Autonomous University of Madrid

About

The Autonomous University of Madrid (Spanish: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; UAM), commonly known as la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 by royal decree. UAM is widely respected as one of the most prestigious universities in Europe. According to the QS World University Rankings 2022, UAM is ranked as the top university in Spain and has consistently ranked as #1 in Spain in the El País University rankings, published annually. Among its notable alumni, which include every president that the Supreme Court of Spain and Constitutional Court of Spain has had, is the current King of Spain, Felipe VI, who studied the Licenciatura en Derecho (Law) and is the president of UAM’s alumni society. The campus of the university spans a rural tract of 650 acres (260 ha), mostly around metropolitan Madrid. Founded in 1968, its main campus, Cantoblanco, is located near the cities of Alcobendas, San Sebastián de los Reyes and Tres Cantos. UAM's Cantoblanco Campus holds most of the university's facilities. It is located 15 km (9.3 mi) north of Madrid and has an extension of over 2,200,000 m2 (24,000,000 sq ft). Of these, nearly 770,000 m2 (8,300,000 sq ft) are urbanised and about a third of them are garden areas. UAM offers 94 doctorate programs across the university. It also offers 88 master's degrees. According to a study carried out by the newspaper El Mundo, in 2021, UAM was the best university in the country to study biology, nursing, medicine, physics and law, within the 50 careers with the highest demand.

The Stabilization Plan of 1959 and the development plans of the 1960s boosted the Spanish economy after years of austerity and the self-sufficiency-based economy. The end of diplomatic and economic isolation led to an economic boom in Spain that resulted in the consolidation of a middle class similar to that of other Western European nations. The demand for higher education increased, and the Spanish university system grew increasingly congested. The Autonomous University of Madrid was established by the 5-1968 Decree approved by the Spanish Council of Ministers during the Francoist dictatorship along with the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Bilbao. This decree was sponsored by the then-Minister of Science and Education, José Luis Villar Palasí, in order to restructure the Spanish university system. The name Universidad Autónoma de Madrid first appeared in an executive order by the Ministry which was published on 13 August 1968. On 8 June 2018 the Autonomous University of Madrid celebrated its 50th anniversary with a series of commemorative events.

UAM's Cantoblanco Campus is home to most of the university's facilities. It is located 15 km north of Madrid and has an extension of over 2,200,000 m2. Of these are nearly 770,000 are urbanised and about a third of them are garden areas. The campus was designed as a university town that was to be self-sufficient, but also would be situated away from Madrid in order to keep student activity against the Francoist dictatorship away from the capital.

Initially, the campus held the faculties of philosophy and liberal arts, law, economics, business management, and science, as well as the rectorate, several other service buildings and sports facilities. The university's other facilities, the faculty of medicine and the teacher training Santa Maria school are in downtown Madrid. There are two other teacher training schools in Segovia and in Cuenca. Over the years, the faculty of psychology, the biology building of the faculty of sciences, the new faculty of law (that allowed the transfer of the teacher training school to the main campus, and that was later transformed in faculty of education and teacher training) along with its political science annex building, the polytechnic school (initially superior technical school of computing engineers), the libraries of humanities and sciences, as well as the Erasmus of Rotterdam dormitory have been built on the main campus. The original faculties were housed in interconnected buildings with several patios in between them. Characteristic to each building is a large number of stairs in its corridors, initially designed to prevent students from running in case of police raids. Currently, this fact has been considered by many university officials as a setback in the integration of handicapped students. The newest facilities were built in a contemporary style, being more accessible and allowing more free movement to students. Sporting facilities include two swimming pools (an indoor one and an outdoor one), two multiple-use pavilions, and outdoor tennis, football, basketball, paddle tennis, rugby, and futsal and beach volleyball courts. Other services on campus include 16 cafeterias and other eating facilities, medical services, a pharmacy with optic care, a foreign languages pavilion, and a bookstore. The campus also houses several research facilities partnered with the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC). Cantoblanco Campus is accessible by train belonging to Renfe Cercanias Commuter service (station Cantoblanco-Universidad), or by the Madrid Region Commuter Bus service. The campus is located in the B1 area of the Madrid Transports Consortium.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.