the Faculty is part of a University), having ascertained that the requirements foreseen by this Instruction are fulfilled, forwards to the Congregation for Catholic Education, along with his own opinion:

§ 1 a dossier on the academic conditions found in the institute to be aggregated, and containing the Faculty’s assessment of the same;

§ 2. the Statutes of the institute to be aggregated, drawn up in a similar way to those of the Faculty (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, Appendix I, art. 7);

§ 3. the Plan of Studies of the institute’s first and second cycles, distributed over the different years, with the total number of ECTS or comparable formative credits, both for each discipline and for the chosen specialization of the second cycle (q.v. VG, art. 41-42; Norms of Application, art. 30);

§ 4. the curriculum vitae, studiorum et operum of each of the institute’s teachers, both permanent and non-permanent;

§ 5. the number of students foreseen, distributed according to their year of formation;

§ 6. any local expressions that will accompany the canonical terms “baccalaureate” and “licentiate” (q.v. VG, art. 46-47) and their basis in civil law or ecclesiastical law.

B) Duties of the Congregation for Catholic Education

Art. 20. The aggregation is normally granted ad quinquennium experimenti gratia. After that period has elapsed, if the results are favourable, it is renewed ad alterum quinquennium. Should that further period conclude favourably, the aggregation is granted ad aliud quinquennium. Successive renewals will be ad aliud quinquennium. If the academic conditions of the institute, particularly as regards the number of students and teachers as well as its academic quality, fail to satisfy the necessary requirements, the aggregation can be suspended or revoked by the Congregation for Catholic Education.

Art. 21. § 1. Before the aggregation is granted by Decree, the teachers of the institute to be aggregated are to have the nihil obstat ad docendum from the Congregation for Catholic Education. For their promotion to the rank of permanent teacher they must again receive the said Congregation’s nihil obstat, in accordance with article 27 § 2 of the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium.

§ 2. Those who teach disciplines concerning faith and morals must receive, after having made their Profession of Faith (q.v. can. 833, n. 7 C.I.C.), the canonical mission from the Chancellor (or his delegate), which he can grant or revoke according to the norms of the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium.

Art. 22. For the aggregation to be renewed, the request must come from the Chancellor (q.v. VG, art. 12) of the aggregating Faculty (or University), accompanied by a thorough dossier on the results hitherto achieved from the aggregation.

Special Norms

Faculty of Theology

Art. 23. According to article 64 of the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium, an institute aggregated to a Faculty of Theology must fulfil the academic conditions regarding studies that are specified in articles 69-76 of the said Constitution, as well as in articles 53-59 of the attached Norms of Application, with reference to the first and second cycles.

Art. 24. The first-cycle studies in an aggregated institute last for five years or ten semesters (300 ECTS or comparable formative credits) and include two years of philosophy (120 ECTS or comparable formative credits) and three years of basic-level theology (180 ECTS or comparable formative credits). If the institute offers only the three years of basic-level theology, the two years of philosophy must be completed previously (q.v. VG, art. 74, a).

Art. 25. The second-cycle studies in an aggregated institute last for two years (120 ECTS or comparable formative credits) or four semesters (q.v. VG, art. 74, b).

Art. 26. In the second cycle of an aggregated institute, at least one specialization must be offered, which resonates with the specific nature or vocation of the aggregated institute, or is chosen in accord with the aggregating Faculty, to be approved by the Congregation for Catholic Education (q.v. VG, art. 74, b). The second cycle of an aggregated institute – just like that of the aggregating Faculty – is called a “specialization”, meaning that the students undertake a more in-depth study of a particular area of the disciplines taught, and at the same time make fuller use of scientific-research methodology, by seminars and exercises (q.v. VG, art. 39, b).

Art. 27. The institute must have at least nine permanent teachers of the theological disciplines, of whom seven are normally arranged thus: for Sacred Scripture, for fundamental and dogmatic theology (two teachers), for moral and spiritual theology, for liturgy, for canon law, for patristics and Church history.

Art. 28. Where the institute has a five-year first cycle in philosophy and theology, concluding with the baccalaureate in theology, there must be at least two permanent teachers of philosophy (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, 69 § 3).

Art. 29. Besides the examinations or equivalent tests for each discipline, at the end of the first and second cycles there are to be comprehensive examinations (or equivalent tests), whereby the student proves that he or she has fully achieved the scientific formation intended by the respective cycle (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 58).

