The Governing Council of the Community of Madrid, chaired by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, will shortly evaluate the fourth bill to recognize a private university in Madrid in the last fifteen months. In March 2019, the Assembly approved, in the final sprint of the last legislature, with the votes of PP and Citizens, the creation of three new private centers: Villanueva (de Fomento teaching centers, linked to Opus); ESIC (from the Religious Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus); and Cunef (from the Spanish Banking Foundation for Financial Studies). Now, the Chamber will have to pronounce soon on the Draft Law of recognition of the private university “International University of the Company”, promoted by Planeta de Agostini.
More than 20 years have passed since the last public university of the Community, the King Juan Carlos (1996), opened. Since then private ones have tripled (Pontificia, CEU, Alfonso X, Francisco de Vitoria, Udima, Camilo José Cela, Europea, Antonio de Nebrija and ICADE); centers with roots in other Autonomies have opened regional headquarters (the University of Navarra or the Instituto de Empresa); and foreign institutions (such as the University of Saint Louis) have been installed. Last year, after the announcement of the creation of the three new private centers, the rectors of Madrid’s public universities rebelled publicly against the decision.
At the same time, the Governments of Cristina Cifuentes and Ángel Garrido failed to approve the new law of the Madrid university space, which was more demanding in the requirements to be a university, after the complaints of the public ones (Complutense, Autónoma, Alcalá, Politécnica, Rey Juan Carlos and Carlos III). A text that came to be voted on in the House in 2018, which did not go ahead due to an error by Cifuentes, and which is still pending this legislature.
“[La nueva universidad] contributes to strengthening the Madrid higher education system, with the benefits of greater competitiveness and possible increase in the quality of education derived from a greater offer of places, “argues the bill, published this Friday in the transparency portal, and which must be supported by PP, Cs and Vox to get ahead, since opposition from both the left-wing parties and the rectors of public universities is expected. “The proposed private university recognition file stems from the experience of the entity that owns it as the head of the higher education center attached to the Rey Juan Carlos University,” Center for Higher Education EAE Madrid “, which would become the university proposal, urging at the time the extinction of the current teachings and its subsequent de-description from the Rey Juan Carlos University ”, is added in the information about the project.
“The recognition of this new university is a boost for Madrid, since it is a great educational project. It is an example of academic excellence ”, argued sources from the Ministry of Science, Universities and Innovation, which Eduardo Sicilia directs. “It also involves a project with a great international projection, which reinforces Madrid as a university hub, with connections to Latin America, so that the international impact for the region would be incalculable, even in terms of employment and economic recovery” .
The new university, to see the light, will teach degrees in Business Administration and Management and Entrepreneurship Management; Tourism and Leisure; Management of Innovation and New Technologies Applied to Business; Journalism, Digital Communication and New Media; Marketing and Digital Communication; and Multimedia Design and Animation.
It also aspires to organize masters in Senior Management; Project Management and Direction; Human Resources and Talent Management; Financial Planning and Advice; Supply Chain Management; International Tourism and Leisure Directorate; Big Data and Business Intelligence; International Marketing Management; and Corporate Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility Management.
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