Gentlemen of the cloister.
Sit down and uncover yourselves. Open the session.
The floor is now given by Beatriz da Silva Emperador, representing
the students of King Juan Carlos University.
Hello, everyone.
Dear Rector, esteemed University community, first of all
I would like to thank the Rector's office and my dear professor
Covadonga Torres for the kind invitation.
It is a great pleasure to be here representing the students of the
University.
Less than a week.
My university years are coming to an end, so there's no better way to
close this beautiful and important chapter than by dedicating a few
words to the place that has been my home for the last four years.
The degree I chose right after graduating from high school was International
Relations.
I remember searching day and night for which universities offered it and
stopping by the region.
Carlos, because it's a fairly new career.
The URJC was and still is one of the only universities in Madrid
and Spain that had it among its academic offerings, so my
university pre-selection consisted only of international
relations and its infinite double degrees in the region.
Carlos.
And if I'm honest, thank goodness.
I was lucky enough to study what I loved most surrounded
by people I hope to keep in my life forever.
Professors from whom I have learned both inside and outside the
classroom, and staff who are also part of my university experience,
such as the janitors or cleaners who have seen our sad faces during exam time over
the last four years.
It's worth noting that it hasn't always been an uphill battle.
Besides being a great privilege to be able to study at university, it also
involves sacrifice, effort, understanding and knowing how to
manage frustrations that are sometimes completely new.
Furthermore, it is true that public universities are facing a serious
funding problem, so now more than ever, I wanted to thank the teaching staff.
As students, we often have a selfish view that our exams
are the only ones you have to correct or that asking for attendance is absurd.
Thank you for everything you do for us.
Dedicating oneself to academic life is challenging and, above all, altruistic.
It's about teaching what you like to people who often don't want to listen.
But I hope you know that we learned some great lessons here.
Thanks also to those who don't appear in the overall picture, but are
always there to serve the students, such as the audiovisual technicians,
the cafeteria staff, the secretariat, etc. You are the actors behind
the scenes who also ensure the smooth operation of the university.
I am proud to be a student of the public university, specifically
from the Carlos region, and to have spent some of the best years of my life here.
For students who are just starting out.
Enjoy.
When they say it goes by quickly, it's absolutely true.
And to those of you who are finishing like me, I hope you take with you all the
good things you have learned and can always contribute positively to society.
May your studies serve to promote unity, critical
thinking, solidarity, and inclusion.
This is what we really need to spread, and it goes far beyond what
we learn for an exam or an oral presentation.
To create spaces for dialogue that foster good coexistence and a
respectful diversity of opinions, just as the university
does through its activities, events and forums.
Thank you so much, Rector, for this great honor. Please know that you can always
count on me, even now as an alumnus, for anything you need. This has always been
my home, and I will always try to repay the great privilege of
having been a student at this institution. Thank you very much.
The floor is now open, Don Pablo.
Mr. Pablo Salvadores Alonso, director of the Internationalization area,
representing the technical staff of Management and Administration and
Services of the Rey Juan Carlos University.
Mr. Rector.
Madam Secretary, General, Ambassador. Authorities.
Teaching staff. Researcher.
Research project staff, students, ladies, gentlemen and of
course, dear colleagues of the technical staff of Administration
and Services Management of the Rey Juan Carlos University, I want
to thank you for the invitation to represent the group to which I
belong at this event, with the intention of giving a vision from
my own perspective on the work that the technical staff performs at our
University.
I will begin by saying that there are still quite a few of us who
arrived at this new university in the 1990s, which only had a handful
of students and some borrowed buildings, and we have seen it grow
and consolidate into the great institution it is today.
Throughout all these years I have been fortunate to meet and share
experiences with many colleagues who have given their best to help build what we
have now.
From here I join in the tribute that is deservedly being paid to many of
them today and I would like to dedicate these words to all the colleagues
who, throughout these years, have unfortunately passed away, many of them
while still working here.
And for them is my first thought and my heartfelt tribute.
In my case, I have been fortunate enough to work in various departments throughout
my professional career at this company.
Since I began in the last century, as the first head of the
University's Sports Service and having worked in various
areas, I ended up in the field of international relations 18
years ago and from the position I now hold as director of the
Internationalization area, I would like to address you to
convey what the University, through the daily
work of the gas, does to help transform the lives of our students.
We will all agree that internationalization is part of
the very essence of the university as a projection of its original universality.
