LEADERS IN LEARNING
CAMBRIDGE-STRATEGIES.ORG UAM.ES MADRID, SPAIN
“STUDENTS CAN PLAN AND EXECUTE EXPERIMENTS FROM BEGINNING TO END RATHER THAN HAVING A SET NUMBER OF PRACTICAL HOURS PER COURSE”
UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE MADRID
THE MOTIVE FOR locating the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) on a campus outside the city centre was to keep potentially revolutionary students away from the heart of the capital. That, however, was in response to the global student unrest of 1968. As it happens, UAM’s students have managed to embed themselves in Madrid’s culture: not by storming the barricades, but through the quality of their undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, their research projects—and now the level of international study mobility that they enjoy. Ranked ninth in the 2015 QS World University Rankings Top 50 Under
50 universities, UAM is building on its reputation with innovative new degree courses that are attracting the brightest students from Spain and further afield. In doing so, the university is forging fresh academic alliances and adding dynamic connections with major universities worldwide.
CONNECTED COURSES “In 2013, we launched a four-year Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree in partnership with the Alliance 4 Universities,” says Amaya Mendikoetxea Pelayo, Vice Rector of International Relations at UAM. “Students spend the first year in Barcelona, the second in Madrid, one year overseas and then they choose to complete their studies in Madrid or Barcelona. It’s a completely new degree system for Spain.” UAM also offers a five-year Political Science degree with Sciences
Po Bordeaux—one of 13 international “double degree” programmes —where students obtain both a UAM degree and a Bordeaux diploma, which is equivalent to a master’s degree. As the name “Autónoma” (autonomous) suggests, UAM produces
independent thinkers whose study equips them for careers in Spain and overseas. The university has impressive arts, humanities and social science programmes, but there is also a strong focus on sciences, with the UAM
Cantoblanco campus being home to the Madrid Science Park. Created in 2001 in collaboration with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the facility promotes research, development and knowledge transfer. “The park involves around 30 big companies,” says Amaya. “The main technological fields are biosciences, IT, new materials and nanotechnology, the environment and renewable energies. The campus is located just north of Madrid, one of the most active regions in Spain for research and development, which affords us the chance for quality corporate sponsorship.” UAM’s science courses put practice over theory. “Students can plan
and execute experiments from beginning to end,” says Amaya, “rather than having a set number of practical hours per course.” For the master’s in biomedicine, for instance, students work with researchers and clinical practitioners in hospitals and health-research centres in Madrid.
WORKING OBJECTIVES Internships are also a key part of UAM’s programme. “What is crucial for us is that students work and learn,” says Amaya. Each student’s objectives are set out at the beginning of an internship, during which they are supported to achieve those goals. “In 2011/12, 70 per cent of the graduates we surveyed undertook an internship arranged by UAM,” she adds. “In the academic year 2013/14, we signed more than 600 new agreements for internships with corporations, private businesses and public institutions such as museums.” Having asserted its academic presence in Madrid, UAM has gained
international recognition for the quality of its teaching and research facilities. To this end, it has been invited to join the Harvard/MIT initiative edX, continues to work with around 500 universities worldwide and is establishing exciting new connections in South America and Asia. The revolutionary spirit at UAM is clearly alive and well, but is today channelled into a rising of innovation, learning and academic relationships.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141
