Complutense University of Madrid

The Complutense University of Madrid (Spanish: Universidad Complutense de Madrid or Universidad de Madrid, Latin: Universitas Complutensis) is a public research university located in Madrid, and one of the oldest universities in the world. The university enrolls over 86,000 students, and consistently ranks as one of the top universities in Spain. According to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the university is widely regarded as the most prestigious academic institution in Spain. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of Pozuelo de Alarcón.

In recent years, the roster of alumni comprises winners of the Nobel Prize (7), Prince of Asturias Awards (18), Miguel de Cervantes Prize (7), as well as European Commissioners, Presidents of the EU Parliament, European Council Secretary General, ECB Executive Board members, NATO Secretary General, UNESCO Director General, IMF Managing Director, and Heads of State.

In the course of over seven centuries, the University of Madrid has provided invaluable contributions in the sciences, fine arts, and political leadership. Alumni include renowned philosophers (José Ortega y Gasset, Ignatius of Loyola, Thomas of Villanova), writers (Federico García Lorca, Antonio de Nebrija, Pedro Calderón de la Barca), scientists (Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Severo Ochoa, Andrés Manuel del Río), historians (Juan de Mariana, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda), military leaders (Don John of Austria, Alexander Farnese, Cardinal Cisneros), foreign leaders (Cardinal Mazarin, José Rizal), and many Prime Ministers of Spain. In the year 1785, the University of Madrid became one of the first Universities in the world to grant a Doctorate degree to a female student. By Royal Decree of 1857, the University of Madrid was the only institution in Spain authorized to grant doctorates throughout the Spanish Empire.

On May 20, 1293, King Sancho IV of Castile granted the Archbishop of Toledo, Gonzalo García Gudiel, a Royal Charter to found a Studium Generale (as Universities were known at that time), named El Estudio de Escuelas de Generales in Alcalá de Henares. One of its alumni, Cardinal Cisneros, made extensive purchases of land and ordered the construction of many buildings, in what became the first university campus ex-novo in history: The Civitas Dei, or city of God, named after the work of Augustine of Hippo. On 13 April 1499, Cardinal Cisneros secured from Pope Alexander VI a Papal bull to expand Complutense into a full university. This Papal Bull conferred official recognition throughout Christendom to all degrees granted by the University. It also renamed the institution Universitas Complutensis, after Complutum, which was the Latin name of Alcalá de Henares, where the University was originally located.

In the 1509–1510 school year, the Complutense University already operated with five major schools: Arts and Philosophy, Theology, Canon law, Philology and Medicine. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Complutense University became one of the greatest centers of Academic excellence in the world. Many of the leading figures in science, arts and politics of that Age studied or taught in Complutense's classrooms. Special colleges were created for students of foreign origin, such as Flemish or Irish.

In 1785, Complutense became one of the first Universities in the world to grant a Doctorate to a female student, María Isidra de Guzmán y de la Cerda.[5] In comparison, University of Oxford did not accept female scholars until the year 1920, and the University of Cambridge did not grant a Ph.D. to a female student until the year 1926.

In 1824, Francisco Tadeo Calomarde further expanded Complutense by merging it with the University of Sigüenza. By a royal order of 29 October 1836, Queen Regent Maria Christina suppressed the university in Alcalá and ordered its move to Madrid, where it took the name of Literary University and, in 1851, of Central University of Madrid. The University would be known under this name until its original name of "Complutense" was restored in the 1970s.

The University of Madrid awarded Albert Einstein a Doctor of Science degree Honoris Causa on 28 February 1923. This was the first Doctor of Science degree Honoris Causa that Albert Einstein accepted from a European University. In April 1933 the Minister for Education and the Arts, Fernando de los Ríos, announced that Einstein had agreed to take charge of a professorship in a research institute, which would bear the name Instituto Albert Einstein, under the University's School of Science. However, as the political situation began to deteriorate throughout Europe, Prof. Einstein ended up accepting a similar position at Princeton University.