And what better way to define this internationalization
than the international mobility of students?
Each year, more than 1,800 students from this university have an
international mobility experience, either with semester or yearly
academic stays in Europe, America, Africa, Asia, or by doing internships
in European companies, or by doing stays in other
institutions around the world such as Walt Disney World in Orlando.
These 1800 students join the more than 1500 international
mobility students from universities around the world who arrive
thanks to the Erasmus+ programs and who also provide an
international experience to national students,
promoting what we know as internationalization at home.
In order for all these students to be able to carry out these
mobility programs, it is necessary for the service staff to
manage more than 4,900 active mobility places in the more than
2,000 agreements, with 600,665 universities in 77 countries around the
world.
The fact that Rey Juan Carlos University currently has signed and negotiated
agreements with all partner universities and with all these students, I
can assure you that it involves a huge amount of activity.
The procedures are neither agile nor simplified.
The regulation, its interpretation and its application, as well as
the oversight of student financial aid, involves excessive
bureaucracy, in many cases superfluous and clearly improvable by everyone and by
our institution.
The number of steps that must be followed for each student to be able to
study abroad and have this automatically recognized in their academic record is
overwhelming.
That's more than 54,000 actions per year, the number
needed to complete all the procedures.
And all this while managing personalized and individualized
communication with all students, which entails a traffic
of more than 100,000 emails per year.
All this activity was carried out in a commendable manner by the small technical
management and international relations staff of this cause.
This is an important task that guarantees the quality standards imposed
by the European Commission and also allows our students to receive the
different financial aid intended for these mobility programs, which
must always be managed with the utmost respect for the law and established
procedures, and with the participation of many other essential
University services for carrying out this action.
These figures, which I have indicated, are just one example of the workload
in one of the departments of this university and it is something that could
also be extrapolated to many other departments and it is a matter that
highlights
the effort and the extraordinary workload that every PT gas of this university has.
And that is why I want to share with you a very graphic fact:
the number of workers in the technical management,
administration and services staff of the Rey Juan Carlos
University has the highest workload per student not
only in Madrid but in all of Spain, doubling that of the
next university with a ratio of 47 students per employee,
when for example, the next one in the Community of Madrid
only serves 21 students per employee.
This data, regardless of confirming the chronic underfunding
that has been suffered, empirically demonstrates that
the gas plant of the Rey Juan Carlos University is the most
efficient in Spain, since despite these conditions
mentioned, an extraordinary job is done, contributing
to the provision of a service of a quality many times
higher than that of any other university.
And all this with half or 1/3 of the workers that the rest of the universities
in this country have.
And let me return to the topic of internationalization and its promotion
among all our students.
This work is not only important in terms of achieving figures that have already
placed us among the leading universities in internationalization in this country.
A task in which PP Gas, together with a large number of professors
who academically coordinate this activity, collaborates and
helps our students, they, our reason for being, to live the
experience that will most change their lives.
Because, as the Erasmus program's own motto states, international
mobility also changes lives and opens minds.
I'm not going to tell you now how important it is for our
students to see and experience other cultures, other
institutions, to compare what they know and, above all, to value it.
But perhaps the most important thing about these international experiences is
the barriers that are broken.
Matthew Ann said that travel is an exercise with serious
consequences for prejudices and we are all working together
to eliminate them, because the Erasmus program has done
much more for the cohesion of Europe and the tearing down of
borders and walls than any other program or policy carried
out to date in this now so threatened European Union.
And let me also give you some information about what these international mobility
experiences also contribute in terms of life, in addition to the opportunities
for future employability.
The European Commission has calculated that one in
three students who joined the Erasmus program found
a partner abroad, which, in addition to contributing
to cultural integration and diversity in European
families, has also helped to increase Europe's birth rate.
Also, why?
Because back in 2018, coinciding with the 30th anniversary
of the Erasmus program, the European Commission itself
estimated that 1 million babies had been born to couples
who met during the Erasmus program. Contributing to
the success of this program among our students, as
another link in the public service provided at the
university, is the work of PT Gas, a task that is not always
recognized externally or valued by other groups, but
is very rewarding when you are the institution's contact
with these students who are going to transform their
lives and when you also help them to fulfill their dreams.
Because our work as public servants is rewarded when you
see how in many cases we have been able to contribute to a
transformation in which it is not only the international
relations staff who work to ensure that these students
complete their mobility programs and receive
their corresponding financial benefits.
Everything is something.
