University of Salamanca

From Hispanopedia
University of Salamanca
Universitas Studii Salmanticensis
Patio de Escuelas. In the background, the building of the Escuelas Mayores, whose façade is a symbol of the Plateresque style.
AcronymUSAL
MottoOmnium scientiarum princeps Salmantica docet[1]
Motto in EnglishThe principles of all sciences are taught in Salamanca
TypePublic
Established1218
FounderAlfonso IX of León
AddressPatio de Escuelas, 1, 37008
CitySalamanca
RegionCastile and León
CountrySpain
Other locationsÁvila, Béjar, Zamora and Villamayor
Campuses9[2]
Academic year 2013–2014
Academic staff2,257[2]
Employees1,106[2]
Civil servants592[2]
Students31,834[2]
Undergraduates24,818[2]
Postgraduates7,016[2]
Doctoral students2,777[2]
Other students5,522[2]
Academic colors■ Carmine
Administration 2017–18
RectorRicardo Rivero Ortega
Secretary GeneralFernando Enrique Almaraz Menéndez
Affiliations
Budget214,980,142 EUR[3]
Websitewww.usal.es
Paraninfo (Great Hall).
Fray Luis de León Lecture Hall, in the Escuelas Mayores.

The University of Salamanca (in Latin, Universitas Studii Salmanticensis) is a Spanish public university (list) located in the city of Salamanca. It is the oldest university in all of Spain and Hispanic America, and the third oldest in Europe.

The Studium Generale, the seed of the university, established in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, was the second oldest in Spain, after its counterpart in Palencia —founded between 1208 and 1214—. It was the first European educational institution to obtain the title of University in the proper sense, through the royal charter of Alfonso X the Wise dated November 9, 1252, later ratified by the licentia ubique docendi of Alexander IV in the year 1255.[4][5]

History

Foundation and consolidation

Its origin, like that of most European medieval universities, lay in cathedral schools whose existence dates back at least to the year 1174, when their maestrescuela (schoolmaster) appears recorded in documents of agreement between the dioceses of Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo signed before the Archbishop of Santiago.[6][7] This fact presupposes that the office of maestrescuela of the cathedral schools was created in the 12th century, either in the reign of Ferdinand II of León or in that of his predecessor Alfonso VII.

In the year 1218, Alfonso IX of León granted those schools the status of General Study (Estudio General), under the name of Studii Salmantini.[8] This title of General Study reflects the diversity of the teaching offered, its non-private character (open to all) and the validity of its degrees. The University of Salamanca was born as an eminently juridical university, in line with the University of Bologna and in contrast with the universities of Oxford and Paris, which were more focused on Theology and the Arts.[9] In 1254, King Alfonso X the Wise endowed the university with statutes that defined its system of funding and created the office of librarian and new chairs. The University of Salamanca thus became the first in Europe to have a public library. The university was funded by the Church, albeit indirectly. Its funds came from the royal thirds (tercias reales) of the ecclesiastical tithe. Since the tithe was a tax on agricultural production, the university's economic situation was strongly influenced by the agrarian crises that occurred regularly.[10] Studies were then offered in Law, Medicine, Logic, Grammar and Music.[9] Professors of subjects related to Law enjoyed a higher salary, since it was a university inclined toward the juridical disciplines.[10] During the 13th and 14th centuries new chairs were created, especially in Law. The final endorsement came in the year 1255 with the bull of Pope Alexander IV that granted it the licentia ubique docendi, by which the validity of the degrees awarded by the University of Salamanca was recognized throughout the world.[nota 1] Between 1381 and 1386 it began to offer studies in Theology.

Classes were taught in Latin, which facilitated the international mobility of professors and students, as it was a language used throughout Europe. The main destinations of the students were Bologna, Paris and Montpellier. Nevertheless, international mobility in this period was of little significance, with very few foreign students coming to Salamanca. Most of the students came from the Northern Plateau, Portugal, Galicia and Asturias.[10] The university was of modest size, in terms of number of students, compared with others of the time such as that of Bologna. At the end of the 14th century between 500 and 600 students studied in Salamanca. Growth during the 15th century was very significant, reaching some 3,000 students at the beginning of the 16th century. All were men, and clerics predominated over laymen.[11]

It took the institution centuries to have its own buildings in which to teach. Until the 15th century, classes were taught in the cloister of the Old Cathedral, in houses rented from the Cathedral Chapter and in the Church of San Benito.

Patio de Escuelas.
Cloister of the Escuelas Menores.

The first properly university building was that of the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé (for which reason it was known as the "Old College"), founded by Bishop Diego de Anaya Maldonado, whose construction began in 1401. The Aragonese Cardinal Pedro de Luna, who would later become the antipope Benedict XIII, a great protector of the institution, promoted the purchase of the first plots of land and in the constitutions of 1411 made the construction of the Escuelas Mayores (sometimes known as the historic building of the university) obligatory. Shortly afterward, King John II promoted that of the Hospital del Estudio (the present-day Rectorate), and later (in 1428) work began on the building of the Escuelas Menores. The first constitutions of the University were granted by Pope Luna. In 1422 they were replaced by those of Martin V.

