International Campuses of Excellence, a commitment to the university of the future

The International Campus of Excellence programme is part of the 2015 University Strategy to upgrade Spanish universities. It was launched in 2008 and is a new concept in which universities interact with research centres, science parks, technology centres… to create genuine “knowledge ecosystems”, encourage specialisation and foster an environment in which university life is closely involved with the local society. The campuses that belong to this initiative must be sustainable, top quality and offer first-rate services. The goal is to favour employment, social cohesion, the economic development of the area, and compete for excellence in Europe. Would you like to learn more about this programme and find out which Spanish campuses already have the stamp of the International Campus of Excellence (ICE)?

The first stage of this quest for excellence in universities took place between 2008 and 2011.
 
Throughout this period, three announcements were published for the Sub-programme of Excellence in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and two announcements for the Sub-programme for Revalidation in 2010 and 2011. These announcements led to various candidates receiving the stamp of excellence, and –depending on their development and on the improvements in their quality standards in the intervening years– they were then eligible for the definitive International Assessment in 2015. This entitled them to be recognised as a European Campus of Excellence and thus take their place among the best in the world.
 
All the announcements involved designating both global ICEs, able to compete at the global level in 2015, and RICE (Regional International Campus of Excellence) projects with a regional scope (with objectives on a more limited scale). The whole initiative has been so successful that during this first stage all the public universities and over half the private universities took part in the process.

These campuses may be formed by one or several universities, research institutes, technology centres, companies (both SMES and major multinationals), public research bodies and institutions of excellence in the autonomous regions through a system known as “strategic aggregation”.
If you decide to pursue your studies in one of these campuses, bear in mind that their main objectives are to offer top-quality teaching, scientific excellence, specialisation, an international vocation and the transformation of knowledge in innovation. What's more, they also do everything possible to enable you to combine your studies with your work.
 
Other distinctive features of these campuses are that they are conceived as social spaces for learning, they support quality in urban planning, accessibility, and encourage sport.  In fact, to achieve this quality stamp, a number of these campuses have upgraded their facilities and created sustainable environments, or have set up international doctoral courses and degree courses that are certain to be of interest to you.
They also offer projects in a range of specialised fields such as agriculture and food, biomedicine, biotechnology, social sciences, energy and humanities.

In the 2008-2011 stage, 16 ICE projects were approved with a global scope and 15 RICE projects with a regional European scope, and are currently being monitored. 
 
The ICE projects are distributed throughout Spain's various autonomous regions. We recommend you check the following four reports where you'll find links to information on all the available projects, services, study offer, areas of specialisation, strategic aggregation and life on campus:
 
International Campuses of Excellence (ICE) in the Mediterranean in eastern Spain
 
International Campuses of Excellence (ICE) in central Spain
 
International Campuses of Excellence (ICE) in southern Spain
 
International Campuses of Excellence (ICE) in northern and inland Spain 
 

As one of the motives underlying this whole initiative is precisely its international potential, there has been a move since 2010 to promote the establishment of trans-national campuses.
 
In fact, trans-national campus of excellence projects have already been initiated with France, Portugal and Morocco, and are currently under development. Information on some of these is given below:
 
Spanish-French campuses

CAMPUS IBERUS (Saragossa University, Public University of Navarre, University of La Rioja, Lleida University) with the universities of Toulouse and Pau, in a major new project that may be designated EBRoS (European Bioregion of Science) Western Pyrenees.
 
http://www.campusiberus.es/?page_id=62

EUSKAMPUS (University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea) with Bordeaux University.
 
http://euskampus.ehu.es

Pyrenees-Mediterranean International Campus (University of the Balearic Islands, Girona University) with Perpignan University.
 
http://www.uib.es/es/
 
http://www.udg.edu/

Spanish-Portuguese campuses
 
Campus do Mar (Vigo University, University of Santiago de Compostela, University of A Coruña) with the universities of Minho, Oporto, Tras os Montes e Alto Douro and Aveiro.
 
http://campusdomar.es/


Studii Salamantini (Salamanca University) with Coimbra University.
 
http://cei.usal.es


Hidranatura (Extremadura University) with Évora University and the Leiria Polytechnic Institute.
 
http://www.hidranatura.com

Spanish-Moroccan campuses
 
Biotic Granada (Granada University) and its promotion of the trans-national campus network on both sides of the Mediterranean with universities in Morocco and North Africa.
 
http://biotic.ugr.es/


Campus Mare Nostrum (Murcia University, Polytechnic University of Cartagena). Trans-national campus on desertification and efficient water use with the Universities of Abdelmalek Essaâdi in Tetuan and Cadi Ayyad in Marrakech.
 
http://www.campusmarenostrum.es/
 
Spanish-Portuguese-Moroccan campuses
 
Cei.mar (project coordinated by Cadiz University involving all Andalusian universities on the coast: Almería, Granada, Malaga and Huelva) with the University of the Algarve (Portugal) and Abdelmalek Essaâdi (Morocco).
 
http://www.campusdelmar.es/
 
In addition, there are a number of other actions that have taken place or are in the pipeline designed to highlight the importance of Spain's universities worldwide. These include establishing centres of excellence abroad, organising international events, and participating in international research networks and mobility programmes.

The modernisation of the Spanish university system is already a reality, and this system is becoming increasingly geared to collaboration between universities, companies and society. Will you sign up to excellence too?

To find out more about this initiative and see a list of the selected campuses, we recommend visiting the official website of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport:

http://www.mecd.gob.es/campus-excelencia/