‘Today we renew our desire to train people who have integrity, in the light of Christian humanism, and who are capable of facing the challenges of a world that has turned its back on God’. With these words, María Dolores García, UCAM president, commenced the Solemn Opening Ceremony of the UCAM 2024-24 academic year on the morning of 13th November 2024 in the Temple of the Monastery of Los Jerónimos, a day which began with a Eucharist presided over by José Manuel Lorca Planes, bishop of the Diocese of Cartagena.

The academic ceremony was presided over by María Dolores García, accompanied by Josefina García Lozano, Rector of the institution; Fernando López Miras, President of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia; Juan María Vázquez, Regional Minister for the Environment, Universities, Research and the Mar Menor; Antonio Montoro, Honorary Rector, and Monsignor José Manuel Lorca Planes, who gave the Inaugural Lecture entitled ‘The time has come. The task of the Church today: risks, challenges and opportunities’.

University Growth

María Dolores García recalled José Luis Mendoza, her husband and founder of the University, ‘at these moments, in his speeches, he always wanted to convey a message to us: the love that God the Father has for us, He who committed his Son to death so that we may be justified by his blood’. The president of the University recalled that at the very centre of all the work carried out by the institution is the student, ‘to whom we offer a quality education that considers the person as a holistic being’, and in which the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence into its educational model is ‘always under principles that respect the dignity of the human being’.

At the centre of all the institution's work is the student

UCAM has established itself as a benchmark in research, with an investment of more than 250 million euros in projects over its 28 years, ‘which not only enrich knowledge, but are aimed at solving specific problems that affect society’.

‘Our university was founded with the mission to evangelise, which continues to be valid and strengthened’, and has over 1500 students involved in volunteer projects in the last year, being the institution of higher education with the highest number of student volunteers according to the XII Study of University Volunteering, recently carried out by the Mutua Madrileña Foundation, also highlighting ‘the programme of social and labour insertion for people with intellectual disability UCAMPACITAS’.

María Dolores García cited the work done by the high-tech incubator in health, sport and food towardsentrepreneurship UCAM HiTech and the achievements in sports, highlighting that, as a result of the UCAM-COE alliance, in the recent Olympic Games ‘we have once again surpassed Stanford in medals and diplomas’, as well as the academic achievements of the athletes and the excellent season of UCAM Murcia CB (Basketball).

Milestones of the new academic year

The academic offer of the UCAM this year includes 34 bachelor's degrees and 43 master's degree programmes, distributed among 11 faculties, in which more than 23,000 students are trained, with a totally up-to-date teaching model, as Josefina García, the University's rector, highlighted. She highlighted milestones such as ‘the Alma Mater Campus in Madrid, which is already a reality; a dream of José Luis Mendoza, UCAM founder, and which María Dolores García took on, focused on health, sport and nutrition, and which we hope will be up and running next academic year’. At the same time, she pointed out that the Murcian institution continues to work to introduce new qualifications that respond to the current demands of society: ‘One of them, the Degree in Biomedicine, which does not exist in the current regional university system’. She added that work has already begun on the Large Animal Hospital, ‘which will be ready in time for the veterinary students’, and that work on the Faculty of Sport has been completed.

This year UCAM is offering 34 bachelor's degrees and 43 master's programmes, distributed among 11 faculties, in which more than 23,000 students are trained

García Lozano congratulated the Community on the drafting of the new Law on Universities, which was ‘long overdue’, which must recognise ‘the uniqueness of the universities, those three that make up the regional system’.

Fernando López Miras, President of the Autonomous Community, in addition to mentioning the future Regional Law on Universities, for which he hopes to have contributions from the UCAM, announced that the regional government is going to work on a new Law on Science, Technology and Innovation ‘adapted to the new challenges, promoting collaboration between research and business’, for which he gave the work carried out by UCAM through its Hub, UCAM Hitech, as an example. In his words, he also remembered José Luis Mendoza, founder of the University, with whose legacy María Dolores García continues, ‘making the Region a reference in Higher Education’ and, after appreciating the many international students, he pointed out that ‘in this University values, which are now more necessary than ever, are transmitted’.

Evangelisation, ‘the most urgent task’

José Sánchez, Episcopal vicar, was in charge of presenting José Manuel Lorca Planes, bishop of the Diocese of Cartagena, who has just turned 75 years old, for which he has sent his resignation to the Holy Father.

The Monsignor referred to evangelisation as the most urgent task of the Church, ‘first and foremost’, ‘because humanity needs words of encouragement for hope, light for the journey and strength to maintain the values of life’, stressing the need to ‘pass on the faith to children and grandchildren’.

In the words of the bishop of the Diocese of Cartagena, today's society is facing an economic, cultural and anthropological transformation that makes the task of evangelisation very difficult. ‘The difficulties of speaking of God today in a world that has closed its ears because of atheism, religious indifference, excessive admiration for oneself, consumerism... should stimulate us to continue to listen to the voice of God, Who continues to appear on our paths, inviting us to be His witnesses’.

During his speech he made special reference to charity as ‘our greatest challenge’, affirming that ‘love for our neighbour, for the poorest, the weakest and the most needy, is the way to find God’, expressing his gratitude expressly for the great social and humanitarian work carried out daily in the Region by various institutions that provide help to people in need.

José Manuel Lorca Planes expressed his express gratitude for the great social and humanitarian work carried out daily in the Region by various institutions that provide aid to people in need.

The bishop said goodbye by referring to UCAM: ‘I ask the Lord that the essential work of the University may continue to favour the life of the entire society, that it may continue to open doors of hope with success in the various disciplines in the fields of research; above all, that it may never be forgotten that the true protagonist of society is the human being, each person, who continues to struggle every day to build a better world. And you are making it happen.’