Last Thursday, hundreds of students from the Universidad Católica de Murcia were able to learn about the employment and training proposals offered by around 50 leading regional and national companies, as well as professional associations, at the Employment Forum UCAM held at the Murcia Campus.  

One of the highlights of the day was the ceremony for the José Luis Mendoza Awards. In this first edition, the awards went to Grupo Sanitario Ribera, in the category Business-University Commitment; to Fundación Diagrama, in the category Recognition of the Third Sector; and to Grupo Vihotec, in the category UCAM Entrepreneurial Graduate.  

María Dolores García, UCAM President, officially closed the Employment Forum, where the awards were presented, in the company of Marisa López, Director General of the Servicio Regional de Empleo y Formación (SEF) of Murcia; Josefina García, UCAM Rector, and Manuel Carlos Ruiz, Vice-Rector of Quality and Academic Planning. This week, the Murcian institution has celebrated the 2nd Employment and Training Week, with workshops and conferences, culminating in today's event.

‘Students need to have direct contact with companies to get to know the reality of the employment sector.’

The UCAM President reminded the audience that the institution she presides over has held student-business encounters since the beginning, stemming from the concept with which the institution was launched by José Luis Mendoza, its founder. She explained that ‘students need to have direct contact with companies to get to know the reality of the employment sector’, and took the opportunity to thank the many companies present for welcoming students on internships. Regarding the Awards, she highlighted how José Luis Mendoza felt it was important for students to have contact with companies and entrepreneurship, and his links with the Third Sector, ‘with which he has always been involved’.

‘The latest data available from the Labour Force Survey show that the number of employed people with higher education has increased in the last year by 11.5 points.’

For her part, the SEF Director General congratulated UCAM for the programme of activities developed, which allowed ‘young university students to learn about the skills, abilities and competencies demanded by the constantly evolving labour market’. Likewise, she underlined the importance of training in terms of finding a job, especially higher education: ‘In this sense, the latest data available from the Labour Force Survey show that the number of employed people with higher education has increased in the last year by 11.5 points’.