Guiding Principles

Integral Formation

We foster the full development of the human person, in all dimensions and stages, towards the actualization of the person’s potentials and full freedom capacitating him/her through instruction and formation, anchored in Ignatian spirituality and the mission of the Society of Jesus, to be sensitive, discerning and responsive to the will of God and the needs of others —persons, environment, society and the Church — and by so doing, to ultimately glorify God.

Excellent Instruction

We provide quality education, distinctly Jesuit and Filipino, delivered by well-qualified faculty, using up to date physical and technological resources, through regularly improved curricula and programs that provide integrated, humane and professional educational formation that is transformative, globally competitive, Mindanao-responsive and socially conscious, and imparts to the learner a lifelong passion for learning and action for the greater glory of God.

Robust Research and Publication

We pursue disciplinal, inter-disciplinal and multi-disciplinal search for truth and its publication that promotes the vision and mission of the University, especially in working for social justice in Mindanao. We commit ourselves to excellent and relevant research, distinguishing ourselves in the use and transmission of local knowledge.

Vibrant Engagement

We promote and advocate social justice and the common good for the empowerment of the poor, oppressed, the marginalized and the excluded through collaborative, sustainable, and purposive initiatives that give utmost respect to human dignity, leading to reconciliation with the Creator, nature, and the human society by and through each and every member of the Ateneo de Davao community — as graced by God and as grateful stewards.

Transformative Administration and Services

We work for enabling and transformative leadership, structures, systems, procedures, and activities. We value dialogue, and promote shared responsibility and transparency. Thus, we provide mechanisms for feedback, communication, institutional memory; identification, development and allocation of human and non-human resources; and, detailed but coordinated planning among all units.