The Adventist University of France is building a new residence hall for men. The inauguration is scheduled for September 2019.
The original residence hall “Les Horizons”, where many students have lived in since 1965, no longer meets safety standards and needs to be replaced.
This new residence hall will offer ideal accommodation conditions for future students and visitors with 40 double rooms.
The new hall of residence for men will be named: Jean Weidner Residence in memory of one of the greatest heroes of World War II.
Jean Weidner, a student at Adventist University of France, created the Dutch-Paris network with several of his classmates. At the risk of their lives, these young people were outraged at the Nazi brutality and saved over one thousand lives.
The educational project of the school is that every student and visitor who comes to Collonges may be inspired by the values that Jean Weidner upheld: courage, altruism, striving peacefully for Human Rights and defense of freedom.
In addition with this new men’s residence, the university has a project creating a youth hostel in the basement of the new building. Designed to accommodate 40 to 50 people (student groups, youth camps, travelers, etc…), the hostel will economically enable many young people to discover Jean Weidner’s inspiring story from the very place it all started: Collonges and its region (Geneva, The United Nations, the Alps).
This Youth hostel would have two dormitories, sanitary facilities, a meeting and activity room, an outdoor meeting area, an infirmary, and a children's room for group leaders.
But it will only be built if the additional funds are available. It’s possible to help with this educational project by making a donation.
The Adventist University of France wishes to continue its mission which began nearly a century ago.This project of a new building will make it even more conceivable.
Right from the start, as the Adventist pioneers came to establish themselves in Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century, they wished to establish a missionary school. In 1921, two old hotels, a farm and a magnificent property of around 20 hectares was bought in Collonges-sous-Salève in Haute Savoie.
The “Séminaire Adventiste du Salève” as it was first called, opened its doors on October 6, 1921 welcoming 76 students. At that time, the school offered training as Bible teachers, school teacher or door to door salesman (colporters) and office worker. Working on the farm, gardening and wood working, cooking courses and sewing completed the theoretical teaching in a classroom.
Now the university hosts a faculty of theology, a French-language institute, a Human Sciences Institute and a primary and secondary school. This includes about 400 students.
Since 1921, the Adventist University of France (AUF) is known at the international level as a unique place within the European Adventist Church. It has served the whole French-speaking, Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking Latin Europe, also through missionaries and pastors in North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The Campus continues to fulfil its vocation despite the changes in the Adventist Church organization.
Counting only the past ten years, the Faculty has led 75 pastors to a Master’s degree. In Europe, by their teaching and writings, its professors have supported the Faculties of Sagunto, Firenze, Sofia (BL), Sazava (CZ), Cernica (RM), Antisrabe (MD), Haiti, and have served the Adventist french-speaking members of 1,2 million.
