The University has celebrated the solemn
opening ceremony of the 2023-2024 academic year, an event attended by the
entire university community, as well as the General Director of Universities of
the Community of Madrid, Nicolás J.
Casas; the rectors of Abat Oliba CEU University, CEU Cardenal Herrera
University, and CEU Fernando III University, Rafael Rodríguez-Ponga, Higinio
Marín, and José Alberto Parejo Gámir,
as well as the honorary rectors of CEU San Pablo University.
This emotional gathering began with a mass
officiated by the Archbishop of Burgos and chaplain of the ACdP, Fidel Herráez. Subsequently, the solemn
academic ceremony took place. The Vice-Rector for Institutional Relations and
General Secretary, María Bellido,
presented a report on the 2022-2023 academic year, and the Professor of
Pharmacology at the School of Pharmacy and Director of the Instituto de
Estudios de las Adicciones IEA-CEU, Luis
Fernando Alguacil, delivered the keynote lecture titled: 'Opium, Opiates,
and Opioids.' In his speech, he highlighted "the nobility of the individuals who devote a significant part of their
lives to researching new ways of relieving the suffering of their fellow beings."
In her speech, the dean, Rosa Visiedo, recalled that our
University offers its students "education not only as a space to
accumulate knowledge, but as a place from which to learn how to live and how to
contribute to human progress and the improvement of our society"
For the rector, who encouraged the educational community to prioritize the individual,
education is "care, sharing,
reciprocating, building the future, and giving meaning." She also expressed her
commitment to invest in research, teaching and learning, to focus on the student
experience of both national and international students, student experience and to
the importance of looking after our educational model and its quality.
To conclude, she expressed the solid will
of CEU San Pablo University to "contribute, without affectation and
with modesty, everything in our power for the improvement of the Madrid
university system and Spanish society as a whole, through research, through the
transfer of innovation and knowledge, and through the training of committed
people, willing to work, even more so in difficult times, for the progress and
growth of our Community and our country."
During the Academic Ceremony, awards were
presented for Teaching and Research
Quality of Departments for the 2021-2022 academic year, Teaching Quality of Bachelor's Degree Programs for the 2021-2022
academic year, and Teaching Innovation for
the 2021-2022 academic year.
Finally, the Great Chancellor of the
University, Alfonso Bullón de Mendoza,
was responsible for closing this academic event.