In the Escuelas Menores the courses giving access to the degree of Bachelor were taught. In the Escuelas Mayores one studied for the degrees of Licentiate and Doctor, the higher degrees.

In addition to the Schools, teaching was given in the Colegios Mayores (Major Colleges) and Menores (Minor Colleges), or in convents of the religious orders. In the Spain of the Golden Age there were only six Colegios Mayores: the four of Salamanca —San Bartolomé, Oviedo, Cuenca and Santiago—, to which were added that of Santa Cruz in Valladolid and that of San Ildefonso in Alcalá. Salamanca also had countless minor colleges and other university centers of various kinds.

Splendor

In the transition from the 15th to the 16th century, the University of Salamanca became the national point of reference. Until the 17th century it was seen as the most prestigious, renowned and influential university in Spain, as it had the greatest variety of teaching, the best physical and human resources and the most international student body.[12] The rise of the University was due in large measure to the conquest of America by Spain and to the construction of the centralized state by the Catholic Monarchs, which required bureaucrats, officials and jurists that the University of Salamanca could provide thanks to its specialization in juridical studies.[12] At the end of the 17th century, 65% of the budget allocated to salaries went to professors of law and theology,[13] while the chairs of Mathematics, Astrology and Music were the worst paid.[14] Around 1580, 6,500 new students arrived in Salamanca each year, and the administration of the Hispanic Monarchy drew its State officials from among the graduates.

Despite the juridical character of the University, from the end of the 15th century it also joined the humanist movement, although it was relatively overshadowed in this field by the then newly created University of Alcalá.[15] In this period some of its most brilliant members coexisted in Salamanca in what came to be known as the School of Salamanca. The members of the School renewed theology, laid the foundations of the modern law of nations, of international law and of modern economic science, and participated actively in the Council of Trent. Mathematicians of this School studied the reform of the calendar, at the request of Pope Gregory XIII, and proposed the solution that was later implemented. Salamanca also had at that time what were probably the first female university students in the world: Beatriz Galindo and Lucía de Medrano. Medrano was the first woman to teach classes at a University.

The faculty of the University debated the feasibility of the project of Christopher Columbus and the consequences that his claims entailed. Once America had been discovered, the right of the natives to be recognized with full rights was debated, something revolutionary for the time.

In the 17th century, the humanistic character was abandoned and a relative decline took place. Since a degree from Salamanca or having been a collegian was the key to obtaining important posts in the administration, the sons of the nobility gradually took control of the colegios mayores, which ceased to serve their original function: to teach poor but capable young men. They were able to seize power because the colleges functioned as a democratic institution in which the collegians decided collectively on all aspects of government, including the admission of new members. As soon as they formed a sufficiently numerous group, they closed admission to those outside the nobility, among other things by demanding proofs of purity of blood, which only the nobles, who had well-ordered archives, could provide.

Reform

In the 18th century, especially during the reign of Charles III, reforms were carried out that made the University of Salamanca one of the main centers of the Spanish Enlightenment. Full support was given to the development of Medicine, Physics, Mathematics and classical letters.[16] Around Ramón de Salas y Cortés —professor of Moral and Juridical Philosophy— and the poet Meléndez Valdés gathered notable figures such as the mathematician and philosopher Miguel Martel; the university librarian, translator, systematizer and disseminator of the thought of Jeremy Bentham, Toribio Núñez Sessé; the mathematician Juan Justo García; and the poets and politicians Juan Nicasio Gallego and Manuel José Quintana. Many of the students, professors and intellectuals linked to this enlightened circle, such as Diego Muñoz-Torrero, played a fundamental role in the Cortes of Cádiz, the drafting of the Constitution of 1812, the development of liberalism and progressive thought in Spain, and the introduction of the then incipient social sciences. The prelates of Salamanca were not alien to this revival, such as Bertrán or Tavira (the latter also a professor at the University), both of enlightened ideas.[17] By Royal Decree of July 12, 1807, the Caballero curriculum was approved for all the universities of the kingdom, following the guidelines laid down by that of the University of Salamanca, which already pointed toward a new type of university, more focused on the natural and social sciences and less on canon law and theology; however, the plan could not be implemented, due first to the French invasion and then to the absolutist and ultraconservative policy of Ferdinand VII of Spain, which eliminated the advances established during the brief liberal triennium of 1820 to 1823 and led to the frustration of this renewing and prolonged intellectual movement.

