| University of Jaén | |
| Native Name: | Universidad de Jaén |
| Motto: | Universitas Giennensis |
| Type: | Public |
| Established: | 1993 |
| Rector: | Nicolás Ruiz Reyes |
| Budget: | EUR 132.895 million (2021) |
| Students: | 16,990 |
| Administrative Staff: | 927 |
| Academic Staff: | 972 [1] |
| City: | Jaén, Linares and Úbeda |
| Country: | Andalusia, Spain |
| Campus: | Main campuses in Jaén and Linares. Other smaller facilities in the city of Úbeda. |
| Website: | http://www.ujaen.es |
| Address: | Campus Las Lagunillas, Ctra. Torrequebradilla s/n |
| Colors: | Green, Gold, Red |
| Arwu W: | 801–900 |
| Arwu W Year: | 2023 |
| Arwu W Ref: | [2] |
| The W: | 801–1000 |
| The W Year: | 2024 |
| The W Ref: | [3] |
| Usnwr W: | =1147 |
| Usnwr W Year: | 2023 |
| Usnwr W Ref: | [4] |
The University of Jaén (Spanish:UJA; Universidad de Jaén; Latin: Universitas Giennensis) is a public research university based in Jaén, Andalucía, Spain.
Founded by the Andalusian Parliament through Act 05/1993 (BOE-A-1993-21945) in 1993 with the stated mission to promulgate and educate future generations of economists, health professionals, engineers and scientists.
It's regarded as the successor to the ancient University of Baeza, established in 1538 by Pope Paul III in the former Kingdom of Jaén.
Considered part of the University of Granada up until its formal creation, the research institution inherits some of the research and development centres and experimental sciences laboratories. In addition to the principal campus, Lagunillas Campus, the university has two satellite environments, the Scientific-Technological Campus in Linares and the "Sagrada Familia" learning facility in Úbeda. Currently under construction is the Advanced Clinical Simulation Center.[5]
According to the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings published in 2021, the institution remains as one of the 100 best universities to adhere to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals highlighting research, stewardship, outreach and teaching.[6] Recently, the UJA has been ranked as one of the top 250 young Universities according to THE Young Universities ranking, evaluating institutions with less than 50 years of existence.
Jaén University traces its history back to the Modern Age with the University of Baeza and throughout the 17th century, in the brief period when the General Study of Santa Catalina became a Pontifical University.
Earlier in 1368, there was a Grammar School which in addition to teaching the discipline, it taught Rhetoric, Logic and all the Liberal Arts. When in the late Modern Age there was a significant economic enrichment, the strength of urban centres like Úbeda, Baeza, Andujar, Alcalá la Real and Jaén itself, this together with the political situation, made the possibility of the realization of a university a reality. King Juan I of Castilla, in 1382, founded the Convent School of Santa Catalina Martyr, run by the Order of Santo Domingo, which taught liberal arts and theology.
Thanks to the efforts of Knight twenty-four Mr Juan Cerezo, Pope Paul III, in 1503, issued a bull which empowered the General Study of the Convent of Santa Catalina to study Liberal Arts, Medicine, Theology and other sciences.
In 1585 the Augustinians, with the complicity of some members of the Cathedral Chapter and without the permission of Bishop Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza, tried to establish a College of Letters, like that of Baeza, which was created in 1538; but the strong opposition from the Bishop and certain canons, committed to the University of Baeza, caused the university to fail.
In 1629, Pope Urban VIII, issued a bull which converted the General Survey of the Convent of Santa Catalina Martyr into the Pontifical University of Baeza. This initiated a lawsuit, which they won the following year, the result of which Jaén ceased to be the host university.
The main university was in Baeza, founded on the above date by notary Rodrigo López, who was a relative of Pope Paul III. The school had early support from important noblemen, so-called New Christians—bourgeois Jews who had converted to Christianity rather than leave Spain - as well as from the Jesuits and the Carmelites; Saint John of the cross participated in prayer seminars there. From the very beginning the faculties of Arts and Theology existed, and in 1683, the Canon was founded. Eventually, the University of Baeza went into a long decline, as a result of historical events, which characterised the province of Jaén. The province became an increasingly rural backwater, a pattern that continued until quite recent times. The local aristocracy left, to Parliament in Madrid or to other major Spanish cities, where they invested their wealth, rather than in Jaén and Baeza. The textile industry that had been the basis of local wealth went into a particular decline. Teaching at the university ossified, and an 1807 decree abolished the university, which was followed by the definitive end of the university in 1824.