All of this would not be possible without the effort and work of colleagues
from many departments involved in these mobility management processes,
such as the economic area, student services, legal advice, the ICT and
IT area, the electronic administration area,
management, campus management, and many others.
Because the PT's work is absolutely transversal and is always
connected between different services and coexists with
constant changes and transformations such as the evolution
of computer work tools, the development of artificial
intelligence or also in the field of internationalization.
And as an example, this is currently happening with the incorporation
of the Rey Juan Carlos University into a European alliance like Ulises,
within the most ambitious program designed by the European Commission
for Higher Education, which is the European Universities initiative.
And I say that I put it as a transformative example because in two
years
of the European University project, EILIS, many dozens of PP members
have already collaborated in the creation of structures, in actions
and in activities, as well as a fluid relationship with the other nine
European partners of the Alliance, which has led to the incorporation
of internationalization in the daily work of the staff, in addition
to the international alliances service and all those
belonging to the international area.
I can list the staff of the Research, Innovation and Transfer Libraries, as
well as the Students.
ICT Area, Equality, Diversity, Economic Area, Legal Advice.
Third Cycle Doctorate. Sustainability.
The staff assigned to the different campuses, the University Language
Centre and some others, have actively participated in this new initiative
of European universities which is already generating new opportunities
and challenges for this group to which I belong and which will also bring
new opportunities for international mobility for the PT itself.
An issue that perhaps is still an outstanding matter at this time.
And I will conclude my remarks by highlighting what I consider a parallel
between the professional career of technical management,
administration and services staff and student mobility.
And it is the importance of living, of feeling, of enjoying the
process and the whole journey without thinking about the final
goal as the only objective, which could be retirement in one case
and in the other, the achievement of the students' international opportunities.
And for that, and as Vetusta Morla would say, excuse me, I knew.
I am going to read you some verses from a poem that I like to recommend
to students when they start thinking about organizing an international event.
And it is the famous poem Ithaca by the Greek poet Constantine
Cavafy that celebrates the journey of life as what is
truly important, more than the goal itself.
Teaching that wisdom is gained through the journey of
experiences, not in the final wealth of the island of Ithaca.
It says: When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of discovery.
May there be many summer mornings when you arrive.
With what pleasure and joy to ports never seen before.
Go to many Egyptian cities to learn from their wise men.
Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
Getting there is your destiny.
But never rush the journey.
Better that it lasts many years and that you dock
old on the island, enriched by all you gained along
the way, without waiting for Ithaca to have riches.
Ithaca gave you such a beautiful journey.
Without her you wouldn't have embarked on the journey.
But it has nothing left to give you.
Though you woe, Poor Ithaca has not deceived you;
as wise as you have become with so much experience,
you will now understand what Ithacas mean.
Thank you very much for your attention and I want to wish you a somewhat belated
well.
Happy Saint Thomas' Day.
The floor is given to Professor Ana Luisa Reyes Menéndez, from the
Marketing and Internationalization of Markets Area of ​​the Faculty
of Economics and Business, representing the
teaching and research staff of Rey Juan University
Carlos.
Academic authorities.
Dear colleagues of the teaching and research staff.
Dear students, ladies and gentlemen, today we gather to belatedly
celebrate the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas, patron saint of
universities, symbol of the search for knowledge, of dialogical reason and of
commitment to the truth.
On this day, the university looks at itself, acknowledges its history, and
projects its future.
I want to thank our rector Abraham Duarte for the invitation,
which is both an honor and a responsibility for me.
I wanted to share.
There are some lessons that have marked my journey at Rey Juan Carlos
University, a journey that began like many others, almost 20
years ago, as a student at the Vicálvaro campus.
It is an honor to be part of the teaching and research staff of the Rey Juan Carlos
University.
We are about 3000 people in the digital age, where Instagram has 3 billion users.
3000.
Only 3 billion may seem like a small number in digital marketing, which is my
specialty.
A profile with 3000 followers would be what we call a nano influencer.
Not a micro, not a macro, but a nano influencer.
That little influencer would be lucky to earn around €50 for the content he
publishes and the views he gets.
But if those 3,000 people form a university community, they can change
the world, they can change the lives of those who pass
through our classrooms, and they can advance science.
Our students don't just learn content, they learn to see the world with
different eyes, as he says.
And the most.
Studying physics allowed him to break down a problem into different
parts and then tackle each one, and that's what makes him a great CEO.
Similarly, our students learn to analyze reality from their discipline.