Decline

Theology lecture at the University of Salamanca, with students from various religious orders. Doors of the cabinet of the manuscript repository of the University Library. Martín de Cervera, 1614.
Detail of the cloister of the University of Salamanca, taken from a photograph probably from the late 19th century.

During the French invasion (1808–1813), many of the buildings of the Salamanca Colleges were destroyed in the course of a phase of what English historians call the "Battle of Salamanca", in the south of the city, on present-day Calle Ancha, where British troops stormed this part of the city, which housed three French fortified positions, with great destruction when a powder magazine exploded in the Convent of San Vicente, one of the three fortifications. What remained of their libraries (part of them had been moved to the Royal Palace when the Colleges were closed in 1780) was plundered. Those books were recovered among the baggage of King Joseph after the Battle of Vitoria (1813). Part was given by Ferdinand VII to Lord Wellington as a token of gratitude, and another part became part of the Library of the Royal Palace. Part of the latter was recovered for the University Library in 1954.

In 1852 the University lost its status as a pontifical university, when the royal order of May 21 was approved, which abolished its two ecclesiastical faculties (Theology and Canon Law).

After the Pidal Plan of 1845, the university lost the power to issue doctoral degrees, which was reserved exclusively for the Central University of Madrid. At that moment, Salamanca ceased to play the role of model university, which passed to the Central University. It lost two faculties (Medicine and Sciences), being reduced to two others: Law and Philosophy and Letters. The Provincial Council and the city's City Council financed the continuation of both as free faculties, with Medicine installed in the building of the Colegio del Arzobispo[18] and the so-called Free College of Sciences in the building of the Escuelas Menores,[19] until, after the efforts of the rectors Esperabé and Unamuno, in 1904, they were once again recognized as state faculties.

Recovery

From 1951, the Minister of National Education Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez attempted to reduce to some extent the degree of political control exercised by the Government over the universities, to open the Spanish university to Europe and to grant a certain autonomy to the institutions.[20] The University of Salamanca, because of its historical significance, was a good model with which to begin the process, so the Government firmly supported the preparations for the celebration of the 7th centenary of the University in the 1953–1954 academic year,[nota 2] an event that was to serve as a showcase for the new policies. The University took advantage of the anniversary to express its aim of recovering the privileged place it had previously occupied in the Spanish university landscape, abandoning the role of provincial university to which it had been relegated by the liberal centralist policy of the 19th century.[21] The centenary celebrations succeeded in restoring the University's image thanks to the tribute paid by the more than 70 universities from around the world attending the event and the recognition of the University of Salamanca as the alma mater of the Hispanic American universities.[22] At the events held in October 1953, the rector of the University, Antonio Tovar, made public the agreement reached in 1948 to award an honoris causa doctorate to Francisco Franco, a move intended to obtain concessions from the dictator.[23] The centenary events had prompt repercussions: on November 6 of that same year the Council of Ministers restored to the University of Salamanca the power to award the degree of doctor; in May 1954 a thousand manuscripts from the libraries of the former Colegios Mayores, which had remained in Madrid since the time of Charles IV, were returned to Salamanca; and in 1955 the granting to the University of a special regime with a certain capacity for decision-making and autonomy was proposed, which could later be extended to other universities depending on the results observed in Salamanca.[24] Nevertheless, this process of relaunching the University of Salamanca was cut short in 1956 with the resignation of Minister Ruiz-Giménez, who was unable to win over the most conservative sectors of the Francoist regime to the process of opening and reform.[25]

Despite everything, in this period there was a revival of the University with a group of notable professors, among whom were the rector Antonio Tovar, the former rector Ramos Loscertales and the professors Guillermo Arce, Miguel Artola, Norberto Cuesta, García Blanco, Maluquer, Ruiz-Giménez, Granjel, Tierno Galván, Zamora Vicente and many others.

Entrance to the Escuelas Menores.

From the end of the process of opening in 1956 until the beginning of the 1960s, the number of students at the University of Salamanca remained relatively constant, between 3,000 and 4,000 students. From the 1962–1963 academic year there was constant growth in the number of enrolled students, doubling within ten years to reach 7,727 students in the 1972–1973 academic year.[26] The increase in the number of students did not occur uniformly across all the faculties making up the University, which led to a change in the weight of each of them within the total student body. Until 1965, the bulk of the students were concentrated in the faculties of Law and Medicine. From that year on, the Faculty of Law gradually lost weight in favor of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, while the Faculty of Medicine maintained its predominant position.[27] The main reasons for this redistribution of the student body among faculties were the increase in the female student population, which showed a greater preference for the courses of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, and the rise in the number of foreign students, mainly Ibero-American, who mainly sought studies in Medicine.[27]

