Autonomous University of Madrid

About UAM

The Autonomous University of Madrid (Spanish: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) is commonly known by its Spanish initialsUAM or as "la Autónoma". UAM is a Spanish public university established in 1968, along with the autonomous universities ofBarcelona and Bilbao (now University of the Basque Country) during one of Spain's most ambitious educational reforms, which took place during the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Since 1971, the university's main campus has been located in Cantoblanco, a rural area in the northern outskirts of Madrid. Despite being part of the municipality of Madrid, the campus is nearer the towns ofAlcobendas and Tres Cantos. Throughout its history, UAM has been one of Spain's most prominent higher education institutions, being ranked first amongst Spanish universities by the El Mundo University Supplement (known as "Las 50 Carreras"), by The Times Higher Education Supplement, and by the Academic Ranking of World Universities yearly published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. For the subject "Mathematics" the university was ranked within top 51-75 universities in the world (within top 12 in Europe). In the "Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 University Rankings", the University achieved 49th position globally in 2012. In another similar ranking "QS Top 50 Under 50" by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the Autonomous University of Madrid recently achieved 15th place in international comparison. Its Faculty of Law is the most prestigious one in Spain. It is the Spanish university with the most researchers among the most cited according to the Thomson Reuters ranking citation in 2011.

• Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences

  The Faculty turned 40 in 2008. Far from experiencing a mid-life crisis, it has become even more dynamic and enterprising. A clear sign of vitality is the growing interaction with very diverse economic and entrepreneurial institutions. All students can perform well-paid internships in business; 90% of the students find work within the first year after receiving their graduation; professors engage in important research and consulting projects that enable community to gain better knowledge and experience of how the economic-business world functions.

  Course offerings are extensive and student preferences very diverse. If we had to name a common denominator in the Faculty, it would be the interest in economic-business phenomena, entrepreneurial spirit, analytical capacity, a passion for business, and practical common sense.

  Another sign of our dynamism is the progressive internationalization of our Faculty. The frame agreements signed with universities worldwide permit one third of the students to complete part of their degree programme in other countries. The European Higher Education Space has contributed, among other things, to making classes more participatory and bringing course contents closer to employers’ demands.

  Infrastructure is no less important in university life. The campus is far enough from Madrid to avoid the pollution but enjoys excellent publication transportation to the centre of Madrid. In recent years, the UAM has constructed new buildings and restored old ones. Today, the campus possesses modern libraries, computer labs, sports installations, cafeterias, residence halls and many other assets waiting to be discovered.

• Faculty of Law

  The UAM Law Faculty is rated among the best Law Faculties in Spain. Studies on offer often figure among the best in Spain and the students in all programs have the opportunity to do internships in some of the most prestigious law firms and institutions, both public and private, with whom the Faculty collaborates. Among the teaching staff are members of the country´s highest judicial institutions and the Civil Service.

• Faculty of Medicine

  The Medicine Campus includes the Faculty of Medicine, the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Alberto Sols (Alberto Sols Biomedical Research Institute), the centro mixto UAM-CSIC (combined UAM-Spanish Council for Scientific Research centre), and the Instituto Teófilo Hernando de I+D del Medicamento (Teófilo Hernando Institute for Drug Development). The campus is located in the north of Madrid, just 100 metres from the La Paz University Hospital, one of the six hospitals it has links with. It is less than 1 km away from two first-class research centres, both included in the proposal for a UAM-CSIC International Campus of Excellence and affiliated to the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Carlos III Health Institute), the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas (National Oncology Research Centre [CNIO]) and the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (National Centre for Cardiovascular Research [CNIC]). The Faculty has 300 members of teaching staff, 75 administration and services employees and around 1800 students.

  The UAM Faculty of Medicine opened its doors for the first time in 1969 with a study programme that was extremely advanced for its time, in an attempt to change the way medicine was taught in Spain. This study programme introduced innovative ideas, including a revised definition of teaching objectives, integration and coordination between the different areas and subjects, and more attention to the practical training of students, based both in the laboratory and on constant contact with patients. The initial teaching goal of the Faculty of Medicine was to comprehensively train doctors so that once they completed their studies, they would be fully competent to move onto different specialities or embark upon a scientific career in biomedicine. These premises have been strengthened over the years and have been continually adapted to the changing needs of the society that we care for.