In my case, in marketing they learn that every interaction is an exchange where
value is exchanged.
The more value we contribute, the more value we get as a result.
And this act that we share today is also an exchange of
value between all of us in this exchange and this exchange.
It only works when there is a sense of belonging, a pride in the
institution, a pride in the team, and a pride in the university.
The URJC is not just a place to pass through, as they have mentioned, it is
already our home.
Many of us have decided to stay here despite having other options, because
we believe in the Rey Juan Carlos University and this says a lot about our
academic community. The university of the present and the future, in my
opinion, is built on collaboration, collaboration between colleagues,
departments and especially between areas that are not the same but are now
complementary.
This also takes on special relevance in the current era of artificial
intelligence, where we are increasingly the ones who will shape, in my
opinion, what the university of the future will be, because it is in these
unexpected intersections that true innovation arises.
I also want to give visibility to a topic that is very present in the university,
and that is the role of women in academic life, especially those of us who have
people in our care, motherhood, raising children.
They are difficult to reconcile with research, lack of sleep, and mental
workload.
Even biology itself sometimes hinders brilliant careers.
Microbiology is truly vital and is an amalgamation
of family life and university life.
My daughter Cloe was born in 2009.
In 2014 my son Eric, in 2017 I defended my thesis and from
then on, seven years of endless accreditations.
2019 Assistant, Contracted Doctor and Private University 2020.
University Professor and 2024. Full Professor.
Seven years against the clock.
Endless nights, constant travel, a stoic life.
I discovered limits I didn't know I could cross and surprisingly, I was even happy.
My message is clear to all of you who are in the accreditation process: it is
possible.
And lots of encouragement.
As some of you know, I like sports, and I particularly like surfing.
But the important thing is not the sport, but what it has taught me.
For years I lived immersed in constantly making goals, lists, and achievements.
The sea taught me that when a wave submerges you, fighting is pointless
because it makes you lose oxygen.
The only way out is to surrender, wait for a calm moment, and then return to the
surface.
I've learned that flowing isn't about imposing the rhythm, but adapting to it.
And that lesson has transformed my understanding of university from a
more flexible, more conscious and, if I may say so, more
feminine perspective from my marketing point of view.
I have always believed that the university cannot live with its back
turned to the market or to society.
Knowledge transfer is not an option, it is a responsibility.
In 2003, when Facebook didn't exist yet and I wasn't in university
yet, I created Photo dot .com, which is the first social network in Spain.
It was focused on the creative and fashion sector, and within days,
thousands of people
from all over the world started accessing that page we had created, which we didn't
even know was a social network because no one knew what a social network was.
There were only web pages.
I left the project, but that company is still alive under the name lead magnet.
Since then I have always focused on the market and have collaborated with
companies
and institutions on projects that ignite my enthusiasm, and now always from the
Rey Juan Carlos University.
I am convinced that this connection has made me a better scientist and a better
teacher.
Some examples include the project I did with the Thyssen and Quirón
Salud in 2024 as principal investigator, where we used artificial
intelligence and biometric analysis to detect the emotions produced by works of
art.
No one had ever done it before because apparently there was not as much economic
interest in it as there was in measuring the impact of advertising.
At that time, we managed to create the first website in the world where
you could navigate based on emotions, and Quirónsalud placed the works
of art that produced the most positive emotions in more than 50 of its
hospitals worldwide, in order to positively impact the emotional
well-being of patients, doctors, and family members who spend so many hours in
hospitals.
Another project is the 2025 project that we have developed with
the Spanish Society of Neurology and the Rey Juan Carlos University,
where we analyze, using artificial intelligence, the emotions
produced by eating with a mobile phone.
And that reflects a reality.
And who doesn't eat with their mobile phone sometimes or often?
So, this particular issue concerned us as a research group, because
it is our young people and our students who, instead of interacting,
are facing each other with their mobile phones.
In this way we were able to give visibility to emotional well-being and
the impact
that our emotions have, such as talking in a conversation or deciding to eat
while using our mobile phone.
Some examples are that our happiness decreases by 232% when
we use the mobile phone and in the age groups of 19 to 34 years,
this is four times greater. It seems that young people
are immune to phone use, but they are not.
They are the ones most impacted by this type of collaboration.
Universities with businesses also allow science to advance.
And finally, and to conclude, my dear, let's leave this point, because for me it
occupies first place.
But if I had gotten too excited, I wouldn't have been able to continue.