From 1955 to 1970, the University of Salamanca increased its international profile, comparable only to those of the Central University of Madrid and the University of Barcelona, also leading universities at the time.[28] Between 1955 and 1965, the enrollment of foreign students tripled, with a slight decline subsequently recorded until 1970. Overall, the number of foreign students doubled, going from 371 students in 1955 to 773 in 1970.[27] An average of 80.5% of the foreign students came from Ibero-America and mainly sought studies in Medicine (78.3% of foreign students attended this faculty).[29] The rise of the Faculty of Medicine was due in large part to the attainment of a certain national prestige thanks to the creation of new centers and professional schools such as the Institute of Clinical Research, the Professional School of Ophthalmology and the Professional School of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and to the need for professionals and specialists in this field in Ibero-America.[30] 11.4% of the foreign students attended the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, mainly the Advanced Course in Hispanic Philology launched in 1950, which began the tradition of teaching Spanish in Salamanca that endures to this day. These students came mostly from Europe (mainly the United Kingdom) and the United States.[31]

Apart from the courses leading to official degrees taught in the faculties, the main draw for foreign students was the Summer Course for Foreigners organized by the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters from 1964, with a curriculum similar to that of the Advanced Course in Hispanic Philology that included studies in the language, literature, history, geography, art and thought of Spain.[32] The course was very well received and the number of students increased year after year: enrollment rose from 112 students in 1964 to 1,897 in 1971.[32] This last figure was equal to 30% of the students enrolled in official studies that same year.[33] The students of the Summer Course for Foreigners came mainly from the United States (between 30% and 50%) and France (around 30%).[34]

Academic information

Organization

Faculty/school Year
founded
Fine Arts
Biology
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Sciences
Chemical Sciences
Social Sciences
Law
Economics and Business 1989
Education
Pharmacy
Philology
Philosophy
Geography and History 1978[35]
Medicine
Psychology
Translation and Documentation
Nursing and Physiotherapy

At present the University of Salamanca is made up of sixteen faculties: Fine Arts, Biology, Sciences, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Social Sciences, Law, Economics and Business, Education, Pharmacy, Philology, Philosophy, Geography and History, Medicine, Psychology and Translation and Documentation, and one university school: Nursing and Physiotherapy.[36]

In addition, on the campuses that the University of Salamanca has in other cities are the Higher Polytechnic School of Ávila, the Higher Polytechnic School of Zamora, the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineering of Béjar, the University School of Education and Tourism of Ávila and the University School of Teacher Training of Zamora (see Ávila Campus and Zamora Campus).[36]

The University of Salamanca also has several research centers:

  • European Documentation Center
  • Cancer Research Center
  • Technological Center for Cultural Design and Communications Development
  • Hispano-Portuguese Center for Agricultural Research (CIALE)
  • Center for Water Research and Technological Development
  • Center for Linguistic Research (CILUS)
  • Multimedia Technology Center
  • Center for Research in Behavioral Sciences (CICCO)
  • Center for Research on Tropical Diseases (CIETUS)
  • Hispano-Japanese Cultural Center
  • Alfonso IX Center for University History
  • Center for Brazilian Studies
  • Cultural Center of the University of Salamanca in Colombia
  • Cultural Center of the University of Salamanca in Argentina
  • Center for Women's Studies
  • Center for Iberian Studies
  • University Institute for Community Integration (INICO)
  • Institute of Functional Biology and Genomics
  • University Institute of Ibero-America
  • Institute of Neurosciences of Castile and León

Undergraduate program

In the 2012–2013 academic year the University of Salamanca offered 74 undergraduate degrees in various branches of knowledge.[37] Its catalog of courses in philologies is one of the most complete in Spain, with studies in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, Ancient Greek and East Asian languages.[38] The university ranking compiled by the newspaper El Mundo and the QS World University Ranking consider it the best Spanish university in the studies of Hispanic and English philology.[39][40]

Postgraduate program

In the 2012–2013 academic year, the University of Salamanca offered 102 postgraduate degrees, of which 66 were master's degrees and 36 were doctoral programs.[37] The master's program is quite diversified, although with a certain emphasis on the social sciences: 19% of the degrees are in the humanities, 44% in the social sciences, 19% in the experimental natural sciences, 6% in the health sciences and 13% in technical studies.[41] The university's doctoral program has a somewhat more diverse structure than the master's, with a lower weight of engineering: 22% of the degrees correspond to studies in the humanities, 33% to the social sciences, 25% to the experimental natural sciences and 14% to the health sciences. Doctoral studies in technical fields account for 6% of the total.[41]

Collaborations

Through the Salamanca Science Park, owned by the University, mechanisms of cooperation are established between the University, businesses and public administrations, with the aim of promoting applied research and technological and industrial innovation.[42] In the Salamanca Science Park, companies devoted mainly to biotechnology, consulting, professional services, telecommunications, technological research, engineering and computer science collaborate with the University.[43]

In 1986 the University of Salamanca received, together with the University of Coimbra, the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation.

