Who We Are

Divyadaan, Salesian Institute of Philosophy, was erected within the already existing Institute, Don Bosco Youth Centre, 4 Koregaon Road, Pune—411 001, as a house of immediate post-novitiate training and study of philosophy of the Salesian Province of Bombay in June 1980. On 24 May, 1984, the Institute was shifted to its new site at Don Bosco Marg, Nashik—422 005.

The Institute was affiliated to the Faculty of Philosophy of the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS), Rome in 1982. In March 2000 the Institute was granted Aggregation to the Faculty of Philosophy of UPS by a decree of the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, (prot.n. 1035/98). This has made it possible for Divyadaan to offer a Master of Philosophy Degree Course, with specialization in the fields of Education and Social Communication.

The two year B.Ph. course was changed to a three year course in June 2007. This was necessitated by the changes initiated by the Faculty of Philosophy of the Salesian Pontifical University.

Divyadaan, which is primarily at the service of the Salesian Congregation and the Church in India, has as its scope:

1. The philosophical formation, with a special focus on the Indian context, of candidates to the Catholic ministerial priesthood (Salesian, Other Religious, Diocesan) and of the laity (Christian as well as persons belonging to other faiths);

2. The formation of specialists in Systematic Philosophy, Education, and Social Communication.

The Institute aims at the elaboration of a pluridisciplinary but integrated curriculum of studies, in which philosophy plays a vital role in bringing together faith and life, faith and culture. This is done through serious dialogue with Indian thought and socio-economic realities (in particular of youth) and with the sciences of education and communication.