Complutense University of Madrid

Encyclopedia : C : CO : COM : Complutense University of Madrid

Los Portadores de la Antorcha ("The Bearers of the Torch of Knowledge") statue at Plaza Ramón y Cajal, in the Moncloa Campus.

The Complutense University of Madrid (Spanish: , UCM) is a prestigious Spanish university and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the neighbouring town of Somosaguas.

Academically, the university is sometimes ranked amongst the world’s top universities, and is currently placed amongst the top 100 universities in Europe[Top 500 World Universities (2005)]Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Accessed 4 June, 2006.. It currently ranks as the top public university in Spain, according to the annual university rankings conducted by El Mundo[link]. Its Schools of Philosophy[link] Spanish Literature[link], History[link], Pharmacy[link], Optometry[link], Journalism[link], Psychology[link], and Sociology[link] hold the top national rankings.

Contents

1 Early History
2 Role in twentieth century Spain
3 The Complutense University today
4 Student Life and Extracurriculars
5 The Complutense Abroad
6 Famous alumni

6.1 Government
6.2 Journalism & Literature
6.3 Philosophy
6.4 History
6.5 Medicine
6.6 Maths and Sciences
6.7 Other

7 Trivia
8 Campus Map
9 Notes
10 External links

Early History

Original building, Alcalá de Henares: The Complutense University was based here until 1836.

Modern Campus: The Complutense University's post-war School of Medicine building in Ciudad Universitaria.

The Complutense University's origins lie in the middle ages, when King Sancho IV of Castile created the Studium Generale on May 20, 1293. In 1499, Pope Alexander VI granted the request of one of its former pupils, Cardinal Cisneros, to convert it into a full university; the Papal Bull renamed the institution Universitas Complutensis, after Complutum, which was the Latin name of Alcalá de Henares, where the University was originally located.

In the 1509-1510 school year, the Complutense University operated with five faculties: Arts and Philosophy, Theology, Canon Law, Philology and Medicine.

The University flourished in the 16th century, especially under the early benefaction of Cisneros who, as Archbishop of Toledo, was able to endow it richly. Cisneros attracted many of the world's foremost linguists and biblical scholars to Alcalá in order to produce the magnum opus of the University, the Biblia Políglota Complutense or Complutensian Polyglot Bible[link][link], published in five massive volumes (including a popular glossary volume) in 1517. The edition was one of the great works of philology of the Renaissance, comprising critical editions of all of the books of the Bible in their original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, as well as the authorized Latin Vulgate text. Cisneros borrowed or acquired most of the known Biblical manuscripts of his day for the project. The complexity of the typography alone ranks it among the greatest achievements of Spanish scholarship. Owing to unfortunate mishaps, most copies of the edition have not survived, but this singular achievement launched the Complutense into the company of the greatest universities of the world.

In 1836 the university was moved to Madrid, with the name of Universidad Central de Madrid (Central University of Madrid), and was located along the Calle San Bernardo in the very center of the city (some of the buildings still stand, and are in use as diverse government ministries).

Role in twentieth century Spain

Members of the International Brigades stationed in the School of Medicine during the Siege of Madrid, December 1936.

The Moncloa Campus was largely destroyed by artilery fire from the Francoist forces during the Spanish Civil War.

Mounted members of the Guardia Civil prepare to charge students protesting against the Franco regime in front of the School of Political Science, 1968.

The original campus buildings were built during the latter half of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and continued during the flurry of the Second Spanish Republic; of the few buildings that survived the Civil War, and those that were rebuilt according to the original plans, one can note the architectural reflection of the ostentatious character of the monarchy, whereas the latter buildings show the art deco / bauhaus influences and early structural functionalism of the Republic years.

The campus served as one of the primary fronts during the Siege of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War[link]; the International Brigades occupied the buildings[link], which were subsequently bombarded by the heavy artillery of Franco's Nationalist forces. Large part of the original buildings were destroyed, and much of the University's rich intellectual patrimony was lost forever. Renaissance manuscripts, amongst many other priceless documents stored in the University archives and libraries, were used by troops loyal to the Second Spanish Republic to fortify on-campus bunkers against the persistent enemy gunfire[link].

