The Session will be opened at 9:00 by the Principal of the Universitat de València, Esteban Morcillo; the vice-principal for International Relations and Cooperation, Guilermo Palao; the director of institutional relations of Santander Universidades España, Alfredo Albaizar Fernández; the president and co-founder of IMFAHE, Zafira Castaño, and a representative of the Valencian Government.

The Universitat de València takes part in this project during this academic year with twenty students of the Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry, Pharmacy, Biological Sciences, Chemistry and the School of Engineering (ETSE). The students of the UV who have got a grant of this programme are Laura Escrivá Llorens and Mª Teresa Rubio Martínez-Abarca.

The objectives of this event -to which representatives of the university academic world of Spain, mentors, students and companies will attend- are to debate how to promote the professional development of the students who are studying degrees, to suggest solutions to avoid the brain drain, to propose measures to reduce the unemployment level of the graduates and to launch initiatives to attract international talent by making the cities more attractive. The conferences are placed within the context of the social and economic innovation model developed by IMFAHE together with different Spanish universities.

Among the purposes of IMFAHE, is that of promoting excellence, rigor, transparency and an innovative, creative spirit among university students, as well as making new professional paths abroad more accessible to young Spanish talent.

The conferences of the International mentorship programme USA-Europe provides the participants with the opportunity of suggesting initiatives to connect and increase the co-ordination among the young emigrant talents, the universities, the industry and the government.

The vice-principal for International Relations and Cooperation, Guillermo Palao, has underlined that: ‘the Universitat de València has bet on promoting the internationalisation of the CV and the scientific career of our students and this is the reason why it has been one of the first institutions in supporting this programme’. Palao has added that the governing team of the academic institution ‘works to link the students to excellent foreign researching centres. To do so, we encourage work contracts for students of the last years of undergraduate and master´s studies, promote mobility and propel future agreements for the development of research projects’.

Among the events expected for the session, at 15:30 there will be a talk about the projects that are being implemented to contain the Spanish talent and attract the international one. The fact that this measures are financially supported by local companies, institutions and cities will also be explained.

The universities of Valencia, La Laguna, Valladolid, Oviedo, Europea Miguel de Cervantes, Autónoma de Madrid and Politècnica de Valencia will take part in this session. The meeting is also supported by entities like the General Foundation of the Universitat de València and Santander Bank.

International Mentoring Foundation for the Advancement of Higher Education (IMFAHE): http://www.imfahe.org/