The Universitat Politècnica de Valencia (UPV) is a prestigious university with a well-established reputation for the quality of its teaching and research. It is the only technological university in Spain to figure among the leading universities of its kind in the world, according to the international ranking drawn up by the University of Jiao Tong, in Shanghai. From scholarships, study exchanges abroad and paid job placements to free sporting and cultural activities, the UPV provides its students with all the necessary opportunities to guarantee a well-rounded education, which places equal emphasis on developing the students’ technological skills and on developing their personal and social skills.

The UPV is a relatively young institution founded just 40 years ago, although some of its centres have been teaching for more than a century. The origins of the present-day University can be traced back to the foundation of the Instituto Politécnico Superior de Valencia in the 1968-1969 academic year. This institute comprised four higher education technical schools: the Schools of Agricultural Engineering, Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Industrial Engineering. But it was not until 1971 that the UPV was formally established by decree and in the years that followed other centres were gradually incorporated into the university. Today, the UPV teaches 58 official degree courses (52 first- and second-cycle degree courses, and six bachelor’s degrees) in twelve university schools and three faculties on four different campuses: Vera and Blasco Ibáñez (both in the city of Valencia), and the campuses of Alcoy and Gandia. The University has more than 37,000 students, more than 2,800 academic teaching staff and researchers and 2,200 administrative and services staff.

The UPV seeks to provide it students with a level of excellence that is recognized and appreciated by the business world and by society alike. The quality of teaching is largely attributable to the efforts of faculty members, whose training and dedication to their work is unparalleled. In recent years, the UPV has embarked upon the renewal of its methodology for teaching technical subjects: to ensure that students really learn – and do not solely memorize, that students know how to – and do not solely know, and that students are familiar with the tools and processes of their trade – and do not solely recall the theory of their use. Gradually we are reaping the fruits of this work and so graduating from the UPV is becoming a more accessible target for many. At least, that is what a recent report shows: 83% of students that sit their final-year examinations now pass. To ensure that students can focus fully on their studies, the UPV makes a number of grants available from its own budget. Among the main scholarships students can apply for are the Ayudas de Acción Social, for students who do not receive a Grant from the Ministry of Education, and the student canteen grants, which include 100 free meals served at the various canteens on the campuses. In addition students can apply for intern scholarships working in the various university departments and services, grants for conducting teacher questionnaires and sports scholarships for sports coordinators, elite university sportsmen and athletes.

One of the main pillars of the social recognition accorded to the UPV is its research capacity, which is based on technological innovation and regional development. In recent years, the amount of R+D+i activity has grown in general terms at a rate approaching 10%: today, the R+D+i activities being undertaken by the UPV with external financing are valued at around 45 bn euros. The UPV’s new science park has been given the name Ciudad Politécnica de la Innovación (CPI) and on completion it will extend over an area of 140,000 m2, and will bring together 60% of the university’s R+D structure, that is, some 1,000 researchers and 400 technical support staff. A number of sectors are already up and running and they include the emblematic buildings that house the research institutes dedicated to information and communication technologies, automobiles, agrobioengineering and chemical processes. The CPI generates excellent innovation opportunities for the whole region and is a motor of social development.

Music, cinema, photography, theatre, exhibitions, literature … year after year the range of cultural activities and charity events organized by the UPV for its students grows. Of particular interest is the annual jazz festival held in November, attracting some of the world’s leading jazz musicians.

For a number of decades now, the UPV has enjoyed a considerable international presence thanks to agreements of academic cooperation established with some of the world’s top universities. It leads the field in terms of student mobility, with around 400 agreements signed with higher education institutions on each of the five continents: every year the UPV welcomes more than 2,200 foreign students and sends a further 1,700 to 50 different destinations. The UPV has developed its own program of exchange grants – in addition to Erasmus and Leonardo scholarships – thanks to which its students can broaden their horizons and spend a term outside Europe, in the universities of Latin America, the US, Canada, China, Japan and Australia. Strong links have been built above all with Latin America, where leading research groups conduct their work and many university courses are taught: Master’s, PhDs, specialist university programs, specific training courses, summer schools and conferences in Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Uruguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina, among others. This work is complemented by a firm commitment to the promotion of international aid. The UPV finances aid projects that seek to promote development. And, moreover, they promote ties with external bodies to undertake joint projects in poor regions of countries that include Mexico, Morocco, Colombia, Romania, Egypt, Peru and El Salvador.

The UPV boasts magnificent sports installations (sports hall, athletics track, tennis courts, velodrome, indoor swimming pool, and a trinquet – for playing Valencian pilota, etc.) that are open to all the university. Thanks to these, students can participate in more than 75 different sports free of charge: climbing, archery, underwater diving, Valencian pilota, taekwondo, athletics, sailing, handball, beach volleyball, tennis, paddle tennis, cycling, fencing and swimming, among others. The UPV campuses are well equipped, fully pedestrianized and boast more than 108,000 m2 of green zones, with an open air sculpture museum, where the visitor can admire the works of the likes of Chirico, Miró, Mompó, Oteiza, Miquel Navarro, Sempere and Valdés. They also house all the services to satisfy students’ day-to-day needs: a bookshop, travel agency, a hairdresser’s, newsagents, banks, chemist’s, cafes, sports clothes shop, etc. The campuses, including their buildings, gardens and outside areas, are fitted with a wireless internet connection. Thanks to the wi-fi network installed by the UPV there are more than 125 access points around the various campuses. Special mention should be made of the student building, the Casa del Alumno, open 24 hours a day 365 days a year, and which is managed entirely by the UPV’s students. The building houses computer labs., a photography lab., a study support centre, meeting rooms, rehearsal rooms and rooms for courses and workshops, spaces to study and recreational and leisure areas, etc.

Ninety-four per cent of graduates would choose to return to the UPV if they had to begin their studies again. This figure appears in a survey conducted by the University, and highlights the high degree of satisfaction expressed by students with the education they received and the services placed at their disposal. Among other features, the study reports that a high percentage of students participated in complementary activities during their studies: 57% on work experience programs, 20% on foreign exchange programs, while 18% had benefited from a study grant. Most of the students on the work experience programs are paid for their work via a fund that supports student studies. Significantly these programs provide the main route of access into the job market. This is one of the reasons why 87.7% of UPV graduates take less than six months to find their first job. http://www.upv.es - informacion@upv.es

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