The opening ceremony of the sixth edition of the University Expert Course in Local Public Management was held on 13th October with the attendance of Ms. Mónica Oltra, Mr. Joan Ribó and Ms. María Elena Olmos. This UV-specific degree organised by IDOCAL in collaboration with València City Council is part of the wide range of postgraduate degrees that ADEIT and the Universitat de València are offering for the academic year 2021-2022. This course, co-directed by José Ramos (IDOCAL and Department of Social Psychology of the Faculty of Psychology and Speech Therapy) and Mila Ortíz (Training Director of Valencia City Council) is aimed at staff with managerial functions in Valencia City Council, and intends to develop advanced professional competences that enable them to lead the transformation process of the Local Public Administration and its adaptation to the new social, technological and economic environment, to tackle and manage effectively and efficiently the problems it faces, from the approach of innovation, creativity, leadership and responsibility.

People who have participated in the five previous editions of this course have introduced or are currently introducing around 250 Improvement Plans in a wide range of units, services and departments of Valencia City Council, with a high impact on the optimisation of work tasks and procedures. This has resulted in an improvement in staff’s working life quality, an improvement in the services offered to citizens and, in many cases, an optimisation of the economic resources related to public services.

In the opening ceremony, María Elena Olmos, General Secretary of the Universitat, highlighted the collaboration between the two public institutions. For her part, Mónica Oltra, Vice President of the Consell Valenciano, pointed out the important role of management training in Local Administration to obtain public services whose focus is on people, in order to achieve a more inclusive society. Finally, the Major of the city, Joan Ribó, underlined the impact of the course in the municipal management training, which has contributed significantly to the updating of the Local Administration in order to offer better services to all citizens.