Every year the Universitat de València opens its academic year with a solemn academic ceremony which, following the traditional university ceremony, includes the elements typical of university solemnity (academic procession, dress and doctoral attributes for the teaching staff, master of ceremonies and massers) together with the characteristics of the academic events (master class given from the chair and audience seated in accordance with the order by degree). This event has taken place, except in exceptional situations, in the Paranimf (Main Hall) of the Universitat, in the historic building on Carrer de La Nau.

Following the security measures designed to prevent the pandemic by COVID-19, it has been decided this year to replace the solemn academic ceremony with an institutional event to open the academic year.

A shorter opening ceremony

Thus, the duration of the event was considerably reduced, as the ceremony of giving the masterly lesson will be replaced. This lesson corresponds, by rotation, to a centre of the University, and has, as a symbolic element, to show the relevance of the knowledge generated and accumulated in one of the academic disciplines cultivated in the centre. Given that the capacity limitation will prevent the members of the corresponding centre from accompanying the teachers responsible for giving the master class, it has been agreed with the centre to postpone the master class to the opening ceremony of the next academic year.

The programme for the event was therefore reduced to the reading of an extract from the report on the 2019-20 academic year by the Secretary General of the Universitat de València, the institutional speech by the Honourable Counsellor for Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society, Carolina Pascual. The opening discourse by the UV’s Principal, Maria Vicenta Mestre, closed the ceremony.

An opening without academic clothing

The solemnity of the events has also been removed from this act, in order to comply with the measures to reduce movement and travel within the university areas. In this way, the academic procession, made up of the doctoral professors present in the hall, academic authorities and the presidency of the event, has been eliminated. Nor will doctors wore the traditional academic dress, which shows a diversity of colours at the University's solemn academic events.

This avoids the handling of suits that have to be disinfected, and avoids interpersonal contact when helping with the lining.

Instead, those attending with a doctorate degree were able to wear the corresponding medal awarded by the University in which they were awarded the highest university degree at the time of their investiture.

Similarly, the members of the Royal Academies wore the distinctive medals of their institutions. The representation of the legislative, executive and judicial powers, which have their own distinctive medals, also wore these identifying elements.

As the ceremony does not take place according to the solemnity of the act, the massers and master of ceremonies will be dispensed with.

A new stage for an open-air opening

The Paranimf (Main Hall) is an emblematic space of the Universitat de València that was built in the mid-17th century, rebuilt in the 18th century, reformed in the 19th century, rehabilitated in the 20th century and recently updated in maintenance tasks (click on the following link to know more about the Paranimf:  https://www.uv.es/uvweb/culture/en/la-nau/la-nau-spaces/paraninfo-main-hall-1285873626555.html).

It has traditionally hosted solemn events, with a seating arrangement in grandstands that, in accordance with university protocol, allows the public to be placed according to their degree and representation, in a seating arrangement based on brotherhood and proximity.

Measures of social distance require interpersonal separation which, when taken into account in the configuration of the opening act, together with the need for adequate ventilation of the space, have made it advisable to move the stage of the opening act.

Thus, this year, this institutional act of opening the course took place in the Senate of the Universitat de València, in an open-air ceremony in the production of which the technical teams of the Cabinet of the Principal and La Nau Cultural Centre have been working.

Limited capacity and broadcasted ceremony

The characteristics of the space of the Senate already suppose a limitation of capacity that has been reduced by the application of the measures of interpersonal distance between seats.

These conditions of prevention in the face of COVID-19 have considerably reduced the number of people participating in the ceremony, which brings together the academic authorities and the statutory bodies of the University, representatives of the Valencian universities, the Valencian Royal Academies and people awarded the University Medal, as well as the legislative, judicial and executive powers (at regional, provincial and local authority level in which the University of Valencia has a presence) and business and trade union organisations.

The Principal of the Universitat de València will preside over the ceremony accompanied by the Second Vice-President of the Generalitat Valenciana, 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, Maria Emilia Adán, and the Principals of the other Valencian Public Universities.

As every year, UVCommunication will broadcast the event live through the audiovisual platform of the UV, in a signal produced by the team of the Audiovisual Workshop (TAU) of the University.

The broadcast could be followed live via this link: http://mediauniweb.uv.es/obertura2021