University rankings

The University of Salamanca is the best Spanish public university in teaching according to the ranking compiled by the Institute of Financial and Industrial Analysis of the Complutense University of Madrid, ranking sixth in the overall classification.[44] Various academic rankings consider it one of the best Spanish universities in the study of modern languages, especially English and Hispanic philology, and in biotechnology and environmental sciences.[39][40][45] The QS World University Ranking, the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities of the CSIC and the national ranking compiled annually by the newspaper El Mundo place it among the fifteen best universities in Spain.[46][39][47]

Facilities

Historic buildings

Main façade of the Escuelas Mayores.

The historic buildings of the University of Salamanca were built in the 15th century and are three: the Escuelas Mayores Building, the Escuelas Menores Building and the Hospital del Estudio. All three buildings are located on the square called Patio de Escuelas, in the center of Salamanca.

Escuelas Mayores Building


The most emblematic building of the University is the one known as the Escuelas Mayores, whose construction began in 1411. The façade, its best-known element, is divided into three tiers. The first contains the medallion of the Catholic Monarchs holding the same scepter, and above their heads the yoke of Ferdinand and the arrows of Isabella. The second tier contains in the center the coat of arms of Charles V, topped with an orb and a cross above a spectacular crown; on the right the eagle of Saint John and of the Catholic Monarchs, on the left the double-headed eagle of the Empire. In the third tier there is a small chapel said to be dedicated to Pope Benedict XIII exhorting the clergy (it is not very likely, and hardly proper, that in the 16th century the schismatic Pope Luna would still be glorified; most likely it is Martin V, who confirmed the favors that the antipope Luna had granted to the University).[48] It was built between circa 1512 and 1533, and its author —or at least the principal one—, according to a study published by Professor Alicia M. Canto in 2014, was Juan de Talavera. It would have been financed by Queen Joanna I of Castile, who would appear represented in the second tier, facing her son Charles I of Spain.[49][50] In the year 2018, on the 800th anniversary of the founding of the university, the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre dedicated a commemorative coin to the main façade of this building.[51]

Escuelas Menores Building
Main article: Escuelas Menores (Salamanca)

The Escuelas Menores Building is the one that was used as the place for teaching the courses leading to the degree of bachelor. It currently houses various offices of the University.

Hospital del Estudio
Main article: Hospital del Estudio (Salamanca)

The Hospital del Estudio, built in 1413, was used as a hostel to provide lodging to students of limited economic means. At present it is the seat of the rectorate of the University of Salamanca.

Old library.

Libraries

Main article: General Historical Library (University of Salamanca)
Francisco de Vitoria Library.

The Library of the University of Salamanca is a library system made up of 22 libraries. It has a bibliographic collection of 1,047,284 volumes, which makes it one of the largest university libraries in Spain.[41] It is also the fourth Spanish university library in number of reading places, with 5,379 places.[41]

Research

The University of Salamanca has 573 laboratories.[41]

Museums

The University of Salamanca has three museums: the Museum of the University of Salamanca, the Unamuno House Museum and the Pedagogical Museum Center.

Accommodation

The University of Salamanca has three colegios mayores and four university residences with 1,137 places for students, which makes it one of the universities with the largest supply of student accommodation in Spain.[41]

Traditions and culture

The University of Salamanca, conceived according to the Siete Partidas of Alfonso X the Wise as an "assembly of masters and students", was organized, in keeping with the medieval spirit, as a self-governing corporation, independent of the city and of the cathedral chapter, participatory and jealous of its privileges. It had its own rules and even its own penal institutions. The rector, whose term lasted one year, could be (until the end of the 18th century) a student elected by the members of the corporation, although the granting of academic degrees fell to authorities such as the maestrescuela or the chancellor. Chairs were assigned by co-optation, through public competitive examinations sometimes accompanied by tumultuous assemblies not free of applause, booing and brawls, such as those described by Diego de Torres Villarroel.[52]

The Palace of Anaya, currently the Faculty of Philology of the University of Salamanca.

The University's income came largely from the revenues of the diocese (specifically one third of the ecclesiastical tithe[53]), so ambitious bishops did not last long there, requesting transfer to dioceses with better revenues. This meant that many of the bishops of Salamanca were highly educated people interested in the University, and often, in addition, professors and even rectors of it.

Students attended classes in an ankle-length gown and a biretta (a uniform stemming from its origins as a diocesan school). When they obtained the licentiate, they put a large tassel on top of the biretta, in the color of the faculty in which they had obtained the degree (blue for sciences, crimson for law, yellow for medicine...). If they graduated from more than one faculty, the corresponding colors were mixed in the tassel. On receiving the doctorate they added to the biretta fringes in the color of the faculty where they obtained their doctorate. Professors also wore the muceta, a sort of short cape, also colored. This attire has now been copied by the rest of the universities of Spain, although without much rigor as to the meaning of each of the symbols and colors.

