This year we celebrate the 40-year anniversary of a courageous proposal, one might even say daring, put forward by group of young residents (and backed by the City Council) of Gandia looking to find ways to better serve their community. Soon after its inauguration, the University of Valencia also joined in on the proposal, and since then, summer after summer, students, professionals and citizens in general have been invited to participate in academic, civic and recreational activities that, every year, fill the programme of each new edition.

This year, the motto that traditionally guides each of the convocations transmits the early idea of being socially useful, the idea propagated by the early promoters of the proposal and one that the University of Valencia adopted as a strategical testimony to its presence in Gandia. This two-decade-long presence is no longer limited to a summer appearance, but rather, thanks to Gandia’s International Centre, allows the University to develop an entire series of academic offerings available throughout year.

The 40th edition in 2023, revives the idea of using the Summer University of Gandia as a type of showcase, a privileged exhibition of the wide range of expertise made up of the extensive knowledge, teaching, investigation, and knowledge transfer that the Valencian universities offer, firstly and primarily to the Valencian society.  This range extends from metaphysics to robotics, or so we say as a means to demonstrate its true extent.

With the conviction of the University of Valencia in general, and the Gandia International Centre in particular, as well as the invaluable collaboration of the City Council of Gandia we work toward developing what the guiding motto of this year’s edition tells us: UEG (Summer University of Valencia) 40 Years of University Social Efficacy!

Ester Alba

Vice-Rector for Culture and Society

Joan del Alcàzar

Academic Director CIG-UV