The Universidad de Alicante is one of five universities in the public university system of the Comunidad Valenciana and boasts the second highest level of scientific production, the second highest number of patents, and the third largest student population. The University is committed to supporting scientific, industrial and cultural development throughout the province of Alicante and now operates eight affiliated centres across the region, where it offers year-round outreach and continuous-learning programs. The Universidad de Alicante is a forward-thinking institution dedicated to ensuring the quality of its teaching and services and achieving the highest levels of excellence in all areas of activity. The institutional objectives for the coming years focus primarily on the needs of the student population, and are set out in the strategic plan horizon for 2012. By creating a culture of continuous improvement, the University aims to encourage its students to take a more active role in the learning process, since the enthusiasm and initiative they carry into their professional lives will be crucial to the future economic and social development of the region and of Spain as a whole.

Since its foundation in 1979, the Universidad de Alicante has been able to combine the dynamism of a young institution with a growing degree of experience and maturity, and it continues to innovate in the introduction of new technologies, which enhance the quality of its academic and teaching procedures and bring them into line with the requirements of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The University was formerly a centre for university studies (Centro de Estudios Universitarios, CEU), supported by public and private funding from within the province of Alicante. In the last thirty years the University has justified its reputation for having one of the most attractive and well designed campuses in the country, which is particularly renowned for its beautiful parkland and the diversity of its plant life. The University´s commitment to environmental preservation has seen it convert an arid area into an oasis of greenery that provides the perfect setting for academic study. As demand for higher education has grown, the University has increased the number of academic courses and other services it offers, causing it to outgrow its original site. The need for additional space will be met by the creation of one hundred hectares through the construction of the Alicante Science Park, which will occupy a sixty-hectare plot designed to house experimental and laboratory facilities.

Basic and applied research is carried out by 221 scientific groups distributed between fifty-two departments and 14 university research institutes, and the University has gained national and international recognition for its research and development work. Research groups currently hold cooperation agreements with 1500 companies, and the University places great importance on technological development through collaborative work with the business sector. The University has 92 registered patents and recently applied for twelve more. Over the last years, researchers have been awarded competitive funding for 655 projects, with a total value of over fifteen million Euros. The University’s status in the Valencian Community has enabled it to plan further expansion by developing the Alicante Science Park at a site close to the original campus. The Park is intended to be a multi-disciplinary space for excellence and innovation, where established companies, new firms, research groups and corporate-funded R&D laboratories can benefit from mutual proximity and use the range of scientific, technical and logistics services to create new alliances and consolidate existing partnerships. The fundamental goal of the Science Park is to oversee the creation of new technology-based companies, and it will also direct the incubation of new companies, which will develop on the site and maintain a presence until they are sufficiently mature to move into competitive markets.

The Universidad de Alicante is at the centre of cultural development in the province, and organizes a wide range of cultural and leisure programs and events. Activities run during the academic year include conferences and workshops, dance classes, yoga, screenwriting groups, pottery classes and tango lessons. The University also offers cinema, theatre and poetry workshops, runs a choir, and organizes concerts, seminars and film screenings. University students are given the chance to take part in competitions in a range of areas such as fiction writing, painting, poetry, cartoon drawing and screenwriting. In addition to academic buildings, the University campus has its own contemporary art museum which houses an extensive collection of paintings, archaeological exhibits and photographs, and where students can work on their own creations during the academic year. The Great Hall seats 800 guests and is the setting for the most prestigious cultural and artistic events hosted by the University.

The Universidad de Alicante is a leading promoter of social and cultural initiatives, and has close ties with over 100 higher education institutions across Europe, Latin America, the United States and the rest of the world. The Centre for Oriental Studies coordinates a large number of projects carried out in Asia, as well as offering Chinese and Japanese language classes. Student exchange programs are also an important part of the University´s academic activity, and more than 1000 foreign students spend periods of study in Alicante each year. Over two-thirds of these students are from European universities taking part in Erasmus exchange programs, but there is also a sizeable number of students from further afield, from countries such as Fiji, China, The Philippines and a number of African nations. The University opened an overseas centre in Havana (Cuba) over ten years ago, and a partnership with the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library has also enabled it to set up a series of Literary Portals with countries in Latin America. Students enrolled at the Universidad de Alicante have a number of channels through which to broaden their horizons, including academic exchange programs, and placements and internships in companies based throughout Spain and abroad. More than 500 students spend periods of study or employment in other countries every year.

The Universidad de Alicante offers its students and staff a range of important services. The Health Unit is staffed by expert medical and nursing staff and equipped with the latest technologies, and the University also operates an Occupational Safety Unit, an Industrial Hygiene Unit, and an Ergonomics and Health Psychology Unit. The university community also has access to an Optometry Clinic, which offers regular check-ups to staff. The University has recently developed a Campus Accessibility Plan through a new partnership with the Spanish Institute for the Elderly and Social Services (IMSERSO), which receives funding from the European Regional Development Fund. The Plan was designed to solve some of the current accessibility problems of the university campus and to ensure that all buildings, roads and communications systems meets the needs of staff, students and visitors with specific disabilities. It is also intended to be a blueprint for engineers and technicians involved in planning and implementing further developments on campus and at other sites operated by the University. The University also has specially trained staff to deal with the requirements of the 129 students affected by visual and hearing impairments or who have other types of special educational needs. Students requiring assistance are offered adapted transport from their homes to the University every day.

The University combines a strong academic tradition with a friendly and attractive learning environment. Over the last few years, the University´s teaching and services quality plan has seen it achieve the highest score in two of the teaching categories assessed under the target-based public education funding system applied in the Valencian Community, as well as obtaining the highest student satisfaction score and lowest drop-out rate of any university in the region. In addition to its commitment to teaching excellence and academic achievement, the University also aims to create a pleasant and attractive environment for staff, students and visitors, and strives to maintain the highest possible standards in all of the services it offers. Keeping pace with technological developments has long been a priority at the University and forms a key part of its strategic plan for the future. New technologies are introduced as they become available, and the University now provides wireless internet access across most of the campus, enabling students to work independently over the university network. Over one thousand students can connect to the wireless network, and those who do not own laptops have free access to any of the fifty computer rooms on campus. The campus is widely recognized as one of the most attractive in the country, largely thanks to the work of the internationally renowned and award-winning architects involved in its design. The technical installations are second to none, and offer students and staff unparalleled connection speed and hardware performance. Finally, the University makes extensive use of the latest teaching technologies, and the Virtual Campus greatly enhances communication between students and teaching staff.

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