Colors of the professions according to the tradition of the University of Salamanca

The colors were: sky blue for Letters, dark blue for Sciences, red for Law, yellow for Medicine and scarlet purple for Theology (since then the following have been added: purple for Pharmacy, orange for Social and Economic Sciences, green for Environmental Sciences, brown for Engineering, pink for Psychology and white for Fine Arts). The Statutes of the University of Salamanca stipulate that the University's academic dress "shall be the traditional one"; this refers to the characteristic tunic and cape that predated the standardization of Spanish academic dress with the adoption of the juridical gown. Nevertheless, the use of the latter is permitted, and it is the one generally used. The academic dress of doctors is completed either with the simple doctoral medal or with the professorial one, white gloves and a white bow tie. It is accepted that, at the cuffs (puñetas), the gown may incorporate piping in the color of the Faculty, although this is not part of the Salamanca tradition.

Colegio Mayor de Santiago

From the 17th century, very few students sought the degree of doctor because of the costs of the celebration, contenting themselves with the degree of bachelor, licentiate or master. In Salamanca, the doctoral candidate kept vigil over his books for a night in the Chapel of Santa Bárbara in the cloister of the Old Cathedral, preparing his defense. The next morning the examining board entered, as well as any other doctor who wished to take part, and sat on the surrounding benches. The debates were fierce, since the aim was to put the candidate in difficulties.

Once the doctorate was obtained, the celebration began, which from the 17th century could be extremely costly. The new doctor (who at certain times was obliged to invite the faculty to a Gargantuan banquet and to sponsor public festivities that sometimes included bullfights) gave pastries to the members of the board, and his companions painted a vítor, like the one in the figure, with the doctor's name (in modern paintings it is sometimes accompanied by a short text), on any façade where they found a space (just as graffiti are painted now). When the doctorate was in sciences, the pigment used was bull's blood; when it was in letters, vegetable pigments, but always crimson in color.

During the Franco dictatorship this symbol was used politically, since from the Moyano Law of 1857 until 1953 the only University that issued doctoral degrees was the Central (that of Madrid), and therefore, by the time of the civil war, it had been in disuse for 80 years. From 1954 it began to be used again for doctors, although in reduced size and in very restricted places.

Doctoral investiture

One of the many models of the doctoral vítor, which can be seen on the façades of Salamanca.

At present, one of the most striking ceremonies is the investiture of new doctors that takes place on the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas. In it, as when other solemn academic events take place, a colorful procession of professors and university authorities is formed, which enters the Paraninfo after a short walk through the cloister of the Escuelas Mayores. The procession is preceded by mace-bearers and shawms, with the professors of the different faculties lined up in two rows and dressed in academic dress. This academic dress revealed, at first sight, the wearer's academic record. Currently it consists, since the standardization of the 19th century, of a black gown with puñetas (lace cuffs), a muceta in the color of the respective Faculties and a biretta with a tassel in the color of the faculty where the wearer obtained the licentiate and fringes in the color of the faculty where he receives his doctorate; if they have more than one licentiate, the colors are mixed in the tassel, and the same happens with those who have more than one doctorate, including Honoris Causa doctorates, whose colors are mixed in the fringes; the muceta is in the color of the faculty where they teach. The attire of the Rector who, with his symbolic staff of authority, closes the procession, is completely black. In times past, students, who had no degree, wore a tunic without a muceta and the biretta without tassel or fringes; licentiates who were not doctors wore the tassel but no fringes on the biretta.

A strict order is followed in the procession: first the University Schools, then the Faculties; the most recently founded Faculties precede the oldest. Thus, Environmental Sciences and Translation, after the University Schools, are the first in the procession. They are followed by Social Sciences, Economics and Business, Fine Arts, Psychology, Pharmacy, Medicine, Law, the Science Faculties and the Faculties of Letters, which precede the Vice-Rectors and the Rector.

All university ceremonies are presided over by the Rector, who must not cede the presidency to anyone except the King of Spain. It is said that the doctors of the Salamanca Studium had the privilege of remaining seated and with their heads covered in the presence of the King, like the Grandees of Spain.

Community

Students

In the 2012–2013 academic year, the University of Salamanca had 31,611 students, of whom 25,831 were undergraduate students[54] and 5,780 postgraduate students.[37] The University's student body is one of the most international in Spain. 4.75% of the students are European students participating in the Erasmus Programme, the highest percentage among Spanish public universities.[55] Considering the total number of foreign students, the University of Salamanca is the Spanish university with the fifth highest percentage of international students.[56] In postgraduate studies, the international character of the student body is even more pronounced: the master's degree student body is the most internationalized in Spain, with 47% foreign students,[41] and the doctoral student body is among the three most international in the country, with 49% of students coming from outside Spain.[41]

