REPORT of the STUDY VISIT to USE- UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE
Seville, 14 th January
International Centre, Seville, Av. Ciudad Jardín, 20-22, 9:30
Spanish Higher Education System
Higher education in Spain remains at the level of the Autonomous Communities meaning it is
not a centralised system and a series of subsystems of governance may be found. (Rumbley
and Howard, 2015)
According to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (MECD, 2013) there are in Spain 50
public universities and 32 private ones that are distributed by 17 Autonomous Communities
and 2 autonomous cities (Ceuta and Melilla) through 236 physical branch campuses and 112
special and online platforms. The system includes 6 distance learning universities, with services
located outside the country, especially in Latin America, 481 research institutes, 29 doctoral
schools and 47 university hospitals
According the information of the MECD enrolments in the 2012-13 academic year were 1 561
123 and public universities enrol the majority of students, 88,5% in bachelor’s and 75% in
masters’ programmes.
Spanish higher education system presents 3 different levels of studies. Undergraduate level
that requires the completion of 240 ECTS (4 academic year programs); Graduate level where a
Master requires the completion of 60 to 120 ECTS, corresponding to different lengths ( 1 or 2
years) and a public defence which requires 6 to 30 ECTS.
(Eurydice, 2015)
Host Institution – General description
The University of Seville with more than 5 centuries is the second largest in Spain by number of
students and the first in Andalusia. US is a Campus of International Excellence. It consists of
more than 30 Centres, 120 Departments, 80,000 m2 of sports facilities certified as Superior
Athletics Facilities, Libraries, etc.
REPORT of the STUDY VISIT to USE- UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE
Easy information access is available with WIFI networks and the most complete Virtual
Platform found in the Spanish University system. Electronic Administration and Virtual
Classrooms are already available.
The US contributes to Environmental Sustainability as verified by the Certificate of European
Quality for the EFQM model of Excellence.
(Source: University of Seville website)
The University of Seville has now an extensive university community made up of more than
70,000 students, 4,400 professors, and 2,400 service and administrative professionals, with a
total budget income of 407.540.339 Euros
REPORT of the STUDY VISIT to USE- UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE
(Source: US, 2014)
The US offers a catalogue of nearly 70 undergraduate and 74 graduate study programs taught
on liberal arts and humanities, social and juridical sciences, pure sciences, health sciences,
engineering and architecture areas.
(Source: US, 2014)
The University offers also 138 postgraduate study programs leading to doctorate degrees on
the same field study areas.
(Source: US, 2014)
REPORT of the STUDY VISIT to USE- UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE
In addition the University also offers a wide range of masters/experts degrees outside the
officially regulated system but recognised Vis a Vis their labour market value.
The US is leader in research with more than 400 research groups and more than 1,000 annual
academic publications with an international impact. It is also a leader in establishment of
technology based companies, patents and patents revenues.
The US supports about 5,000 international students and has been awarded with the Erasmus
Prize of the Autonomous Agency for European Educational Programmes.
The governement of the US is represented at the highest level by the Rector that manages the
university and chairs its governing bodies and sessions. The Rector is assisted by an Executive
Board of 12 Vice-Rectors and Secretariat Directors.
The general governing bodies are the University Senate, elected by the students, teaching and
administrative faculty communities with representatives of the society/social community
(Social Council), the University Ombudsman , the Academic Inspection Service and the
Manager.
The University of Seville International Relations Office (IRO)
The meeting point and the focus of the field visit was the International Centre that constitutes
the University of Seville flagship regarding the internationalization. The Centre is devoted to
the mobility, to the creation and development of a portfolio of strategic international degrees
and to the promotion of the presence of UE all over the world.
The US has a strong tradition on internationalization and we may find some different phases
across the history.
In the beginnings internationalization was really linked to personal efforts made by students
and schoolers to reap the benefits of the international education, with strong links to the
South America and the interest of foreign schoolers and artists by the city, since the romantic
period. (Wagner, 2010)
In the fifties and sixties different programmes of Spanish Ministry of International Affairs
provided the US’s professors and researchers with the opportunity to perform a study and
research abroad in additional to the traditional South American destinations. But in general
international agreements and their administrative process were considered secondary with
regards to the regular national agreements and were not centralised.
A change was imposed by the University Statutes of 1988, establishing a clear and central
control and documents’ registration and all agreements and programs were registered and
filled at the same place and were always submitted to the university legal services.
The boom in internationalization occurred in the 90s, due to the big success of Erasmus
program that made visible the benefits and needs of international education to the general
community and focused the process not only in teaching but especially in learning – students,
and underlined the necessity of validation of Erasmus studies carried abroad.
REPORT of the STUDY VISIT to USE- UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE
With this recognition of studies the US achieved a centralised and systematized development
and production of international activities.
Last changes included the creation of the Vice rectorate Office of International the creation of
the Vice rectorate Office of International Relations, prioritizing international affairs in the
strategic university plan, promoting cooperation and exchanges with emerging countries as
China or India, creating a development and cooperation office, launching the Study Abroad
program and including administrative staff within the planning and the exchanges.
(Source: Adame-Martinez, 2010)
The IRO of SE is composed by 40 permanent staff members and 8 student assistants. It
integrates a Vice-Rectory of International Relations that reports directly to the Rector and
Executive Board.
The IRO is chaired on an administrative level and has the assistance by the head of the
international relations section and three administrative unit heads, a translator and an IT
team.
US’ IRO comprises 2 basic organization models: the product or divisional model and the
function model;
The 4 main areas, are organised on a product basis:
1) International mobility;
REPORT of the STUDY VISIT to USE- UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE
2) Cooperation and Development;
3) International Agreements;
4) General Support and Information of International Programs
And 3 support areas are organised on a functional basis:
5) Financial Management;
6) IT staff;
7) Translation Team.
The main services provided by the IRO comprises:
•
•
•
•
•
•
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The management of all international activities of the US under the guidelines approved
by the University Council;
International agreements;
International Mobility Programs;
International cooperation programmes including management of international
volunteering;
Study abroad programme;
Translations into several languages;
The planning of all international events held at the US
REPORT of the STUDY VISIT to USE- UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE
REFERENCES:
Adame-Martinez,Miguel (coord) (2010). New trends for University Management in the
European space oh Higher Education. A toolbox for the newly Independent states. Retrieved
from http://institucional.us.es/tempus/pdf/book.pdf
European Commission/EACEA (Eurydice) (2015). The structure of the European Education
Systems 2015/16: Schematic Diagrams. Eurydice Facts and Figures. Luxembourg: Publication
Office of the European Union.
Garcia, Juan (coord) (US) (2014). Statistical Yearbook 2013-14, University of Seville. Retrieved
from http://www.us.es/downloads/acerca/cifras/PresentIng.pdf
Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (MECD) (2013). Datos básicos del sistema
universitario
español.
Curso
2013-2014.
Retrieved
from
http://www.mecd.gob.es/dms/mecd/educacion-mecd/areaseducacion/
universidades/estadisticas-informes/datos-cifras/DATOS_CIFRAS_13_14.pdf
Parets, Rafael (2010). Administrative Organization and staffing of IROs. Retrieved from
http://institucional.us.es/tempusicaen/results
Rumbley, Laura; Howard, Laura. (2015). Spain. In: Wit, Hans; Hunter, Fiona; Howard, Laura;
Egron-Polak, Eva; Internationalisation of higher education, European Union: DGIPCE, 2015