From then on, the university demands would be made by two centres which were founded in Jaén in 1843: the teacher training college and the Secondary School. Colleges which without being fully recognised are now closer to the status of University Colleges. The mining industry kept its aspirations and the industrial bourgeoisie led to the founding of the School of Mining in 1892 in Linares. Some years later also in Linares, the Linares Industrial School was founded by Royal Decree on July 16, 1910, where they taught the Industrial Technical studies: Mechanical, Chemical, Electrical, and Construction engineering. In 1911 the Technical Middle School, providing Electrical and Mechanical Specialist qualifications and in 1913 the Teacher Training College, were both founded in Jaén.
A new qualitative and quantitative leap occurred from 1945 with the teaching of Business Studies in the School of Commerce. In 1951 came the reopening of the Expert Technical School of Jaén, in Linares, which had closed in 1937 because of the Civil War; however, remained open during the war, and returned to normal during 1939/40, after the end of the war. A second Teacher Training College, the "Sagrada Familia" was founded in 1949 in Villanueva del Arzobispo, where it remained until 1949 when it was transferred to Úbeda. In 1954 Jaén Provincial Council founded the Provincial Welfare School of Nursing.
Around the seventies, the demographic and political model that favoured the dispersion of the university through the founding of University Colleges, created an ideal environment for the Academic Activities Seminar organized in 1969 within the Institute of Jaén Studies, regaining the university project in Jaén. In April 1970 Jaén Council authorized the necessary funds for the founding of a college. Requested by the council in July 1971, it was granted by the Ministry of Education and Science in October of that year. However, until November 1975 it was not affiliated to the University of Granada.
Earlier in 1972, the School of Education had become the Teacher Training College of the EGB (Educación General Básica, the old Spanish education system) and the School of Technical Industrial Engineering became the College of Technical Industrial Engineering. In 1976 the Linares Technical College, suffered the same fate, also joining the group of University Centres in the province of Jaén a new municipal ownership of the same city, as was the School of Teacher Training "Antonia López Arista." Finally in 1978 the School of Commerce, which would be the School of Business Studies, the School of Nursing and the "Sagrada Familia" Úbeda joined the rest of the group which made up the schools in Jaén and the provinces.
In 1982 the college joined the University of Granada, although the effective integration did not take place until January 1985.
The penultimate stage of the process occurred after 1989. In that year the University College was broken down into the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Experimental Science. In 1990 the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law was founded. The year before the University School of Industrial Engineering of Jaén became the Technical College and the University of Granada founded the University Campus University in Jaén, to which the existing centres in the city were first affiliated. From the academic year 92/93 those in the rest of the province also joined.
The final stage began after the founding of the Academic Technical Committee Jaén University Campus. Then in May 1992 was the final transformation into University of Jaén, by Law 5 / 1993 of the Andalusian Parliament of July 1, 1993, which officially began with the constitution of the Management Committee on 7 September of that year.
At this stage, all existing university centres in Jaén, and the rest of the province form the new University of Jaén, in which Mr Luis Parras Guijosa will be the first vice-chancellor (previously president of the Management Committee).
The new university continues growing, the Linares Technical College, which has been giving training to professionals of mining and industrial engineering for over 100 years. During 93-94 it added technical engineering studies for telecommunications (Telematics) to its range of training. This institution belongs to the University of Jaén. Some years later, in 2005 and after establishing the second year of Telecommunication Engineering studies, the Linares Technical College acquired a superior status.
The Statutes of the University of Jaén, as a tool for self-government, were approved by the Constitutional Senate on the 9th of June 1998 and subsequently by the Governing Council of the Autonomous Community of Andalucía, through Decree 277/1998 of 22 December, as published in the Official Gazette of the Autonomous Community of Andalucía, no. 8 January 19, 1999.
Once all the requirements were fulfilled as required under current legislation, the University of Jaén was fully integrated into the Spanish university system and able to fully exercise the autonomy conferred by Article 27.10 from the Spanish Constitution of 1978.
