Students, teaching staff and personnel from the different universities visiting the UCA will be attended to in its facilities, as well as outgoing mobilities.

The Rector of the University of Cadiz, Francisco Piniella, presided today, in the Edificio Constitución 1812, the inauguration of the International Welcome Centre. He was accompanied by the vice-rectors of Internationalisation, Rafael Jiménez Castañeda, and of Digitalisation and Infrastructures, Carlos Rioja. The ceremony, where a commemorative plaque was unveiled, was attended by the Consul of Ivory Coast, Jesús Mejías, as well as the General Coordinator of the SEA-EU alliance, Fidel Echevarría, representatives of the CUNEAC and CSLM centres and members of the university community.

The new International Welcome Centre of the UCA constitutes its own space to permanently attend to the international UCA university community. Every year, the University of Cadiz receives more than 1,000 students from more than fifty countries from all continents, as well as hundreds of teaching staff, researchers and administration and services personnel.

Francisco Piniella pointed out that “the University of Cadiz is the most international institution in the province. Our PDI, PTGAS and students participate every academic year in different international mobility programmes, becoming ambassadors of the province around the world, exporting Spanish culture, receiving knowledge and training, learning about the traditions and customs of their destination countries and returning with an experience and values that encourage tolerance and the defence of diversity”. In the same way, he assured that every academic year the four campuses welcome students, teachers and university staff from all over the world: “we want to be their academic home, accompany them during their stay and offer them an excellent education and a positive, safe and unforgettable experience”.

The Rector also explained that the UCA has two priorities within its internationalisation strategy: “the consolidation of academic, scientific and mobility activities in those regions and countries traditionally preferred: EU countries, Latin America, North Africa and countries of the post-Soviet space and Central Asia” and the expansion and extension to other regions and countries “without precedent, hence the launch of the UCÁfrica programme and with Korean and Japanese universities”.

Rafael Jiménez Castañeda confirmed that “internationalisation is not a passing fad. Universities will be international or they will not be universities”. To this end, the University of Cadiz is working on different international programmes such as Erasmus +, KA131 and KA103 or from the SEA-EU or LiderAfrica consortia to expand this map of cooperation and university connection without borders.

The International Welcome Centre of the UCA will have an information point of the Centro Superior de Lenguas Modernas (CSLM) and is located next to the Centro Universitario Internacional para Europa del Este y Asia Central (CUNEAC).

These facilities, as Carlos Rioja has detailed, integrate sustainable elements in their construction and open spaces “to welcome people who -at first- come to a different place and will soon become part of their heart”.

Exhibition “El que se mueve sale en la foto”

At the same time, this morning was also inaugurated the exhibition El que se mueve sale en la foto, which contains a photographic collection of staff, teachers and students of the UCA who have made international mobilities in this course. The exhibition is itinerant. During these weeks it can be visited in the courtyard of the Edificio Constitución 1812 on the Campus of Cádiz, but in the coming months it will travel around the different campuses of the UCA.

The University of Cadiz recognises, through this activity, the work carried out as “ambassadors of the institution” in the more than 6,000 European universities and 300 in other continents that have collaboration agreements for international stays and exchanges.

Other news about the inauguration (available in Spanish):

• La Universidad de Cádiz inaugura su centro de bienvenida internacional (Diario de Cádiz)
• Welcome to the UCA (Onda Cádiz)
• La Universidad de Cádiz inaugura su International Welcome Center (Europa Press)
• La UCA abre su ‘International Welcome Center’ (DIARIO Bahía de Cádiz)