The University of Valencia is an outward looking Valencian university committed to its territory and connected to society; a university that carries out teaching activities, research and knowledge transfer in all fields, a university with an important cultural activity. This is how the Principal of the University of Valencia, Mª Vicenta Mestre, has described the University, ‘a university that bets on innovation and people. This year it celebrates its 520th anniversary’.

Among the innovative aspects, Mestre has highlighted the UV’s course offering, one that attends society’s necessities, pointing out its 56 degrees, its 15 international dual degrees and the incorporation of others such as the new Degree in Business Intelligence Analytics (BIA), which joins other new degrees such as the Degree in Data Science introduced last year and the Degree in Gastronomic Sciences.

The University of Valencia is also known for research and knowledge transfer, two fields in which the Principal has remarked its bet on international outreach leading research. She also places value on the prominent place of the UV in several prestigious international rankings.

The Principal of the University of Valencia has also pointed out the importance of internationalisation by reminding us the views the magistrates of Valencia had when they created the University in 1499: they wanted to position it in an international field of reference.

The University of Valencia was created in 1499 and started its activity at the historical building of La Nau street, which gives it its name and coincides with the acronym of ‘La Nostra Antiga Universitat’ (‘Our Ancient University’ in English). This is the place where all academic activities were held until 1970. 2019 is also the anniversary of the reopening of the University of Valencia’s historical building as a Cultural Centre open to Valencian society.

The vice-principal for Culture and Sports, Antonio Ariño, has presented the main cultural policies of the University for this 2019, which coincides with the 520th anniversary of the UV and the 20th anniversary of La Nau Cultural Centre.

In this building, La Nau will open a new exhibition space in order to open to society another part of the building which had had administrative purposes until now. This permanent exhibition space will exhibit unique UV collections which have never been on display and will also be Archaeological and Historical Memory of the building, which is an inseparable part of the history of the city of Valencia.

The Principal of the University of Valencia has highlighted the importance of being a university at the service of society and focused on people, stressing that the UV is one of the first universities in Europe in reception of international students. She also remarked that the university stands out for its employability policies, now reinforced by new programmes such as UVOcupació and UVEmprén, and it’s also the on-site university with the largest number of functional diversity students because of its attention to diversity policies, as well as for its commitment to sustainability and equality.

In this press conference it has also been introduced the 520 years brand developed by Boke Bazán  in the setting of Institutional communication and Branding of the university, which has been presented by Joan Enric Ubeda, director of the Principal’s cabinet of Marketing and Institutional Communication