Faculty of Canon Law

Art. 30. According to article 64 of the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium, an institute aggregated to a Faculty of Canon Law must fulfil the academic conditions regarding studies that are specified in articles 77-80 of the said Constitution, as well as in articles 60-63 of the attached Norms of Application, with reference to the first and second cycles.

Art. 31. The first-cycle studies in an aggregated institute last for two years or four semesters (120 ECTS or comparable formative credits), and are for those who lack a philosophical-theological formation. No exceptions are foreseen for those who already have an academic degree in civil law (q.v. VG, art. 78, a).

Art. 32. The second-cycle studies in an aggregated institute last for three years (180 ECTS or comparable formative credits) or six semesters (q.v. VG, art. 78, b).

Art. 33. The institute must have at least three permanent teachers of the canonical disciplines (q.v. Congregation for Catholic Education, Instruction The Study of Canon Law in light of the Reform of the Matrimonial Process, art. 2).

Art. 34. Besides the examinations or equivalent tests for each discipline, at the end of the second cycle there is to be a comprehensive examination (or equivalent test), whereby the student proves that he or she has fully achieved the scientific formation intended by the second cycle (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 63).

Faculty of Philosophy

Art. 35. According to article 64 of the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium, an institute aggregated to a Faculty of Philosophy must fulfil the academic conditions regarding studies that are specified in articles 81-84 of the said Constitution, as well as in articles 64-69 of the attached Norms of Application, with reference to the first and second cycles.

Art. 36. The first-cycle studies of the aggregated institute last for three years (180 ECTS or comparable formative credits) or six semesters (q.v. VG, art. 82, a).

Art. 37. The second-cycle studies of the aggregated institute last for two years (120 ECTS or comparable formative credits) or four semesters (q.v. VG, art. 82, b).

Art. 38. In the second cycle of an aggregated institute, at least one specialization must be offered, which resonates with the specific nature or vocation of the aggregated institute, or is chosen in accord with the aggregating Faculty, to be approved by the Congregation for Catholic Education (q.v. VG, art. 82, b). The second cycle of an aggregated institute – just like that of the aggregating Faculty – is called a “specialization”, meaning that the students undertake a more in-depth study of a particular area of the disciplines taught, and at the same time make fuller use of scientific-research methodology, by seminars and exercises (q.v. VG, art. 39, b).

Art. 39. The institute must have at least six permanent teachers of the philosophical disciplines (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 69 § 2), of whom five are arranged thus: one for metaphysics, one for philosophy of nature, one for philosophical anthropology, one for moral and political philosophy, one for logic and philosophy of knowledge (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 67 § 1).

Other Faculties

Art. 40. An institute aggregated to any Faculty other than of theology, canon law or philosophy must fulfil the academic conditions regarding studies that are specified in articles 85-87 of the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium, as well as in article 70 of the attached Norms of Application (q.v. VG, art. 64).

Art. 41. The first-cycle studies of the aggregated institute last for three years or six semesters (180 ECTS or comparable formative credits).

Art. 42. The second-cycle studies of the aggregated institute last for two years or four semesters (120 ECTS or comparable formative credits).

Art. 43. The aggregated institute must have at least five permanent teachers of the principal disciplines (q.v. VG, Norms of Application, art. 31).

Final Norms

Art. 44. This Instruction goes into force on the first day of the academic year 2021-2022 or on the first day of the academic year 2022, according to the academic calendar used in each region.

Art. 45. § 1. By 8 September 2022, every institute that is already aggregated must present to the Congregation for Catholic Education, via the aggregating Faculty, its Statutes and Plan of Studies, revised in accordance with this Instruction.

§ 2. Any changes to the Statutes or Plan of Studies require the approval of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

Art. 46. Only the Congregation for Catholic Education can dispense from the observance of any article of this Instruction.

Art. 47. This Instruction replaces the Normae de Instituti Theologici Aggregatione (23 June 1993) hitherto in force.

Art. 48. Norms and customs presently in force that are contrary to this Instruction are abrogated.

On 1 December 2020, the Holy Father approved this document of the Congregation for Catholic Education and authorized its publication.

Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for Catholic Education, 8 December 2020, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Giuseppe Card. VERSALDI
Prefect

Angelo Vincenzo ZANI
Titular Archbishop of Volturno
Secretary