The thirty-fifth edition of the Summer Courses of the Complutense University of Madrid in San Lorenzo de El Escorial is already history. They have been, as the rector Joaquín Goyache signified in the closing ceremony held on the afternoon of July 28, four weeks of frenetic activity that have yielded a “magnificent” result , on a par with what the Summer Courses of the UCM: the greatest national benchmark for summer training in the Spanish university system .
The director of the Courses, Miguel Ángel Casermeiro, offered the numbers of this frenetic 35th edition: 57 courses from all areas of knowledge -12 arts and humanities, 10 experimental sciences, 22 social sciences and 13 health sciences-; 2,300 face-to-face students, of whom 850 have benefited from scholarships for accommodation, maintenance or tuition thanks to Santander Universities ; 800 speakers ; more than 100 agreements with companies and institutions that have collaborated in the financing of this edition, more than 40,000 entries and more than 500,000 page viewson the web Summer Courses and Complutense Tribune; more than 1,000 posts on the main social networks , and an impact on the media, valued by the company Kantar Medios at more than 30 million euros .
As for the topics discussed , Casermeiro recalled a good part of them: post- covid vaccination , antibiotic resistance , one health, new 3D materials , graphene, geothermal energy , hydrogen, additive manufacturing , the eruption of the island of La Palma, Russia’s aggression , the situation of the Church in today’s world, democratic culture , victims of terrorism, the wealth contributed by people with disabilities, gender equality, mental health , scientific culture, historical literature… He also mentioned the protagonists of the extraordinary conferences of this edition: Miguel Herrero and Rodríguez de Miñón , Felipe González, Miguel Ángel Esparza, Sara Andrés Barrio, Gerard Descarrega, Guillermo Rojo, Teresa Jiménez Calvente, Jean Pierre Savage, Santiago Posteguillo, Juan Eslava Galán, Pedro Martín Baños, Ángela Nieto Toledano and Estrella de Diego . He did not forget to mention the tributes carried out: Antonio de Nebrija , Isabella Andreini , Umbral, Marita Vallet or Patxi Aldecoa nor the varied cultural programming that has filled the afternoons and evenings withexhibitions, theatrical and musical performances or tastings and talks about the world of wine.
The director also highlighted in his speech that this frenetic activity has been carried out with total “normality” , already, after two editions, without masks in the rooms and not a single positive detected by the Covid-Lot monitoring system among its workers . The director, as did the rector in his words, thanked the workers of the Foundation , the support teams of the University -communication, Complutense Tribune and protocol- as well as the interns and those belonging to AFADIS, and its coordination team – made up of professors Lucía Monteoliva, Elena Arriero, Marta Blanco and Sara Torres-, the month of “very intense work” that they have carried out.
Rector Goyache closed the event by announcing that the General Foundation team and the Rectorate itself have been working for months to make the thirty-sixth edition possible next year, since, as he underlined, the Courses make it easier for the University to successfully fulfill its fourth pillar, that of social commitment , “working for the good of Madrid, Spanish and world society”.
