Spain’s National Network for International Campuses of Excellence has officially been launched. On 14 July 2010, the Spanish Ministry of Education announced that the Secretary General for Universities, Màrius Rubiralta, had signed the protocol formally designating the establishment of this elite group of institutions. So far, nine projects spread across eleven universities have been deemed worthy of either the qualification ‘International Campus of Excellence’, or ‘International Campus of Excellence-Regional Scope’, based on a competitive application and selection process carried out in late 2009 (see ACA Newsletter-Education Europe, September 2009).

Collectively, these institutions will receive some EUR 103 million to support their project activities. And while this is a relatively small amount of money, ambitions run high. The goal of the newly minted network is to “articulate its international projection, facilitate a process of synergy and mutual learning and to establish joint actions” across the network in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. The group also aspires to extend this work through the eventual creation of a European Network for Campuses of Excellence, which would facilitate collaboration between the Spanish network and other European universities that have been similarly recognised as campuses of excellence in their respective countries.

The International Campuses of Excellence initiative is part of Spain’s University Vision 2015 effort to improve the quality, competitiveness and internationalisation of the Spanish university system. A call for a new round of applications for International Campus of Excellence projects was closed on 31 May 2010, with results to be announced in the last quarter of 2010.

Ministerio de Educación (in Spanish)