Faculty

In the 2012–2013 academic year, the University of Salamanca had 2,487 professors. 10.4% were full professors (catedráticos) and 29.4% were tenured professors (profesores titulares). 27.1% of the total were associate professors.[37]

Alumni and former professors

Outstanding figures of the Spanish and universal arts, sciences and politics have passed through the University of Salamanca as students or professors, such as Fray Luis de León, Francisco de Vitoria, Domingo de Soto, Martín de Azpilcueta, Tomás de Mercado, Fernando de Rojas, Saint John of the Cross, Antonio de Nebrija, Hernán Cortés, Bartolomé de las Casas, Tomás de Torquemada, Mateo Alemán, Luis de Góngora, Beatriz Galindo "La Latina", the Count-Duke of Olivares, Calderón de la Barca, Azorín, Miguel de Unamuno, José María de Areilza, Enrique Tierno Galván, Ana Pastor, Angel Luis Montejo Gonzalez; Adolfo Suárez and Marianela Pinales.

Sports

The Physical Education and Sports Service of the University of Salamanca is responsible for promoting sports among its students, both recreationally and competitively. At the competitive level, in addition to taking part in the Spanish University Championships, it also participates in federated sports under the name of Club Deportivo Universidad de Salamanca. Before 2005 it competed under the name Agrupación Deportiva Universidad de Salamanca (ADU Salamanca).

The federated competitions in which it currently participates are:

  • Women's and men's basketball
  • Women's futsal
  • Weightlifting
  • Women's and men's rugby
  • Women's volleyball
  • Chess

Previously ADU Salamanca participated in other federated sports, such as women's athletics, where it achieved notable successes such as the Queen's Cup —the main Spanish indoor interclub competition— in 1998. The women's basketball team of ADU Salamanca, created in 1988, also competed at the top level, having been promoted to the Liga Femenina in 1992. After two seasons in the top division, in 1994 the entity transferred the team's federative rights to Club Baloncesto Halcón Viajes.[57]

Sansón Carrasco, a character in the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, is a bachelor of the University of Salamanca.[nota 3] In chapter VII of the novel, the character uses the fact of having studied in Salamanca, then the most prestigious university in Spain, as an argument for taking what he says as true:

I know what I am saying, mistress housekeeper: go away and do not start arguing with me, for you know that I am a bachelor from Salamanca, and there is no bachelor beyond that.[58]

A Spanish proverb or saying uses the name of the University of Salamanca to express the idea that education and study alone are not enough to make a person cultured, but that innate aptitudes and attitudes such as intelligence and effort are also necessary:

What nature does not give, Salamanca does not lend.[59]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ At first, this international validity had two exceptions, in Paris and Bologna, because of their respective universities, but this restriction was abolished in 1333.
  2. ↑ The celebration in 1918 of the centenary of the founding of the University by Alfonso IX of León in 1218 could not take place because of the context of the First World War. The same happened in 1943 with the commemoration of the confirmation of the foundation by Ferdinand III the Saint in 1243, due to the situation of postwar penury. The commemoration therefore had to be postponed until 1954, in a context of a certain normalization of education under Ruiz-Giménez's tenure, when the Royal Charter of Alfonso X the Wise of 1254, by which he expanded and definitively established the University of Salamanca, was commemorated.
  3. ↑ The degree of bachelor (bachiller) was the 16th- and 17th-century equivalent of the present-day undergraduate degree.

