The main objective of UGRTerm is to facilitate communication in the UGR and make it more effective and consistent, both internally and externally. This means eliminating possible ambiguities, controlling the proliferation of new terms, identifying obsolete terms, and generally improving the national and international image of the UGR.

UGRTerm has not been conceived as a comprehensive dictionary per se, but rather as a living resource that is continually updated. Since its launch, the official UGR nomenclature related to new university bodies, activities, courses, etc. has been incorporated, alongside terminology which is frequently used in the higher education and research sectors (e.g. teaching posts and learning and research processes). Moreover, terminology which arises in the process of translating contents such as academic and research reports, university websites, international agreements, etc. is also regularly added to the database.

Currently, the thematic index of UGRTerm is divided into three main sections: 1) Official terminology of the University of Granada; 2) Terminology related to Research and Higher Education; 3) Transversal Notions. By way of example, the sub-section titled ‘Teaching, Learning and Research Process’ now features terms and expressions such as ‘to sit an exam ⇆ examinarse’; ‘to submit a thesis ⇆ depositar una tesis’; ‘tutorial ⇆ tutoría’; ‘learning to learn ⇆ aprender a aprender’; ‘bullying ⇆ acoso escolar’; ‘comparative study ⇆ estudio comparativo’; ‘level test ⇆ prueba de nivel’; ‘teaching methodology ⇆ metodología docente’, and so forth.

The terms related to the most common teaching posts at the University of Granada and other Spanish public universities have also been incorporated into the database. The task of translating these positions into English poses significant challenges because the terms employed across different higher education systems vary greatly (even among different universities within the UK or the US). Consequently, given that there is no straightforward equivalence for academic positions among these different systems, the most common posts at UK (British English) and US (North American English) universities, as well as those used in EU documents (EU English), have been employed as benchmarks.

In light of the UGR’s strategic context, precedence has been given to British English and EU English (usage status: Official/standardized) and, where necessary, North American terminology is admitted (usage status: Admitted). Moreover, when relevant, denominations in Spanish include both the masculine and female gender.