• Faculty of Philosophy and Letters

• Faculty of Psychology

  The Faculty of Psychology hosts aproximately 1800 students and offers an undergraduate Degree in psychology, five Master programs and 2 Doctorate programs. Research covers a wide range of areas, with several research groups on experimental psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, education, social psychology, human resources, psychosocial intervention, and methodology. Our school also hosts a Center for Applied Psychology, which offers psychological support and counseling to the University community, provides tools for clinical training for master students and promotes courses and activities for students, researchers and professionals.

• Faculty of Science

  We invite you to become part of this Faculty, which is made up of more than 600 educational staff, 100 administration and services employees and more than 5000 students. The Faculty was created and initiated activities more than 40 years ago. Its main objective was to become a reference institution in the national and international high degree educational scene and, to this aim, dedicated a significant part of its resources to develop a university research reference centre within its premises. This was quite a novelty within the at the time current university model in Spain. These old aspirations kept building over time, and over the years produced one of the hallmarks that distinguishes this centre, its research excellence. The Faculty of Sciences of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid is currently one of the most relevant university research centre in Spain. High profile research lines, prestigious research groups, national and international relationships with universities of excellence, and participation in large research projects. All these make this Faculty, in close collaboration with other public R&D institutions such as CSIC (…), IMDEA (Institutos Madrileños de Investigación) and PCM (Parque Científico de Madrid), a relevant player in science related research in Spain. This cluster of R&D institutions creates a growing environment for collaborative research with other diverse public and private institutions, both national and international.

  The researchers of the Faculty of Sciences are also responsible of the education provided within our centre. Our training staff aims not only to convey, but also to teach and prepare for the major challenges of the future. The research itself is the support that ensures an environment of high quality teaching for students in our classrooms and laboratories. The development of multidisciplinary research in fields such as Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Environment and Food Sciences, among others, facilitates interaction between faculty staff members who are then more qualified to teach degrees with the highest standards of academic quality, novelty and excellence.

• Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

Accreditation

Institutional Accreditation or Recognition - Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, España

Rankings

• For the subject "Mathematics" the university was ranked within top 51-75 universities in the world (within top 12 in Europe).
• In the "Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 University Rankings", the University achieved 49th position globally in 2012.
• In another similar ranking "QS Top 50 Under 50" by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the Autonomous University of Madrid recently achieved 15th place in international comparison.
• Its Faculty of Law is the most prestigious one in Spain. It is the Spanish university with the most researchers among the most cited according to the Thomson Reuters ranking citation in 2011.

Student life @UAM

Societies and compromise

The Autonomous University of Madrid has an active student body, having organised one of the Spain's most important events against the dictatorship in 1976 called the Iberian Peoples Festival. It had an attendance of over 70,000. UAM has over a hundred student societies covering activities ranging from student unionism to theatre and music. The oldest active association in UAM is the Law Students Association (AED in Spanish), a left-leaning student union established in 1981. Furthermore, there are new prominent societies in the field of social sciences, such a Debate Society (Sociedad de Debates UAM) and a Model UN society (UAM-I-MUN), both founded and run mainly by Law students.

UAM does not have a formal student government body, as it has been rejected by students in several occasions, and instead students elect different student unions (usually with difference on political issues) to the different university government bodies.

In recent years, UAM students have organised massively to protest against terrorism, after the assassination of Prof. Francisco Tomas y Valiente by ETA in 1995, against the Organic Law of Universities in 2001, to clean Spain's northern coast after the Prestige oil spill in 2002, against the War in Iraq in 2003, to assist to the II European Social Forum also in 2003, and in solidarity with the victims of the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings.

Festivals and parties

UAM is also a festive campus, holding several festivals during spring. The most important one was the Spring festival held until 1993, but halted due to massification. Since then minor festivals have been held by student associations. These festivals usually consist of rock concerts by amateur rock bands (many of which have members that are UAM) from midday until dusk. According to university regulations, festival profits have to be destined to charities or to the organisation of cultural events. In 2005, due to massification of the festivals that led to several problems, university officials suspended further festivals until a more convenient place for their celebration would be found. Thus, no festivals were held in 2006.

Saint Canute

In the early 1980s, a group of students noticed the day of Saint Canute in the month of January of the Catholic Calendar, whose translation in Spanish (canuto) is also one of the various names used for a spliff. Thus, they decided to celebrate an anti-prohibitionist festival. Throughout the years, the festival consisted of anti-prohibitionist lectures, film projections, and a central activity consisting of a procession of Saint Canute mocking Spanish Holy Week imagery that was held the third Thursday of June. Over the last years, due to the proximity of the autumn-winter semester exams, most of the activities were abandoned, leaving over a massive gathering. At the same time more people, especially from outside the university, were attending. This led to university authorities having to find a way to halt the festival.