References

  1. ↑ Peña Fernández 1999, p. 41.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "Estadísticas de Gestión eGUSAL" (in español). USAL. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  3. ↑ Presupuesto de la Universidad de Salamanca para 2018 (in Spanish)
  4. ↑ Rodríguez Cruz, Águeda María. "Índice de relación documental" (in español). Universidad de Salamanca. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  5. ↑ Universidad de Salamanca. Historia. (in Spanish)
  6. ↑ Rodríguez San Pedro-Bézares, Luis Enrique (2009). Historia de la Universidad de Salamanca Vol .IV, vestigios y entramados (in español). Universidad de Salamanca. p. 23. Retrieved November 4, 2016. La primera noticia de la existencia de un maestrescuela en la documentación salmantina, con el título concreto en latín de <magister scholarum>, se encuentra por primera vez en sendos documentos de concordia entre las diócesis de Salamanca y de Ciudad Rodrigo, firmados ante el arzobispo de Santiago el 14 de enero de 1174.
  7. ↑ Vidal y Díaz, Alejandro (1869). Memoria histórica de la Universidad de Salamanca (in español). Imprenta de Oliva y Hermano. p. 12. Retrieved November 4, 2016. hacer constar que los primeros estudios de Salamanca se fundaron en la Iglesia Catedral, y que en 1179 se conocía ya la Dignidad de Maestre-escuelas que al principio tuvo anejo el cargo de enseñar y después llegó a presidir a los demás Maestros.
  8. ↑ Sitio web oficial del VIII Centenario de la Universidad de Salamanca Archived April 22, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved September 18, 2012. (in Spanish)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Rodríguez-San Pedro 1991, p. 10.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Rodríguez-San Pedro 1991, p. 11.
  11. ↑ Rodríguez-San Pedro 1991, p. 12.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Rodríguez-San Pedro 1991, p. 13.
  13. ↑ Rodríguez-San Pedro 1991, p. 14.
  14. ↑ Rodríguez-San Pedro 1991, p. 16.
  15. ↑ Rodríguez-San Pedro 1991, p. 15.
  16. ↑ Rodríguez-San Pedro 1991, p. 18.
  17. ↑ Robledo 2005.
  18. ↑ Carreras 2002.
  19. ↑ Pérez 2002.
  20. ↑ Ramos 2009, p. 236.
  21. ↑ Ramos 2009, p. 237.
  22. ↑ Ramos 2009, p. 256.
  23. ↑ Ramos 2009, p. 254.
  24. ↑ Ramos 2009, p. 238.
  25. ↑ Ramos 2009, p. 257.
  26. ↑ González 2012, p. 212.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 González 2012, p. 211.
  28. ↑ González 2012, p. 209.
  29. ↑ González 2012, p. 213.
  30. ↑ González 2012, p. 214.
  31. ↑ González 2012, p. 221.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 González 2012, p. 216.
  33. ↑ González 2012, p. 217.
  34. ↑ González 2012, p. 222.
  35. ↑ https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-1978-26469
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Universidad de Salamanca. "Facultades y escuelas". La Universidad (in español). Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 Unidad de Evaluación de la Calidad de la Universidad de Salamanca. "Indicadores generales". La Universidad de Salamanca en cifras (in español). Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  38. ↑ Universidad de Salamanca. "Catálogo de estudios de grado" (in español). Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 El Mundo. "50 carreras 2014/2015" (PDF) (in español). Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 QS Quacquarelli Symonds. "QS World University Ranking by Subject 2014: English Language & Literature (Spain)". Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 41.4 41.5 41.6 41.7 CRUE (2008). "La universidad española en cifras 2008" (PDF) (in español). Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  42. ↑ Parque Científico de Salamanca. "Quiénes somos" (in español). Archived from the original on May 12, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  43. ↑ Parque Científico de Salamanca. "Empresas" (in español). Archived from the original on May 11, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  44. ↑ El País. "Clasificación de las universidades españolas" (in español). Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
  45. ↑ QS Quacquarelli Symonds. "QS World University Ranking by Subject 2014: Modern Languages (Spain)". Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  46. ↑ QS Quacquarelli Symonds. "QS World University Ranking 2013: Spain". Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  47. ↑ Laboratorio de Cibermetría del CSIC. "Ranking Mundial de Universidades en la Web" (in español). Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  48. ↑ Gabaudan 2012.
  49. ↑ Canto, Alicia M. (2014). "Epigrafía y Arquitectura en la Universidad de Salamanca. I: El arquitecto real Juan de Talavera, firmante en la 'Portada Rica' de la reina Juana". Anejos a CuPAUAM 1: Homenaje a Catalina Galán Saulnier (in español). Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid: 207–245. ISBN 978-84-8344-439-9. Retrieved April 22, 2015.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  50. ↑ "Una profesora de la UAM ha desvelado que el autor de la famosa fachada de la Universidad de Salamanca fue el arquitecto y escultor Juan de Talavera. La mecenas habría sido Juana "la Loca", que estaría representada en la obra". Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (in español). March 2, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  51. ↑ "800 Años de la Universidad de Salamanca" (in español). Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  52. ↑ Diego de Torres Villarroel, Vida, ascendencia, nacimiento, crianza y aventuras del doctor don Diego de Torres y Villarroel, 1743 (in Spanish)
  53. ↑ Alejandro Vidal y Díaz, Memoria histórica de la Universidad de Salamanca: redactada en virtud de ... (in Spanish)
  54. ↑ Unidad de Evaluación de la Calidad de la Universidad de Salamanca. "Estudiantes de grado matriculados en la Universidad de Salamanca". La Universidad de Salamanca en cifras (in español). Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  55. ↑ Universidad de Salamanca. "Movilidad internacional". La USAL de un vistazo (in español). Retrieved May 18, 2014.
  56. ↑ QS Quacquarelli Symonds. "QS World University Rankings 2012 filtered by International Students". Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  57. ↑ Haciendo Historia (in Spanish)
  58. ↑ Centro Virtual Cervantes. "Capítulo VII, de lo que pasó don Quijote con su escudero, con otros sucesos famosísimos". Don Quijote de la Mancha (in español). Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  59. ↑ Centro Virtual Cervantes. "Lo que natura no da Salamanca no presta". Refranero multilingüe (in español). Retrieved June 27, 2014.

Bibliography

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