Today, 21 February, la Universitat Popular de València (UP) begins the commemoration ceremony of its 114th anniversary with an event that will take place at Paraninfo of the Universitat, in the historical building of La Nau. The ceremony, which will begin at 19h, will be presided by the vice-principal of Culture and Equality, Antonio Ariño, and the councillor for equality of the City Council of Valencia and the vice president of the UP, Isabel Lozano.
First of all, it will be presented the notebook ‘La imposible neutralidad de la ciencia’, in which the conference by Gumersindo de Azcárate, jurist, Republican congressman, full university professor of the Universidad Central and President of Institución Libre de Enseñanza (Free Educational Institute) given in 1903 on the occasion of the UP opening is compared with the one given last year by María Ángeles Durán, National Research Award and doctor ‘honoris causa’ by the Universitat de València in 2016.
Then, the professor of Education History and feminist Lum Sanfeliu will give the same conference as the one given in 1903 by Anselmo Arenas, full university professor of Geography and History, but from a today’s point of view and adapted to the 21th century.
Finally, it will be projected the interview with professor Alejandra Soler, in which she explains how her UP lessons during the Republic period were. The entrance is free but there is a limited number of places.
The founding values of the first Universidad Popular, set up by Vicente Blasco Ibañez, are linked to the Free Educational Institution, laicism, the ideal of an educated and critical society, freedom of thought and academic, social inclusion and solidarity.
On 8 February of 1903 was celebrated the opening conference of Universidad Popular of Valencia. The event was held in the ‘Fusión Republicana’ centre, a no longer existing building in calle Libreros, opposite to the Palace of Marqués de Dos Aguas.
Press from all over the country covered it as an historic ceremony attended by 2,000 people and guarded by the city horse guard, according to the newspaper ‘El Pueblo’. In Valencia, at that time, there was more than a 70% of illiteracy and there was around 1,400 students enrolled at the Universitat de València.
Programme available here
Last update: 21 de february de 2017 08:00.
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