The decision was unanimously taken at the first principal meeting of the Alliance of Russian and Spanish Universities, which took place at the Universitat de València last Friday 6 March.
April 2019 in Moscow saw the establishment of the Alliance of Russian and Spanish Universities, comprising the Russian universities, like Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), National Research Tomsk State University, National University of Science and Technology, and Russian Foreign Trade Academy, and the Spanish institutions of Carlos III University of Madrid, University of Oviedo, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, and Universitat de València.
A year later, last Friday 6 March, in a historical building of La Nau, the Universitat de València hosted the first meeting of the Alliance principals.
Relations between the Universitat de València and Russia last more than a decade now, which is specifically evident from the tight relations between the UV and RANEPA offering the international undergraduate and graduate double degrees in Economics, Business, and Law. Moreover, last year, the UV opened its Russian Centre within the framework of collaboration with “Russkiy Mir” Foundation.
The participants to this meeting signed new collaboration agreements between their institutions to allow the development of double degree programmes and open new horizons for students and professors on the basis of the best university practices of Spain and Russia.
The Alliance development strategies include the realisation of the common scientific projects, promotion of summer schools and courses, joint research, experience exchange, conferences, congresses, symposiums, round table discussions, and so on. The project brought about new action formats in the field of education that give the opportunity to learn more about the university and its system for future students.
For the Universitat de València, this alliance is one more step towards the internationalisation of the institution that reaches five continents and stands out in Asia for having one of the best Confucius Institutes in the world. This fact was pointed out by the government of China with whom the UV signed an agreement to establish this centre of the Asian languages and cultures. In addition to the double degree international doctorate programmes, the UV forms a part of the RCC alliance at Harvard University in the United States, which allows it to have stable headquarters in Boston partnering with one of the most prestigious universities in the world. In the US, the UV also collaborates with the University of California Berkeley and offers both undergraduate and graduate international double degree programmes. In the Iberian America, the university offers various doctorate degrees and leadership programmes at Association of Ibero-American Educational and Cultural Television (ATEI). In Europe and in the Mediterranean, the UV participates both in the Erasmus mobility programmes and international double degrees and undergraduate and graduate joint degrees.
The principal María Vicenta Mestre was unanimously chosen as a president of the Alliance of Russian and Spanish Universities for this year. Olga Pirozhenko, a co-director of the Russian Centre of the Universitat de València, was titled the general secretary of this university alliance which will meet again next year in Moscow to evaluate the results of its activity and renew its management structures for the period to follow.