Nobody progresses alone at university.
Mentors are those generous people who show us paths, share
experiences, mistakes and successes, and teach us to look beyond the immediate.
I am fortunate to have mentors both in my faculty and in my
department, but today I want to pay tribute to two fundamental people in my
university life.
The first is my father, Francisco Reyes Tellez, a tenured professor of
Archaeology
at the Rey Juan Carlos University, since the beginnings of this university.
He taught me what it means to work with dedication, rigor, and humility.
He taught me that being a teacher is not just about imparting knowledge, it's
about
serving, supporting, and leaving a positive mark on every student and every
colleague.
His retirement has left a void that I can only try to fill by following his values,
dedicating myself with honesty, consistency and passion to this
university.
Seeing him here today is a very special gift, and I also want
to mention Carmelo Mercado, a tenured professor of Marketing
and Market Research, a friend, mentor, and role model who passed away in 2018.
Carmelo welcomed me, trusted me, and taught me that academic excellence
is not incompatible with closeness and generosity.
His legacy lives on in every project I undertake and every
research I lead, in every student I am able to inspire.
They both taught me that being a university professor is not just a
profession, it is a way of life, a commitment to others, to the university
and to society.
With my marketing eyes.
I only hope that this exchange has been valuable, that for a few
minutes we have been able to put aside doing to focus on being, to
see ourselves as a community, to recognize our history and to project the
future together.
Thank you.
The awarding of honorary medals from the King Juan Carlos University will take
place.
The Secretary General will call the award winners, professors and
technical management, administration and services staff who have
completed their professional career at Rey Juan Carlos University.
Agreement for the awarding of honorary medals from the Rey Juan
Carlos University in the performance of the function of certifying
the acts and agreements of the Governing Council of the University.
With the permission of the Rector.
For the sake of brevity, I will extract the content of the agreement, which you
are entitled to read.
The agreement states that the University's Governing
Council, in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations
for Honorary Medals of the Rey Juan Carlos University,
approved by agreement of March 26, 2004, of the University's
Governing Council, unanimously agreed at its meeting of
January 20, 2026, on the proposal of the Rector, to grant
honorary medals of the Rey Juan Carlos University to the
following members of the teaching and research staff and
the technical staff of management and administration of services.
First, we will present the Medals of Honor of the
Rey Juan Carlos University to the teaching and
research staff member, Ms. María Cruz Alonso Sutil.
Doña María Silveria Alvarado Riquelme.
Doña Concepción de la Fuente Cabrero.
Don Jesús Caro González.
Don Mariano Fajardo González.
Yolanda García Cid.
Mrs. María Emma García Castellano García.
Don Ángel Herminio Iglesias Alonso.
Don Aurelio de Prada García.
Don Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Arriero.
Don Ignacio Sánchez Cámara.
Doña María Belén Sánchez Domingo.
Don Francisco Javier Lillo Ramos.
Don Álvaro Páez Borda.
The Medal of Honor will be awarded posthumously
to Mrs. María Eugenia Castellanos Nueva.
His family members collect the medal.
Mr. Michael Fox.
Look, his family members are collecting the medal.
Next, we will proceed to present the Medals of Merit of the
Rey Juan Carlos University to the technical staff of
Management and Administration of Services, Mr. Juan Carlos Blanco
Martínez.
Don Tomás Lara García.
Doña María Dolores López García.
Don Felipe Sánchez Ríos García.
Don Antonio Tendero Cañadas.
Don Ángel Vara Guzmán.
Doña María Soledad Vicente Rosillo.
The Medal of Merit will be awarded posthumously
to Mr. Juan Pedro Maldonado Cuevas.
They collect the medal for their relatives.
We will now proceed with the presentation of the King Juan Carlos
University Gold Medal to Mr. Amancio López Seijas.
The agreement reads as follows: The Governing Council,
meeting in extraordinary session on January 20, 2026, in
accordance with the provisions of article 1.1 of the
Regulations for Honorary Medals of the Rey Juan Carlos
University, approved by agreement of March 26, 2004, of the
Governing Council of the University, agrees to approve the
granting of the Gold Medal, the highest distinction awarded
by the University to Mr. Amancio López Seijas, former
president of the Social Council of the Rey Juan Carlos
University, in recognition of his collaboration in the enhancement of the
University.
The floor is now given to Mr. Amancio López Seijas,
recipient of the University's Gold Medal.
