What is the Opening Ceremony?
The Academic Year Opening Ceremony is a solemn event held every year to start off the new academic year.
Where does it take place?
At the Universitat de València, this event has been held since its foundation in 1499, and takes place in the historic Paraninfo (Assembly Hall) in the founding building of the Universitat de València, currently the Cultural Centre ‘La Nau’, in the heart of the city of Valencia. The Paraninfo is an emblematic seventeenth-century space, renovated in the nineteenth century and adapted to the latest technologies.
What does this involve?
In the course of this act, a traditional ceremony is followed, so that the university teaching staff who have the degree of doctorate form an academic procession, ordered by the seniority of the UV centers, and closed by the Governing Council and the presidency of the act.
At the beginning of the ceremony, the University Choir performs the hymn “Veni Creator.” The inaugural lecture is delivered by the Secretary General of the Universitat de València. This is followed by addresses by the Principal of the Universitat de València; the President of the Conference of Principals of Spanish Universities (CRUE); the Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities; and the President of the Generalitat Valenciana. The academic anthem “Gaudeamus Igitur,” performed by the University Choir, brings the ceremony to a close, followed by the departure of the academic procession from the Paraninfo.
The traditional opening ceremony of the 2025–2026 academic year acquired a national character and was presided over by His Majesty the King. His Majesty King Felipe VI formally concluded the event with the declaration of the National Opening of the 2025–2026 Academic Year of Spanish universities.
