The Universitat de València officially opens its 2020-21 academic year

The Universitat de València traditionally opens the academic year with a solemn academic ceremony held in the Paranimf of the historic and emblematic building in Carrer de La Nau. This year, in application of the preventive measures against COVID-19,the UV Executive Council agreed to substitute the solemn academic act with an institutional act.

Chaired by a wide representation of the autonomous, provincial and local executive power and of the Valencian Public University System, the Principal of the Universitat de València, Maria Vicenta Mestre, was accompanied by the Second Vice-President of the Valencian Government, Ruben Dalmau, the Councillor with responsibility for Universities, Carolina Pascual, the President of the Provincial Council of València, Antoni Gaspar, the Deputy Mayor of the Valencian capital, Sergi Campillo, the President of the Board of Trustees of the UV, M. Emilia Adán, and the Principals of the Valencian Public Universities: Francisco Mora of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Eva Alcón of the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló (UJI) and Juan José Ruiz of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche.

The event was attended by representatives of Valencian society, such as the Partido Popular syndic, Isabel Bonig; the spokesperson for the Corts de Compromís (Valencian Parliament), Fran Ferri; members of the Valencian Parliament; and from the judicial sphere, such as the president of the High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV), Pilar de la Oliva; from the Royal Academy of Medicine of the Valencian Community and the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Valencian Country; from the economic world such as the President of the Valencian Economic Council (CEV), Eva Blasco; authorities from the armed forces and State security forces; and representatives from trade union and business organisations.

Numerous members of the university community have also attended, including the Board of Directors, all the deans of the faculties, the Director of the Doctoral School, members of the statutory bodies representing Teaching and Research Staff (PDI), Administrative and Service Staff (PAS) and students, as well as the singular centres, UV foundations, the Director of AVAP and the affiliated centre Florida Universitaria.

The event began with a performance by the University Choir from the Upper Cloister. Later, the UV’s General Secretary, Maria Elena Olmos,has read an extract from the report for the 2019-2020 academic year which is available at the following link.

Next, the Councillor Carolina Pascual pronounced in her speech 'the need for all of us to adapt to the current circumstances, to return to our activity as normally as possible, always bearing in mind all the safety and protection that the Healthcare protocols require and which allow us to continue with our academic and research activity'.

During her intervention, the Principal Maria Vicenta Mestre highlighted the the main policy measures adapted during the second quarter of last year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Mestre thanked the university community for its work and highlighted the leadership of the deans, directors and director of the Doctoral School. Furthermore, the Principal highlighted the excellent results achieved by students in the second term in relation to the same term of the previous year and stated that the results of the assessment of the teaching staff in this period "allow us to assert that, in global terms, students have not perceived the teaching situation worse than other courses in terms of assessment, participation and attention to the teaching staff and the materials available to them".

In addition to teaching, the Principal highlighted the results of research at the UV and the notable position of the University in the main international rankings 'since the UV continues to be the leading university in Valencia according to any ranking, and is among the top five in Spain and in the top 201-300 fork in the world and, if we look at it by area, in four branches of knowledge the Universitat de València is among the top 100 in the world'.

On the other hand, Mestre has asked the Valencian Government to fulfil the commitments of a new financing plan. “Our university citizens understand the difficulty of the Government's accounts, they share the demand for fair financing of the Valencian Community, but at the same time, with the firmness of responsibility in the management of public resources, with the results of their work in hand, we ask, alone, for what has been promised: fair and sufficient financing to continue being an essential public service”, she pointed out.

Finally, the Principal recalled the values such as equality, diversity, tolerance and solidarity that define the University and that “although the current situation is complicated, we will move forward with more strength than ever, with more enthusiasm than ever, facing every challenge, every difficulty, as a modern, public, Valencian and European university. A university of people for the people”.

The discourse of the Principal can be consulted in the following link.

The academic hymn Gaudeamus igitur concluded, as it does every year, the opening ceremony, which was broadcast live as usual by UVCommunication with a signal produced by the Audiovisual Workshop of the Universitat de València (TAU).