The magnificent rector presents the vice-president
of Universities to the Assembly of Madrid.
Rector Emeritus.
Dear Javier.
Present is the Social Council.
Authorities.
This is a particularly exciting moment for me.
I know that these things are usually said just to say them.
It's true.
It has been a magnificent experience to preside over a Social Council
for eight years, in which I don't know if we have resolved many things,
but we have tried not to create any problems and I think that we have
achieved.
I want to thank the entire Social Council for the unanimity we have always
had, sometimes with very different views, and for the discretion with which we
experienced the best moments.
I'm going to add a few words.
It's not a conference by any means, but rather some personal
reflections that may seem, and are, obvious, but it's a vision
that comes after years in the business world and also after experience.
First of all, I would like to go back to the past.
For example, 60 years ago, in a place in Galicia, in a
village, people had never had any opportunity.
The only one at the time during the Reconquista was to repopulate other
territories.
Some might join the Army, then emigrate to America,
later to Europe, and the rest are other types of internal Spanish migration.
In those years, 60 years ago, secondary schools
began to arrive in provincial capitals, health
residences in cities, including provincial
capitals, and from there there were enormous opportunities.
Today I lived, when the world was there, where people worked
every day, except for holidays, including children when there was no school.
I have followed it, the second generation, the one
that came later, practically all of them have
bachelor's degrees, university degrees.
I believe that this is what education and university should be
for: to provide the most important of all, possibly of all, rights
of equality, which is equality of opportunity.
I believe it has to serve this purpose and to achieve it, as long
as it has two characteristics, in my opinion, one that is oriented
towards excellence, without excuses, as in the world of sports,
because in the end life is a world of constant improvement.
And the second, which has to be geared towards
employment, employment and much more in a
time when changes are happening at such a speed.
In addition to equality, with a slightly different
perspective than what we usually hear.
I would like to talk about another concept that we could relate to
sustainability, but not to environmental sustainability, because
there are many experts on that and I am not going to get into that area.
But the social and human aspect, which has a lot to do with equality of
opportunity.
We are in a world of confrontation, of polarization that we call populism.
That the substance is nothing more than a euphemism for what it truly is.
It is totalitarianism where one side refuses to compromise with the other.
What he wants is to confront her in order to beat her and subdue her.
And so the threats are to this model of ours which is a
privilege in the history of the social economy, the
market, liberal democracy, human rights, the welfare
state, the Enlightenment and today the external
enemies who are winning and today the internal enemies.
I believe that the University must be not only a center of
knowledge, but also of wisdom, principles, and values.
That thing that used to be said to be learned at home and has to be ethics.
And so that it doesn't seem like a word that is merely an
aesthetic substitute for cosmetics, it is integrity,
it is responsibility, which is what I taught you at home,
it is the commitment that is that sense with the society to which you belong.
It is hard work, it is labor.
There is no right not to work.
It's about loyalty.
I believe that all these principles must be what
makes the future sustainable and must also contribute
at times in connection with the company.
I believe the business world has a lot to contribute, and
especially, and for that we need to promote research, but
research that has a purpose, if possible, that generates, ultimately generates
wealth.
And in addition to research and that concept of
innovation, it surely has to look for new paths linked
to innovation and also to the creation of technology-based companies.
But there is surely another challenge at the moment: there
is a high mortality rate among industrial, traditional,
family-owned companies that have or had something
precious, but are not capable of what a sense of belonging is.
Many of these end up in short-term funds that take advantage of the situation
to do what they call "value creation," calling the price at the right time and
giving it a pass if possible.
We cannot allow that mortality of know-how.
And I believe that in that role, the university could contribute to those
who have difficulties, logically through technological innovation
or sometimes even through the area of ​​consulting.
I think it's another path, but we are really concerned
about the loss of values, the social and political sense.
Also some forms, and I regret to say, of short-term capitalism.
I'm talking about the pure speculation of those who play with
algorithms in the short and pure term, without any other
purpose, that activity that we could consider as heartless,
I believe that this sense also has to contribute to promoting
that spirit of belonging, of permanence.
A company in the future probably needs to have three parts in the
short term: to be efficient in everything it does.
Half is growing.
Once you efficiently replicate your know-how model, you can now
internationalize
and, thanks to technology, you can achieve anything you desire.
You have to be in a permanent process of transformation, not too
far ahead of the times, always losing a little bit ahead.
But you also have to transcend what you have to do; you
have to create consequences that remain, that endure over time. Right?