The original buildings (including the School of Medicine, where some of the fiercest combat of the war occurred in the same classrooms that are used today) that survived the war are of notable historical relevance. Unfortunately, most of the campus was not as fortunate, and the majority of the original buildings were completely destroyed during the war. It is worth noting, however, that several buildings were subsequently quickly rebuilt by the Franco regime, following the original blueprints, and assuch a condensed version of the original campus was rebuilt and back in functioning order within a few short years of the war's conclusion. This project was undertaken by the government in an effort to portray the Franco Regime as both intellectually oriented and enjoying a speedy recovery from the war (in reality, Spain would not begin to fully recover until the late 1960s); many of these rebuilt buildings still bear plaques comemorating their re-edification at the hands of "El Generalísimo".

During the Franco Regime, the Complutense University was at the forefront of the resistance movements; the politically-active university students came to be ranked, along with the labour and nationalist movements, as one of the chief threats to the stability of the dictatorship. Consequently, members of the Secret Police were infiltrated into the classes in order to monitor the students, and the Falange Party was given the task of patrolling the grounds. The 1960s, in particular, saw some of the most polemic moments in the University's history. From 1963 until the late 1970s, members of both the local and government police were kept perpetually stationed on campus; officers on horseback were frequently ordered to charge the spontaneous anti-Franco protests that would form along the main university thoroughfares, and several times entire departments were shut down in response to confrontations between the authorities and the student body[link]. During the 1970's, the School of Medicine[link] was shut down entirely throughout an entire semester due to conflicts with the police, and on numerous occasions the police was actually reported to have staged charges within the actual buildings, although there was an unspoken rule of sanctuary, generally respected, by which the police refrained from actually entering classrooms to arrest suspected protestors[link].

On campus, one of the lasting symbols of this era is graffitti from the early 1950s that still dominates a portion of the School of Philosophy's rotunda[link]: painted in chemicals used for photo developments (which also happen to be permanent and shine when exposed to sunlight), the message calls for freedom of expression in the University and freedom from the Falange Party, which at the time excercised its jurisdction over the campus. Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz & Manuel Lamana, the students who painted the message, would later be caught and sentenced to twenty years hard labour building the Valle de los Caídos, from which they would later stage a spectacular escape, as fictionalized in the 1998 film Los años bárbaros.

The Complutense University would also be the site of intense, and often bloody, marches and protests during the politically-charged years of the post-Franco Transition period.

In 1970 the University returned to its original name. When, later, the people of Alcalá de Henares decided to open a university within the old campus buildings in that city, they were obliged to name it Universidad de Alcalá de Henares to clearly separate it from the Complutense University.

The Complutense University today

The Complutense University has played a mayor role in the political development of Spain since its founding. Its graduates have been members, at either Congressional or Ministerial level, in all of the governments of Spain since the Enlightenment, and their positions in the Second Spanish Republic and the post-Franco transition to democracy were particularly notable. The current first Deputy Prime Minister, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, and the former President, José María Aznar, are both graduates of the university. The Complutense University has also played host to some of the most significant figures of the intellectual world, with a long tradition of visiting professors amongst which feature some of the greats of world academia (most notably, Albert Einstein). A significant part of the European intelligentsia flocked to its halls during the 1930's, when democratic Spain provided a refuge from the rising terrors of fascism; while the tradition of distinguished visiting professors somewhat diminished during the Franco years, the University has recovered its former splendour in the decades since. The contemporary Complutense University has also counted numerous Nobel Laureates not only amongst its graduates, but also amongst its faculty members over the years.

Currently, the Complutense University is the largest university in Spain. During the 2004-2005 academic year the University recorded an enrollment of 91,598 students and employed a staff of 9,500, of which over 6000 are directly involved in teaching duties; its current annual budget is of over 500,000,000 euros. The University currently offers nearly 80 possible majors, 230 individual degrees, and 221 doctorate programs. The University has over 30 libraries, with over 2 million works in print, a particularly rich archive of over 90,000 historical documents, and the one of the most extensive film collections in Europe.