The University greatly expanded during the 19th century, and its accommodations in central Madrid proved to be increasingly inadequate. Besides the greater number of students, after its move from Alcalá the University had been based in a number of preexisting, government-acquired properties – mainly aristocratic mansions and royal châteaux from centuries past, abandoned by their owners for more contemporary lodgings. Though they were not without their charm, the ancient buildings were not precisely ideal as educational settings, and the early 20th century witnessed the students of the Central University attending philosophy lectures and anatomy lessons in elaborate spaces that had served as ballrooms and salons only a few decades prior.

This situation changed in 1927, when by royal decree King Alfonso XIII officially ceded state-held lands in the proximity of the Palace of La Moncloa to establish space for the University of Madrid. At the time, this constituted all of the land between the Royal Palace and the Palace of El Pardo, and today comprises a vast swath of western Madrid referred to as the "Ciudad Universitaria", or University City of Madrid.

A council appointed by King Alfonso XIII had decided that the new University of Madrid would require the innovative architecture and planning. A team of academics was sent out on an international expedition to visit the most prestigious universities in Europe and North America, to combine the best of both continents and design the utopian academic setting. The trip took them to 19 universities in the American northeast, as well as to Paris, Lyon, Oxford, Berlin, Hamburg, and numerous other European cities, all in an effort to discern the best possible building structure. The architectural tendencies of the era, however, ended up having a greater influence than the academics' visits to Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, La Sorbonne or the University of Berlin; while the final plans from this period are hardly recognizable to anyone familiar with the contemporary campus, the buildings from the era that managed to survive the design revisions, the Civil War and the Franco regime, betray the period's fondness for the German Bauhaus movement. Indeed, the original buildings, exemplary amongst them the Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odontology, are an homage to structural functionalism and the graceful utilitarianism of the 1920s.

In the 1970s, following the political instability of the regime of Francisco Franco, the University of Madrid was renamed, dividing existing colleges between the Complutense University of Madrid and the Technical University of Madrid. The city of Alcalá de Henares decided to open a university within the older campus buildings, it was named Universidad de Alcalá de Henares to clearly distinguish it from the Complutense University.

The Complutense University publishes a bi-monthly newspaper, the Gaceta Complutense, and also features a fully operational radio station, Radio Complutense (107.5 FM), which broadcasts for 12 hours daily; both are run from the School of Communications.

While the University has a select number of registered dormitories, these are located on the fringes of the campus within bordering neighborhoods, and therefore no students truly live on the campus proper. Due to the costs, and the fact that university-affiliated lodging is not required, the majority of the Complutense's students live independently, either in non-affiliated dormitories or in actual apartments.

The University of Madrid is home to over 100 student political, social and sports-related groups. Aerobics, gym, yoga, swimming, tennis, diving, tai-chi, and numerous other courses are offered. In terms of team sports, the Complutense features male and female basketball, football, and volleyball divisions, as well as rugby. Chess, badminton, golf, judo, karate, table-tennis, and archery teams are also available. Internal university games are held several times a year, with all of the different schools competing; the Complutense also participates in the regional university games, held each March at the Puerta del Hierro Stadium in Madrid, and selected national competitions. All students, professors, staff members, and family of staff members have the right to be evaluated and attended to at the Complutense University Center for Sport and Fitness Medicine.

Because we consider our students our main concern, this university is committed to providing comprehensive training at the highest level. Our programs enjoy wide acceptance in the labor market. Moreover, the internationalization of our curriculum is a growing reality – we offer some bilingual degrees (Spanish and English), and many specific courses in different languages. The UCM also has a prestigious Spanish Language Centre (CCEE) for foreign students.

The UCM has an extensive series of accords permitting student/professor exchanges and study abroad opportunities; the UCM currently operates some institutions outside of Spain, such as the The Real Colegio Complutense at Harvard University (USA), and the Collège des Hautes Études Européennes Miguel Servet (France).

Many UCM research groups occupy positions in the highest ranks of international leadership, and we are committed to ensuring excellence based on large networks of quality research.