I believe this is a spirit for the business world as well, one
that I think we must reclaim, and that the university must
recover that humanism which has to be the foundation,
the basis of everything worth preserving over time.
I would stick with a phrase from Machado's poem, not
from the poem itself, and simply say that
everything passes and everything remains.
We are the ones who pass away, but what we have to give are our works in the
future.
And I thought I would end this here, but as I had heard before, the
poem about returning to Ithaca for the young people who are going
out now, I would dare to say a few things to them.
The first is that you have to know how far you are capable of going.
You have no idea how far you can go.
You might be in for a big surprise.
Some of us know this from experience.
Second,
What is probably most important is the enthusiasm.
One of the things about hope, because it allows you to overcome
all difficulties, all frustrations, is the idea of ​​never giving up.
It is also important to understand that the future depends on ourselves, that is,
the future is not predetermined.
I think it's in what he said: that we have
to be the architects of our own future.
And I think that's fundamental.
And if I had to choose one final word for young people with
a success factor, I believe it is courage,
which is not among the cardinal virtues.
But Aristotle said that what should be most important of all is that
balance between recklessness and cowardice, which is doing what needs to
be done when it needs to be done.
In any case, the future depends on us.
Thanks a lot.
It has been an immense honor.
And well, since there have been some emotional moments,
I'm going to take advantage of it too, and following
the last speaker, I remember my parents who back in my
village in Galicia, my mother was orphaned at 18 months
old and my father was orphaned at three years old and
they took care of their destiny.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Your Excellencies, President of the Assembly of Madrid, Dear Enrique,
Vice-Minister of Universities, Research and Science of the Community of Madrid.
Dear Medina, Presidents of Social Councils.
Rector of the University of Juan Carlos.
Dear Javier.
Civil academic authorities.
Members of the Social Council.
Dear Amancio, dear university community.
Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a day that
invites us to reflect on the University and the role it
plays as an institution of service to our society.
Although this celebration was planned for last January.
Weather conditions led to its postponement.
Today we resume this event with the same enthusiasm and the same institutional
purpose.
A day when the university looks at itself, becomes aware of its
legacy and its present, but also, why not say it, of its future.
We celebrate who we are.
The university is not only a space for academic training, it is an engine of
social and economic transformation.
As discussed in numerous studies on the impact of universities, and
primarily based on input-output methodologies.
The university can contribute around 4% of a region's Gross Domestic
Product, generating wealth and energizing sectors.
Furthermore, through its research activity on knowledge
transfer, it promotes innovation, which is a key product for the well-being of
citizens.
And they confirm an essential piece of evidence.
Investing in the university is investing in the prosperity of the region.
On a day like today, dedicated to Saint Thomas Aquinas.
It is worth remembering that institutions, like people, are
genealogical beings, built from memory and history.
Nothing that we are today comes from nothing.
We received a legacy from those who came before us in their
work, and we will subsequently improve upon it.
At the same time, we are called to transmit our entire legacy
to future generations in a more innovative and committed way.
Saint Thomas taught us that knowledge is always a dialogue between
what we receive and what we are able to discover.
And that is precisely what this act symbolizes: a
celebration of our history and a commitment to our future.
A tribute to those who have given their best to build and
strengthen this institution and an invitation to continue improving it
together.
In that spirit of recognition and gratitude, today we pay tribute to those
who are part of that genealogical lineage I mentioned earlier that is the lifeblood
of our University.
And let me begin with a very special thank you to Mr. Amancio López
Seijas, who today receives the University's Medal of Honor after
having served with extraordinary dedication as president of our Social
Council for more than eight years.
Amancio's figure exemplifies, as he has demonstrated in his
speech, the values ​​we want to transmit to our students.
His career reminds us that great business achievements do not
arise by chance, but are built on solid foundations.
Values ​​such as effort, disciplined work, and the ability to adapt to change.
His example shows us, with a well-understood ambition, that unity,
perseverance, and a strategic vision capable of anticipating
opportunities can transform modest projects into initiatives with global
impact.
And it also teaches us something that for me is more important than commitment to
an institution.
It is not only demonstrated in easy times, but especially when difficult
times arrive.
As president of the Social Council.
I lived through a particularly demanding period for our university and far from
stepping aside or looking the other way, it remained at the forefront with
responsibility and institutional loyalty.
That is the way to exercise your responsibility with dedication and
integrity, and it is undoubtedly one of the most valuable lessons you leave in
our university community.