Due to its long history in the capital, the Complutense University enjoys great support from Madrid-based institutions, at a local, national and international level. The School of Medicine operates the Hospital Clínico Universitario de San Carlos, as well as a number of other specialized clinics located on-campus, some of which are operated jointly with the Ministry of Health or perform specific research for the Ministry. The School of Medicine is not the only one with government involvement; indeed, despite past conflicts, the Complutense University shares a close bond with the Spanish government, as made evident by the fact that the presidential residence of La Moncloa and the Spanish Constitutional Court are both located directly on-campus (with the political center of the city at walking distance).

The School of Communications, meanwhile, enjoys equally good relations with the press (large part of its professors being former reporters, editors, or directors of major Spanish and international newspapers), and operates a state of the art television studio, from which TVE's political debate program, 59 Segundos, is broadcast live each week. Moreover, the School of Communications is known particularly for its role as one of the main pre-screening locales for the nation; indeed, all major Spanish film productions are screened first before an audience of Complutense students, with the main actors or production figures of the films attending a post-screening press conference. Most recently, Blanca Portillo, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas and Yohana Cobo pre-screened Pedro Almodóvar's Volver; past pre-screening visitors have included director Santiago Segura, actor Alejo Sauras, and writer E. Annie Proulx. Each year, the Madrid Círculo de Bellas Artes extends special invitations to the Complutense students during its series of annual conferences featuring prominent philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists. Likewise, all of the faculties have been able to benefit greatly by lectures given by some of the most illustrious figures in recent history, of all fields, from singer-songwriter / Catalan activist Joan Manuel Serrat to historian Ernst Gombrich, from writer Umberto Eco to communist politician Santiago Carrillo.

Student Life and Extracurriculars

The Complutense University publishes a bi-monthly newspaper, the Gaceta Complutense[link], and also features a fully-operational radio station, Radio Complutense (107.5 FM)[link][link], which broadcasts for 12 hours daily; both are run from the School of Communications[link].

While the University has a select number of registered dormitories, these are located on the fringes of the campus, within border neighbourhoods, and therefore no students truly live on campus proper. Due to the costs, and the fact that university-affiliated lodging is not required, the majority of the Complutense's student live independently, either in non-affiliated dormitories or in actual apartments.

In modern times, the Complutense University's student body continues to be highly politicized, with an active student government which most recently called for a student strike to protest the Bologna process. All political parties have the right to on-campus representation, though there is a decided tilt towards leftist politics amongst the student body. Upon petition, student political groups can be granted actual offices within the University, some examples being En Construcción, the radical-leftist student organization with offices in the School of Communications, or Erre Que Te Erre (rqtr)[link], the gay liberation front with offices in the School of Political Sciences on the Somosaguas Campus, notable for having been the first gay-rights group established in a Spanish university. In May 2006 the University hosted a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic and advocating the abolition of the monarchy and declaration of the Third Spanish Republic[link].

Separately from the political groups, the Complutense features a number of social and sports-related groups. The University counts on a strong Erasmus-support group and every school features a Tuna (traditional Spanish band), which compete in the nation-wide competitions. In terms of sports, aerobics, gym, yoga, swimming, tennis, diving, tai-chi, and numerous other courses are offered. In terms of team sports, the Complutense features male and female basketball, soccer, and volleyball divisions, as well as rugby. Chess, badminton, golf, judo, karate, squash, table-tennis, and archery teams also exist. Internal university games are held several times a year, with all of the different schools competing; the Complutense also participates in the regional university games, held each March at the Puerta del Hierro Stadium in Madrid, and the selected national competitions. All students, professors, staff-members, and family of staff-members have the right to be evaluated and attended to at the Complutense University Center for Sport and Fitness Medicine.

The Complutense Abroad

Besides an extensive series of accords permitting student/professor exchanges and study abroad opportunity with prestigious universities throughout the world[link][link], the Complutense University of Madrid currently operates four full-time institutions outside of Spain.

Europaeum
Bologna \| Bonn \| HEI, Geneva \| Helsinki \| Kraków (Jagiellonian) \| Leiden \| Madrid (Complutense) \| Oxford \| Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne \| Prague

Complutense University of Madrid

Early History

Role in twentieth century Spain

The Complutense University today

Student Life and Extracurriculars

The Complutense Abroad

Famous alumni

Government

Journalism & Literature

Philosophy

History

Medicine

Maths and Sciences

Other

Trivia

Campus Map

Notes

External links