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Universidad Católica San Antonio | |
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| Motto | In libertatem vocati From Galatians 5:13, RSV: “Called to freedom." |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1996 (1996) |
| Students | 21.386 |
| Location | , |
| Affiliations | Roman Catholic Diocese of Cartagena |
| Website | www.ucam.edu |
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TheUniversidad Católica San Antonio ("Saint Anthony's Catholic University"), also known as theUniversidad Católica de Murcia, literally the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), is a private university located inMurcia in south-easternSpain. It is owned by the San Antonio University Foundation which, as the university, is named after its patron saint,San Antonio de Padua.
In 1978Pope John Paul II promulgated the Apostolic ConstitutionEx Corde Ecclesiae, which made allowance, in Article 3.3, for the establishment of Catholic universities by laypersons. By the wording of this document,UCAM the plan of founder and presidentJosé Luis Mendoza,[1] was the first such university to be established under the new conditions presented in the Article. Mendoza, a stronglyhomophobic member of theNeocatechumenal Way, thePontifical Council for the Family and father of 14 children with ties to thefar-right partyVox, served as president of the university.[2][3][4][5]
At its establishment in 1996, UCAM attended approximately 600 students. As of 2012[update] its students were 16,000.[6]
UCAM's stance toward the secular world is informed by this notion, as can be seen in the Letter from the President introducing English-speaking foreign students to UCAM. According to Mendoza, the university has:
"a vocation both to teach and evangelise in the academic, scientific and cultural world and provide an instrument in Faith to solve the many questions and problems of contemporary society and in this way contribute to social, cultural and human development and progress".
Nowadays, the university has a wide range of national and international partnerships with institutions such asEU Business School,Sevilla FC, CDEI Business School, CESAE Business & Tourism School, etc.[7]
The university has many headquarters and centers, main campuses being located inMurcia andCartagena. It also offers training inMadrid and remotely, with a multitude of examination venues nationwide. With more than 20,000 students and around 1,000 teachers, UCAM's present objective is to promote quality university education with future representation on all continents.
It is built on an approximate area of 25,000 square meters (14,500 built) and will soon have an annexation of another 200,000 for gardens,parking, sports facilities and university residence. It is located 4 km from the urban center of the city of Murcia, in theLos Jerónimos Monastery (18th century), which, together with its baroque church, is declared a National Historic-Artistic Monument and forms the so-called Los Jerónimos Campus, headquarters of UCAM. The campus consists of large and bright classrooms, Library, Assembly Hall, Meeting and Work Rooms, Laboratories, Computer, Multimedia and Language Classrooms and Cafeteria-Dining Room.
Other UCAM headquarters and schools, complementary to the Los Jerónimos Campus are:
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Economics and Business
UCAM Polytechnic School
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Sport
Faculty of Nursing
Faculty of Pharmacy and Nutrition
Faculty Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Podiatry
Faculty of Communication
Furthermore, UCAM has entered into academic anddouble degree programme agreements with prestigious business schools and universities, including the following:
The averagetuition fees for students are €7,800 per year, ranging from a minimum of €4,000 to a maximum of €14,300 depending on the degree course.
In 2017 UCAM was ranked first in the European Union rankingU-Multirank, as the best university in Europe to studyComputer Engineering andPsychology, standing out among the 850 universities evaluated, and also coming in at 16th place among Spanish universities – first in theRegion of Murcia. The Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering was ranked sixth in Europe.
In 2019, theTimes Higher Education ranking placed the university as the 37th in Spain in terms of teaching quality and positioned it 151-200 in theEurope Teaching Rankings 2019. Furthermore, UCAM was awarded an overall score of 4 stars in theQS Stars Rating and obtained the highest rating (5 stars) in the categories of teaching, internationalisation, social responsibility and inclusivity.
In 2023, the prestigious company specialised in the analysis of higher education institutions around the world,Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), gave UCAM a special distinction for its teaching model, the inclusivity of its university campuses, its internationalisation, online training and commitment to its students, as well as for its high score in employability. There are only 7 Spanish higher education institutions with thisQS Stars Rating.
UCAM promotes theological and philosophical research, and thus areas such as anthropology, social doctrine, ethics, bioethics and humanities play a leading role in all degree programmes.International conferences are organised every year. In some of these, illustrious personalities from the religious, scientific and political world have taken part. Examples include the then Cardinal Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith,Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) or the former head of the Spanish governmentJosé María Aznar;Kiko Argüello, founder of theNeocatechumenal Way;Javier Echevarría Rodríguez, prelate ofOpus Dei; the journalist José María García and the orthopaedic surgeon Pedro Guillén.
Other research is focused on the field of nutrition and health, in collaboration with other institutions. There are currently 17 official doctoral programmes and different lines of research. Among the research programmes, the international doctorate in collaboration with the FOM - Fachhochschule fuer Oekonomie und Management of Germany is worth mentioning.
University sport
UCAM has several Olympic medallists such asMireia Belmonte,Saul Craviotto,Carolina Marín,Ruth Beitia,Lidia Valentín orJoel González. In fact, 11 of the 17 medals won by Spain at the2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro belong to athletes with UCAM scholarships.
In university competitions, that is, those in which only teams made up of students enrolled in official university degrees by ANECA compete, UCAM has teams in practically all disciplines11 and has been the leader in recent editions of sporting disciplines such as theSpanish University Male Basketball Championship and the Nautical Canoeing Championship.
Federated sport
UCAM sponsors 16 federated teams.12 These teams include the Club Baloncesto UCAM Murcia (Basketball), the UCAM Murcia Club de Fútbol (Football) and UCAM Voley Murcia (Volleyball).
Esports
There is a section on esports. Outstanding achievements include aLeague of Legends championship in 2021.
The symbols of the Universidad Católica San Antonio are described in Article 9 of its statutes:
Iradio UCAM is the radio station of the Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia, a project promoted by the Faculty of Communication since the 2009/10 academic year.
UCAM hosts theJohn Paul II International Institute for Charity and Volunteering sponsored by the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which organises a university work campus in Pachacútec, a town in theVentanilla District (Peru).
