The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, attended this Tuesday the inauguration of the Alma Mater Higher Education Center, the new campus specialized in health, nutrition and sports, of the San Antonio Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM) and the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) whose headquarters are located on Constitución Avenue, in the old Camino Real school center.
In addition to the president of the Community of Madrid, the Minister of Education of the Community of Madrid, Emilio Viciana, the general director of Universities of the Community of Madrid, Javier Casas Calvo, attended; the president of the UCAM San Antonio de Murcia, María Dolores García Mascarell; the magnificent rector of UCAM, Josefina García, as well as six more tours of the center.
At the local level, the mayor of Torrejón de Ardoz, Alejandro Navarro, attended; as the first deputy mayor, Valeriano Díaz; the Councilor for Tourism, Míriam Gutiérrez and the Councilor for Education, Rubén Martínez.
The world of sport has also been represented by the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco; the general director of Sports of the Spanish COE; Ricardo Leiva; the general directorate of the Olympic Sports Association, Jenifer Pareja and the presidents and secretaries of the different royal federations of canoeing, athletics, archery, swimming, etc.
As for the athletes who have been present, the canoeists Saúl Craviotto, Marcos Cooper, Teresa Portela and David Cal, the weightlifting athlete, Lydia Valentín; the taekwondo player Adriana Cerezo; the karateka Damián Quintero; the Badminton athlete, Carolina Marín, among others.
In addition, both the bishop of Alcalá de Henares, Antonio Prieto, and the bishop of the Diocese of Cartagena, José Manuel Lorca, attended.
Five races and state-of-the-art equipment
This campus will teach an academic proposal that will be developed in three staggered phases, where the following university degrees or careers can be studied:
- Psychology
- Food Science and Technology
- Nursing
- Physiotherapy
- Human Nutrition and Dietetics
These are five degrees in the field of health, nutrition and sports, in which UCAM has high specialization and international recognition; which directly affects it being highlighted by reference rankings, such as the Impact Ranking, by Times Higher Education (THE); Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the Knowledge and Development Foundation (CyD), Forbes, etc., which certify its educational quality, teaching model, high employability of its students, research excellence and international dimension.
The degrees will be taught in small groups with personalized tutoring, intensive practical training and a clear orientation towards employability.
The campus is made up of two buildings that add up to more than 11,500 square meters. The complex has been designed “following exhaustive architectural work in accordance with accessibility standards, with parking areas and green areas, which occupy 22,000 square meters.
The center has specialized classrooms, scientific laboratories, state-of-the-art equipment depending on the needs of each degree, study rooms, assembly hall, cafeteria and recreation and rest areas.
About the UCAM-COE alliance
The Spanish Olympic Committee and the Catholic University of Murcia joined forces in 2012 in a sports and educational project conceived with a central idea: to allow high-level athletes to combine their higher studies with training and competitions. UCAM had already been carrying out this work since it launched its first academic year (1997/98), conceiving a model based on that of large Anglo-Saxon universities in the United States and Great Britain in which sport is part of the DNA of university life.
With the help of the COE and with the incorporation of Mireia Belmonte, the project took a qualitative and quantitative leap, since it opened the doors to numerous athletes who joined it. In the words of José Luis Mendoza, president of UCAM, the essence of the work carried out by both institutions is that “athletes, who make so many sacrifices to bring joy to our country, have the opportunity to train so that, at the end of their sporting life, which as we all know is short, they have the necessary tools to go out into the world of work and have a decent living.”
Alejandro Blanco, president of the COE, has always been proud of the step they took in their day by joining their path with the UCAM because “it is a reference in the world; especially because it does a type of teaching that is based on values, on caring for people, and from there, for me the support for athletes is secondary. First it treats the person, and then the athlete, and that is an example that all universities should follow.”
The model that has been allowing athletes to continue competing at the highest level and advance in their university studies is based on flexibility. The University adapts to the athlete and not the other way around. To do this, it has a special body of sports tutors who are the ones who accompany athletes on their academic itinerary. And new technologies have been key in this model, since classes and tutorials via videoconference, the development of the virtual campus and the use of email and messaging services have made the work much easier. But all this would not make sense and would not work if it were not for the effort and commitment of the athletes themselves, who have appreciated the opportunity that the UCAM and the COE offer them to advance their studies.
The success of this model was especially reflected in the Olympic Games in Rio, Tokyo and Paris, in terms of the number of athletes who competed, the medals and diplomas they achieved, compared to any other university in the world. But beyond the sporting successes, which are always a reason for joy, the true triumph of the UCAM – COE project is in the large number of athletes who are combining their training and competitions with their studies.
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