Rector's Welcome Message

Rector's Welcome Message

Welcome to the University of Granada!

Pilar Aranda - RectorWe are an innovative and comprehensive research university, founded in 1531, and built on a longstanding teaching tradition, the roots of which can be traced back to the madrasahs of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada. As a forward-looking historical university located at various sites throughout the city centre, the UGR is deeply rooted in and engaged with today’s city, province and surrounding region, playing a leading role in the recovery and conservation of the city’s magnificent and diverse historical and cultural heritage and a vibrant presence in local economy, where it represents 4.7% of the provincial GDP. With over 60,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and 6,000 staff, the UGR constitutes a powerful presence in a city of 250,000 inhabitants. Its role as leader in outgoing and incoming student and staff mobility in European and international programmes, and its attractiveness for international students and researchers, make for lively cosmopolitan and multicultural campus life.

The University is the highest-ranked in the South of Spain, and this sound international standing in both research and education is the reason behind the success of its BioTic excellence initiative, jointly managed by the University, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Health Sciences Technology Park. The excellence initiative is constructed on four major areas of research excellence: Biohealth, Information and Communication Technologies, Earth Science, and Heritage, reflecting some of the University’s major research strengths. With its fifty strategic supporting partners, it is an excellent example of the University’s policy of strong strategic partnerships with public and private, national and international bodies.

The state-of-the-art Health Science Technology Park, which houses the Faculty of Health Sciences and is shortly to house the Faculty of Medicine, offers an innovative combination of teaching, research, health care and knowledge transfer, and is a significant example of the University’s commitment to innovation, and to local and global partnerships with both the public and the private sectors.

The University’s campuses in the North African cities of Ceuta and Melilla make it one of the few genuinely intercontinental universities in the world, leaving it perfectly placed to fulfil the role of a bridge between Europe and North Africa on the one hand, and Europe and Latin America on the other. This feature is central to its vigorous internationalization strategy, with strong consolidated partnerships around the world, including prestigious networks such as the Coimbra Group and the Asociación Universitaria Iberoamericana de Posgrado (AUIP), both of which we currently chair.

This new edition of our website has been specifically designed to cater for our international researchers, students, guests and partners. I trust that, as such, you will find it useful and that it will serve to guarantee a warm welcome to our academic community, to further enhance cooperation with our international partners, and to ensure that our University continues to be truly open to the world.

Pilar Aranda Ramírez

Rector of the University of Granada



Pilar Aranda's Welcome Message to the University Community

Please note: Subtitles are available both in English and Spanish on Youtube