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Alma Mater Higher Education Centre

UCAM and COE present the Madrid University Campus

Located in Torrejón de Ardoz, the Alma Mater Higher Education Centre will specialise in health, nutrition and sport, as announced today by the presidents of the two partner institutions in the project, María Dolores García and Alejandro Blanco. Classes are expected to begin next academic year, 2025-26.

Group photo following the presentation of the new Alma Mater Higher Education Centre.
Group photo following the presentation of the new Alma Mater Higher Education Centre.

With this presentation at a ceremony held yesterday at the headquarters of the Spanish Olympic Committee in Madrid, the beginning of a reality dreamed of by José Luis Mendoza, founder and first president of the UCAM (who recently passed away), and the head of the COE, has been publicly announced. This is an emblematic project for both institutions, as it represents a boost to their alliance, always aimed at serving athletes in particular and citizens in general, students and their families. Not only in the Community of Madrid, this initiative also has a clear international vocation.

The president of the University, María Dolores García Mascarell, explained that ‘during the current academic year the works are being carried out, so that classes can begin the following year, 2025-26’, adding that ‘we have had to go through many obstacles to get here, but we are all enjoying it, including José Luis, who will continue to help us from heaven’. As for the values that guide this project, she affirmed: ‘we understand sport as a path for personal improvement and solidarity, a way to bring hope and unity to society’. On the future of the UCAM-COE alliance, she was clear: ‘This educational and training project seeks excellence. It will become a reality as Alejandro Blanco and José Luis Mendoza dreamed it would.’

 ‘This educational and training project seeks excellence’

Alejandro Blanco, president of the EOC, described the moment as historic: ‘José Luis is present here. This is surely the most important day in the history of the Spanish Olympic Committee. It is a tribute to history, to the present and to the future. UCAM believes in science, in people and in helping athletes. Its DNA is based on values such as respect, work and solidarity.’ 
Blanco said of the projection of the UCAM that ‘bringing the University to Madrid is a very important step because it will allow us to reach international limits that we had not achieved until now. He also emphasised the impact for athletes: ‘It opens up an enormous world of possibilities to build a university in which athletes are protagonists.’

‘UCAM believes in science, in people and in helping athletes. Its DNA is based on values such as respect, work and solidarity’

Alejandro Navarro, Mayor of Torrejón de Ardoz, highlighted the importance of UCAM and the Spanish Olympic Committee coming to his municipality: ‘Our city has been chosen for a very big educational project. This is a source of pride for us. The arrival of students from all over Spain and from many countries will be great news for many torrejoneros.’

UCAM was well represented at the headquarters of the COE, with its University Council, Foundation and numerous academic leaders and people in charge of different areas of the educational institution. Also present were leaders of the Torrejón de Ardoz City Council, the Spanish Olympic Committee, sports federations and personalities from the world of business, politics, Madrid society and prestigious people from Murcia living in Madrid, such as Dr. Pedro Guillén, Director of the Spanish Chair of Sports Traumatology and a member of Universidad Católica de Murcia since its foundation. 

Health, sport and nutrition

On 22 July, the Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid published the Order of the Regional Minister of Education, Science and Universities, Emilio Viciana Duro, which ‘authorises the assignment of the Alma Mater Higher Education Centre to the Universidad Católica de Murcia. The first of the branches that UCAM plans to open in the Community of Madrid will be located in Torrejón de Ardoz, for which the Alma Mater Higher Education Centre has acquired the building of the former Camino Real private teaching centre, located on Avenida de la Constitución.’

The same Order establishes the authorisation to offer the first Bachelor's degrees, which will be in Food Science and Technology, Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Nursing, Physiotherapy and Psychology, which, once the appropriate accreditation procedures have been completed, will all be taught in accordance with the syllabuses that the Universidad Católica de Murcia has been offering. 
To this end, the Campus will have the close and excellent collaboration of the Ribera Group, which will allow the Torrejón Campus to be the University Hospital of reference for our degrees in health sciences.

These are five degrees in the field of health, nutrition and sport, in which UCAM has a high level of specialisation and international recognition, which has a direct impact on the fact that it is highlighted by reference rankings, such as the Impact Ranking of Times Higher Education (THE), Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the Knowledge and Development Foundation (CyD), Forbes, etc., which certify its educational quality, teaching model, high employability of its students, research excellence and international dimension.

