HR4RS stamp
Raul Garcia Hemonnet
Before a large audience without masks or social distance, the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, opened the 2022/2023 Madrid university course. The regional president has been accompanied by the rector of the Rey Juan Carlos University, Javier Ramos. The event took place in the Assembly Hall of the Rectorate Building of the Móstoles Campus of the URJC.
In his speech at the Opening of the Academic Year, Díaz Ayuso highlighted the strength of Spanish as a vehicle of knowledge, pointing out that it is a language spoken by 600 million people. The president has affirmed that "the Community of Madrid is the best university region in the world in Spanish" and has offered various data such as the fact that in the 18 universities of the Community (12 private and 6 public) there are 310.000 students, 24.000 teachers , and 32.000 international students. “We are a large international campus whose reason for being is based on culture in Spanish”, she stated.
Díaz Ayuso has defended his administration in terms of equal opportunities in education, pointing out that he has carried out "the greatest reduction in university fees in the community of Madrid". He has also highlighted the main scholarship programs, especially the Scholarship for Excellence. "We must prevent any young person with a vocation and ability from being deprived of studies or discouraged," he indicated.
On the other hand, he announced an increase in funding for teaching and research, taking note of a request made earlier by the rector of the URJC, and recalled the recent creation of the Chair of Spanish and Hispanic Heritage. In addition, the president has mentioned the creation of four new business groups related to the technologies of Spanish, the humanities and the technologies of Space.
He has also had words for the present, referring to the lack of plurality of "some university campuses" and has called for a fight against "politicization and inbreeding" in the university. He has also indicated that we live in "tough times" with rising prices and uncertainty and has called for "despair not to spread, which is the best tool of demagogues and totalitarians."
Knowledge-based societies are stronger
The rector of the URJC, Javier Ramos, dedicated his speech to discerning the usefulness and value of the university, trying to answer a question asked decades ago by the philosopher Ortega y Gasset.
Ramos has pointed out that the university serves to provide students with everything they need and are capable of learning for the future, which forces teachers "to constantly search for new knowledge", continually updating themselves. The rector of the URJC has also indicated that all this knowledge "is of little use if we do not teach analysis, joint vision, critical thinking, communication and creativity." “Knowledge-based societies are the ones that work”, the rector stated, paraphrasing Giner de Los Ríos.
Ramos has also indicated that we live in difficult times with a lack of confidence in the future, energy crisis, high cost of living and has called on universities to deal with it. The rector of the Rey Juan Carlos University has indicated that this function of the university cannot be carried out satisfactorily with the current public investment budgets, “governing is establishing priorities. The declarations have to pass the budget test”, he indicated, adding that the URJC and the rest of the universities are willing to be accountable and “let it be known what we do with each taxpayer's euro”.
The rector also gave some brief data on the impact of the university on Madrid society. According to a report by the Bank of Spain, the per capita income of families whose parents are university graduates is double that of families who do not have them. In addition, Ramos has indicated that school dropout in families without university studies is approximately 30%, while in families with higher education it is 2%. The rector has also provided the data that the Social Councils recently offered in his report, "for every euro that is invested in the Madrid university, the return to society is 5 euros."
The value of art is not incalculable
The inaugural lecture for the 2022/2023 academic year was given by Professor Ana Vico, from the Department of Business Economics and an art market expert. Vico made a firm defense of valuing the Spanish cultural heritage and pointed out that there is a representation of it in the Community of Madrid. The teacher made a historical review of the concept of the value of art and dedicated part of her speech to talk about coins, which appeared for the first time in Greece in the s. VII BC and "the last link in the chain of exchange that, through art, becomes a propaganda element."
Likewise, he has reflected on the history of the art market, locating its origin in ancient Rome and citing various classic writings in which reference was made to this fact.
Ana Vico has indicated that the University merges past and present to materialize the future and has recognized the effort of the URJC to bet on training in Economics of Culture and Cultural Management. The teacher has emphasized the value of cultural industries for societies and has called for continued support for cultural policies and tourism.
Vico has indicated that the value of art can be calculated, by its quality, its style, its innovation and that the true “incalculable value of art” is its power to educate through beauty and history.
There was also time for the screening of the 21/22 academic report which, through a video, reviewed the most important milestones and achievements of the university and the university community during the past year.
The opening ceremony of the 2022/2023 Academic Year was attended by, among others, the President of the Constitutional Court, Pedro González-Trevijano; the mayors of Alcorcón and Móstoles, Natalia de Andrés and Noelia Posse, the president of the Assembly of Madrid, Eugenia Carballedo and the vice president of the Community of Madrid and Minister of Education, Universities and Science, Enrique Ossorio, in addition to the rectors of the universities Madrid.
You can see more photos on the channel 'Flickr' of the URJC