Since it was founded, the institution has committed itself to providing quality teaching, as well as the increase of scientific production and development of infrastructures (currently there are several under construction). The University of Jaén offers of over 50 degrees, technical equipment of advanced technology, laboratories, a library with more than 480,000 digital publications, exchange programs and mobility for students within more than 60 countries, work experience with more than 550 companies, a careers service with two programs of professional training and modern sports facilities as well as a wide range of activities for students.
The University of Jaén is at its peak of development and on the point of changing, adapting and renovating to provide better quality teaching.[7]
One of the primary objectives is to adapt the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) to join the Bologna Process. In the academic year 2009/2010 six adapted degrees will be made available (Degrees in Biology, Environmental Science, Chemistry, Nursing, Physiotherapy and Social Work). 2010 will be a crucial year to complete the Bologna process and adapt the other qualifications. From then onwards they will consider creating new degrees, if deemed appropriate.
With the new EHEA guidelines the CAP or Teaching certificate will disappear to make way for the establishment of an official one year masters that will begin in the academic year 2009/2010.
Another big undertaking at the University of Jaén is the renovation, and construction of a new infrastructure. During the academic year 2009/2010 four new buildings will become available for use on Jaén Campus Lagunillas:
Traffic and lack of available access to the Campus Lagunillas in Jaen has been causing problems for years. For these reasons a comprehensive refurbishment of the entrances and the areas surrounding the Torrequebradilla road has been undertaken. In addition, parking areas will be removed in front of the vice-chancellor's office and next to the auditorium to pedestrianise them and 210 parking spaces will be created behind the building of the vice-chancellor's office. This will then create the campus enclosure, forming three separate controlled parking areas, with the current two next to the Torrequebradilla road and a new one in Ben Saprut street, building a new road to create access to it. On the other hand, this will create more spaces (the exact number is still unknown) which will be made after the construction of the building to support research, innovation and employment, alongside the Animal Research Centre.[8] Another project is the improvement of public transport to the campus, with emphasis on the future Jaén tramstop, which iscurrently under construction.
Jaén council will grant planning permission to the university next to the future Sports Centre, opposite the current Campus Lagunillas.[9] This land is fundamental to the growth of the university as the campus is already overcrowded.
On the 9th of April 2010 the Andalusian Council of Universities, this time chaired by the Andalusian president José Antonio Griñán, met at the University of Jaén in to approve new degrees in Andalusian universities. They also approved the establishment of the Faculty of Medicine in Jaén,[10] [11] the result of intense demands from society and institutions in Jaén, whose studies could begin teaching in 2012/2013. The building that will house this faculty will be established in the future Jaén Medical Village.
Another University infrastructure project is the construction of the Science and Technology Campus in Linares, which is situated in the proximity of the Mariano de la Paz sports centre, in the south of the city, which is where the Advanced Technical College of Linares will be relocated to.
The University of Jaén is divided into nine centres: three faculties, three colleges (one affiliated), two technical colleges and a research centre. In turn, there are 33 departments across which they have divided the teaching of the university.
The Lagunillas Campus is located in the north of the city of Jaén, situated between the main roads including Madrid Road, the Bailen-Motril A-road, the Torrequebradilla Road and Ben Saprut Avenue. This is where most of the teaching activities of the University of Jaén are carried out, and where the main administrative buildings are based.
The campus is divided into different buildings:
Since it was founded in 1997 Mr Luis Parras Guijosa was chosen as honourable vice-chancellor of the university, who held the position until 2007, after winning the elections held in 1999 and 2003. In the 2007 elections, Mr Manuel Parras Rosa was declared the new vice-chancellor, which according to current regulations means Luis Parras is no longer eligible to run for the elections. Prof. Juan Gómez Ortega held the position as Vice-chancellor, from 2015 to May 2023, when the new Vice-chancellor, Prof. Nicolas Ruiz reyes, was elected.
| Vice-Chancellor | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Luís Parras Guijosa | 1997 | 2007 |
| Manuel Parras Rosa | 2007 | 2015 |
| Juan Gómez Ortega | 2015 | 2023 |
| Nicolás Ruiz Reyes | 2023 | Present |
Next to the Lagunillas University Campus, on the Madrid Road, there is a station on Line 1 of the Jaén TramIn addition to the tram routes, several local bus routes from the city centre stop at Lagunillas Campus: 4, 7, 12, 14, 17, operated by local provider ALSA.