VIDEO PRESENTATION UCAM - COE MADRID

Two great Olympic champions, María Pérez, walker and double Olympic medallist in Paris, and David Cal, winner of five Olympic medals, who has been working at the UCAM Sports Service for nine years, took part in the event on behalf of the athletes. María Pérez expressed her excitement, since ‘it is important that UCAM comes to Madrid as it will make many people take notice of the UCAM-COE alliance. I'm sure it will be an attraction for athletes from all over the world.’ For his part, David Cal recalled the figure of José Luis Mendoza: ‘He was very clear that we had to help athletes. I was given the opportunity to join the University staff. Today, nine years later, I am very happy to have taken that decision.’

The Madrid Campus will finally become a reality as José Luis Mendoza and Alejandro Blanco had always dreamed, and the current UCAM President has given it continuity, that is, by reflecting the alliance between the two institutions, so that by combining the potential of the two, the University that will be established in Madrid will have a much greater potential for the benefit of society.

Nevertheless, the project of the UCAM together with the Spanish Olympic Committee is much more far-reaching, as the aim is to create a university ecosystem in Torrejón de Ardoz in which the 22,000m2 teaching facilities will be accompanied by clinical simulation hospitals, university residences, etc. All of this will be staffed with highly qualified personnel and state-of-the-art technology.

About the UCAM-COE alliance

The Spanish Olympic Committee and the Universidad Católica de Murcia joined forces in 2012 in a sporting and educational project conceived with one central idea in mind: to enable top-level athletes to combine their higher education studies with training and competitions. UCAM had already been carrying out this work since it launched its first academic year (1997/98), conceiving a model based on that of large Anglo-Saxon universities in the United States and Great Britain, where sport is part of the DNA of university life. 

With the support of the Spanish Olympic Committee and the incorporation of Mireia Belmonte, the project took a qualitative and quantitative leap forward, as it opened its doors to numerous athletes who joined it. In the words of José Luis Mendoza, former UCAM President, the essence of the work carried out by both institutions is that ‘athletes, who make so many sacrifices to bring joy to our country, have the opportunity to train so that, at the end of their sporting life, which as we all know is short, they have the necessary tools to go out into the world of work and have a decent livelihood.’ 

Alejandro Blanco, President of the Spanish Olympic Committee, has always been proud of the step they took when they joined forces with UCAM as ‘it is a reference in the world. Especially because it offers a type of teaching that is based on values, on caring for people, and from there, I consider support for athletes to be secondary. It treats the person first, and then the athlete, and that is an example that all universities should follow.’

The model that has been allowing athletes to continue competing at the highest level and to advance in their university studies is based on flexibility. The university adapts to the athlete and not the other way around. To this end, it has a special corps of sports tutors who accompany the athletes along their academic pathway. And new technologies have been key to this model, as classes and tutorials by videoconference, the development of the virtual campus and the use of email and messaging services have greatly facilitated the work. But all this would not make sense and would not work if it were not for the effort and commitment of the athletes themselves, who have appreciated the opportunity offered by UCAM and the Spanish Olympic Committee to further their studies. 

The success of this model was particularly evident at the Olympic Games in RioTokyo and Paris, in terms of the number of athletes who competed and the medals and diplomas they won, compared to any other university in the world. But beyond the sporting successes, which are always a source of joy, the real triumph of the UCAM - COE project lies in the large number of athletes who are combining their training and competitions with their studies.

Athletes present at the event

The UCAM-COE alliance,which has brought so much joy to Spanish sport over the last twelve years, was perfectly reflected in the presence at the event of many Olympic athletes who are part of this great family. The aforementioned María Pérez and David Cal were joined by Marcus Cooper, Lydia Valentín, Cristian Toro, Alberto Fernández, Adriana Cerezo, Damian Quintero, Teresa Portela, Ayoub Ghadfa, Jennifer Pareja, Thais Henriquez, Ray Zapata, Raquel González,  Paco Cubelos,  Adrián Vicente, Javier Pérez Polo, Quique Llopis, Íñigo Peña, Diego Carrera, Elia Canales, Pablo Acha, Rocío García, Polina Berezina, Cristina Cabaña, María Espinosa, María Calvo, Fernando Carro, Paula Soria and Lola Riera.