For all these reasons, the gold medal we are awarding you
symbolizes our deepest and most sincere appreciation.
Amancio, for your commitment to this university, today we want to express our
gratitude.
Similarly, we extend our recognition to the teaching and research staff and
to the technical, management, administration and service staff who have
received the medals of honor and merit, respectively.
These medals are a formal expression of our regard.
Thank you for putting your work and effort at the service of this
great project that is the Rey Juan Carlos University.
We also especially remember those who are no longer with us.
Their memory will forever remain in this university institution that they also
helped to build.
I've added a personal note here, but seeing as I might not be able
to contain my emotion, I prefer not to do it because
it would leave me with about half of the speech.
During this event we have listened to representatives from the various
sectors that make up the Rey Juan Carlos University: professors, technical,
management, and administrative staff, and our students, who in some way show a
realistic image of who we are.
His words make us proud to belong to this university, a university
made up of men and women committed to progress and excellence,
each from their own responsibility.
And we are fully aware that institutions are built by people.
Therefore, in this solemn ceremony, we wish to pay just and deserved
recognition to those who make every achievement of our University possible.
On the one hand, the teaching and research staff whose passion for teaching
fosters and inspires our students with the desire to learn and improve, and
on the other hand, our technical management, administration and services
staff.
It is the backbone, the mechanism that makes this university
function, on which all the organization's activity rests, and
without its dedication it would be impossible to open the doors every day.
And of course, our students, who are the center of university life, our common
reason for being and diversity.
They represent the new generations who will somehow have to
drive the changes for that imminent future that is coming to all of you.
Thank you because with your work, your commitment and also your
enthusiasm, you give meaning to this institution.
And you make sure that the Rey Juan Carlos University continues to move
forward strongly.
We are a university deeply connected to its environment.
We are part of the life of our cities and thousands of families trust us
every year to send us their most precious gift: their sons and daughters.
That is why it is difficult to accept, being the second largest university in
the Community
of Madrid in terms of student enrollment, that we continue to be the worst funded
university
in Spain, relatively far from the average of the community and quite far from the
rest of the country.
Even so, we want to look to the future with confidence.
We know that the government of the Community of Madrid is aware
of this reality and we are working to finalize a new funding model.
We trust that this joint effort will soon translate into funding
more in line with the true weight of our university and the service we provide to
the region.
Because in the end, what we're talking about behind budgets is people and
equity.
We are talking about guaranteeing opportunities for our
students and recognizing our staff, ensuring that their
opportunities do not depend on which public university they
work at, and making this commitment credible and sustainable over time.
Of course, rigorous accountability is essential, and that
is why at our university we evaluate everything we do and
transparently show the results of what we do.
We will remain firmly committed to transparent and participatory management.
In this regard, the year 2026 can be considered
a crucial year for the future of our university,
as two quite important events could occur.
On the one hand, the proposal for a new strategic plan or ERC 2031,
which naturally has to be linked to the funding model in order to
develop it, and on the other hand, the approval of the new statutes,
which is required in some way by the Organic Law of the University
System, which we will be discussing in this same auditorium in just over 24
hours.
With the debate on the proposed new statutes.
We are facing an exceptional opportunity to unite the entire university
community with the city councils, with companies, with civil society,
around a project that will relaunch what the Rey Juan Carlos University is
as an international benchmark, both in educational quality and in impact
and improvement of the well-being and competitiveness of the region, in a
very special way in relation to the municipalities of the southeast,
southwest and south of the Community of Madrid.
Choosing Rey Juan Carlos University is worthwhile without putting anyone down.
And if I may be immodest, I don't believe there is any higher education institution
in Spain that has the development potential and the willingness to commit
that our university possesses with the support and understanding of the regional
administration.
We are all ready to demonstrate this because Rey Juan Carlos University
deserves to be treated as a great university, a great university that
the inhabitants of the municipalities in which we exert our influence
deserve. Internationalization, research, quality teaching and
commitment to our environment are pillars that will continue to guide our actions.
But I will never tire of saying that above all, it is the people
who give meaning to these principles, who preserve the tradition
that has brought us here, and who drive innovation, which will
allow us to adapt to the pace of the times.
Let's continue working together to make this university a place where education
is
always a tool for freedom, well-being, and equality. Thank you very much for
your attention.
To conclude the event, I invite you to stand and sing Gaudeamus Igitur.
The session is adjourned.