his vision and his support, this has gone forward.
He told me when I started at the Vice-Rectorate
of Internationalization and Multilingualism
that we had to be in the alliances, which was his vision.
This was something that the UN could not be out of.
And well, we have worked hard because we believe
in his program, we believe in his strategic plan
and we also believe in him as a person, as the great person he is.
So, and I'm not saying this because it's the truth.
So, to him and also to thank again all the Vice-Rectors,
the Vice-Rectorates who have helped me, because they have been present,
because this is a macro project, as you know, and here
it was no longer enough for the four of us to work,
but we had to involve the whole university
and all the units within the university.
And I think you are doing it with great courage, on the one hand,
because this is a project that has to be started
and you have to be brave at the beginning,
because you have to say, well, we throw
forward and we work hard for this to come out.
But also with great rigour, as we have seen here,
the equality office, all the faculties and schools.
Here was the Director of UNIDIS, the Doctoral School, there is Ángel,
the library, the Tudela centers, which are now working on the web,
PON Ferrada with the rural part, etc.
I'm sure I haven't named someone, but I'll name
everyone, and I love you all very much for that,
because I think this is a project that we have to believe in,
and that we, of course, believe a lot and we are very committed.
As we said before, transnational education, as Ángeles
said, is no longer an option, it is a necessity.
And that's why this implies, this is not
just a project, as we said, it is a
process, it is a much broader thing.
And there I remember a saying in English that says,
"When you change the way you look at
things, the things you look at change.
" That is, when you change the way you look
at things, the things you look at change.
And I think that now we have to change our perspective and our vision
in this university that is already European, transnational,
and that will surely bring us many benefits,
which does not imply that we do not have to work hard,
because if we do not fulfill all the tasks and sub-tasks,
then this will not go ahead.
So I trust you very much, in the entire academic community,
and of course in the Rector, so that this continues. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Rector.
Thank you very much. It is a great honour to be with all of you
on the occasion of the start of a university project.
Because it is certainly not a project that we can identify
in a faculty, in a school, in a unit or another,
but one of the great virtues of this project
is that it claims the collaborative effort of the entire university.
The Vice-Rector mentioned all the
bodies, all the units that are involved,
which are basically all, and that abound in something
that constitutes one of the signs of identity of our university
for 53 years, which is that internationalist vocation
that has led us and has driven us, above all, to bring education
beyond our borders, with the presence of 24 centres abroad,
and leading what we can call, without exaggerating,
the Spanish brand abroad.
Not only providing services, for example,
the access of foreign students, but also preserving
the continuity of university training to expatriates,
without forgetting the service provided to the armed forces.
In short, these are details that, I insist,
abound in that internationalist vocation.
And in the times we are in, evidently, one of the priorities
and something we could not not be, was
to be part of the great European project
of the European alliances. Yes, it was one of the priorities
that I asked the Vice-Rector and that I publicly want to thank her
and all her team, because it has been a very competitive call.
Only 63 Spanish universities participate
or coordinate a network and an alliance.
There are many that have stayed out. We are the third country,
behind Germany and Italy, leading the
project of the European alliances.
I insist, I think it was a priority. Our university had to be present
in this project, and had to do it as it has been conceived,
around a pan-European university, open, in collaboration with the main
European universities at a distance, and above all, pointing to issues
that are again, have been and will be our identity sign.
Inclusion, equal opportunities, favoring access to so many people
who, due to various vital conditions,
have never had or would not have had
access to a university education. Well, that motto makes sense,
and it makes even greater sense in the times we are living.
Inclusion, sustainability, obviously digitization, I think they are
absolutely key, precisely in what makes sense, again,
to our semi-presential model, that model that manages to combine
the goodness of presence with what all the most disruptive technologies
have, a semi-presential model, I always say this,
who put it into action 53 years ago, had an innovative vision.
Innovation is nothing more than the ability
to anticipate what is going to be relevant.
Notice how important a semi-presential model is now.
It constitutes, I think, a reference for
the entire Spanish university system,
but for the entire European university system.
Well, in this context, this alliance, or it is asked of this alliance,
to provide answers to where this model
is going, what are its great challenges,
which are many, obviously, artificial
intelligence, ethics, open science, etc.
Issues that you have dispatched, I understand, in this seminar,
in this first seminar, and that affect and involve all the units.
That is why I think it is an important day for our university,
and I am going to advance my recognition.
Today, universities, much less ours, cannot
give up their internationalist vocation.
Internationalization, for the first time, occupies a chapter,
because before there were isolated references in the previous laws,
in the organic law of the university system, it occupies a whole chapter.
And this is an unequivocal example of the
importance that internationalization has
in terms of promoting and enriching the space of knowledge.
This has been translated into powerful mobility programs,
into powerful cooperation programs, but above all,
and this is, again, another of the
issues inherent to this great project, the launch of joint titles,
the mobility that will allow a student to start in one country,
to travel to several countries, and to finish in another.
In short, it is a new conception of education,
and I congratulate myself as a rector that our university is,
precisely, present in the great European project.
This great European project, and I conclude now,
that forces us and reminds us of the importance of collaboration.
I would like to tell you the same,
the same denomination, the alliances.
It is that today the projects must
always be conceived in collaboration.
I always say that the sense of belonging to a community
relieves us from fear of uncertainty,
expands the horizons of our vision,
and above all, it allows us to be driven.
I am very afraid, you will come with me, that we are
separated strands, that are part of a complex web,
that we only get rid of, and that we only
get rid of when we manage to help each other.
That is the essence of collaboration and alliances.
That is the importance of betting on dialogue,
one of the inherent features in international politics.
That is why, today, I want to reiterate my commitment
to continue working towards internationalization,
and I congratulate you and the whole university.
One of the great virtues of this project
is that it claims the joint effort of all.
Today our university begins this path in
a project that is no longer the future, it is the immediate present.
For all this, thank you very much, always, for your commitment.
Thank you.
[Silence]
[Foreign Language]
[Silence]