SALAMANCA UNIVERSITY

Salamanca University has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the UNIVERSITAS category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the aeternitas and the future of Europe.

	FOUNDATION
Year	1218 A.D.
City	Salamanca
Founder	king Alfonso IX de León
Where	Regna León y Asturias y Gallaecia
Originary subjects	gramatic , logic , medicine , music , physis

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	NOWADAYS
State	Spain
Name	University of Salamanca (Universidad d Salamanca Scholas Salamanticae)
Seates	Salamanca, Ávila , Zamora , Béjar , Villamayor
Degree programs	every disciplines of Science and Humanitary Studies
Library	Bibliotecas de la Universidad d Salamanca
Collegium	Mayor de Oviedo , Mayor Fray Luis de Leòn , Mayor San Bartolomé , de Cuenca , RUCM Hernán Cortés , Arzobispo Fonseca
Alumni	Alumni-Universidad d Salamanca
Famous teachers	Juan de Galavís , Francisco Elías de Tejada y Spínola , Enrique Gil Robles, Pablo de Coronel , Miguel de Unamuno , Beatriz Galindo , Luisa de Medrano , García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos , Torres Villarroel , Abraham Zacut , Juan Manuel Corchado , Francisco de Vitoria , Fray Luis de León , Francisco de Salinas , Antonio de Nebrija
Famous scholars	Miguel de Cervantes , Luis de Góngora , Pedro Calderón de la Barca , Bartolomé de Las Casas , Bernardino de Sahagún , Henry O'Neill , Flora de Pablo , Gustavo Petro , Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez , Arístides Royo , Francisco J. Ayala , Susana Marcos Celestino , Abraham Zacuto , Ignacio Baleztena Ascárate , Esteban de Bilbao Eguía , Domingo de Soto , Melchor Cano , Francisco Suárez , John of the Cross , Gaspar de Guzmán Condé-Duque de Olivares , Gaspar Sanz , Pedro Gómez Labrador , Cardinal Mazarin , Mateo Alemán , Diego de Torres Villarroel , Pedro Salinas , Adolfo Suárez , Juan Zarate , Manuel Belgrano , Luis de Onís , Pedro Nunes , Simón de Rojas , Antonio Tovar , Gaspar Cervantes de Gaeta , Xavier Becerra , Angela Abós Ballarín , Juan Pizarro Navarrete , Mario Vargas Llosa , José Saramago , Paul Nurse , Severo Ochoa
Awards	Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation

Salamanca University is among the oldest of Europe: when Alphonse IX King of León y Asturias y Gallaecia wanted an high school founded in 1218 A.D. the Scholas Salamanticae, since than run uninterrupted making and spreading knowledge until nowadays. He was an illuminated and advanced man for his epoch, not only for having open the Universidad d Salamanca but even for other innovation as the first Cortes that permitted many sectores of society and aristocracy to participate to public decisions. His first Studium was provided with a royal decree of 1254 A.D. of 1 master in Law, 1 in Roman law, 2 in Canon law, 2 in logic, 2 in Grammar, 2 in Physys, 1 in Medicine, 1 organ body , 1 apothecary, 1 librarian and 2 curators. So the University of Salamanca converted like Paris, Oxford and Bologna in one of the early european universitas.

Universidad d Salamanca owns an important real estate in historical buildings and symbolic spaces that every day are visited by hundreds of people, both because they apreciate their artistic and historical value and because have to follow some academic activities inside: they highlight especially the Edificio de Escuelas Mayores with its plateresque face, while in the interior is possible visit the Biblioteca General Histórica with its over 2.700 manuscriptes, 483 incunables and circa 62,000 volumes printed bewteen XVI and XVIII centuries. Obliged sightsee is the Patio de Escuelas Menores that hosts in one of its room the picture 'Cielo de Salamanca', an opera attributed to Fernando Gallego which gathers astronomical and astrological themes. There are art operas mirroring the history of education rich of tradictions, when emphatizes the tradictionals ceremonies of investiture of honoris causa degrees full of tradictional coloured show of togados, or the celebrating of Santo Tomás patron of the university or even the solemn open of the annual course in which the rector review the principal challenges addressing every exercise of the institution.

In 1255 A.D. Pope Alexander IV published the bull that recognized the Salamanca University the universal legality and granting and conceded the privilege of its own seal. Then Universidad d Salamanca lived a period of unprecedented expansion thanks to the creation of first american universities starting from 1551 A.D., following the 'estella salmantina' in using its foundation chart as a model. More than 70% of universities created between XVI and XVII centuries considers today la Universidad d Salamanca their alma mater: in that epoch the prestige of Salamanca University attracted a confluence of students from hispanic peninsula and Europe and Americas. While Columbus was lobbying the King and Queen for a contract to seek out a western route to the Indies, he made his case to a council of geographers at the University of Salamanca that always defended his theory of unknown territories to the West and supported Columbus' voyage, believing that new territories may be discovered differently by the geographers skeptical of Columbus calculations.

In next century, the morality and laws of colonization in the Indies were debated by the Salamanca University, along with the development of the study of science, geography and cartography of the Americas, and as well as the study of general subjects of economics, philosophy and theology. Under rule of the Emperor Charles V and first King of Spain the faculty renovated the theology department, laid the foundation for modern-day law, international law, modern economic science and actively participated in the Council of Trent: the school's mathematicians studied the calendar reform, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII and proposed the solution that was later implemented.

Salamanca's colleges (Colegios Mayores) were founded as charitable institutions to enable poor scholars to attend the university: by the 18th century they had become closed corporations controlled by the families of their founders, that dominated the university among them. Most were destroyed by Napoleon's troops and during the 19th century the Spanish government dissolved the university's faculties of canon law and theology: they were later reestablished in the Forthies as part of the Pontifical University of Salamanca. Then, running along the centuries, the law of public instruction of 1857 A.D. (Ley Moyano) made the situation clear at the Universidad d Salamanca and the whole country education within the new liberal centralized political regime: its faculties had been reduced to those of Law, Theology, Phylosophy and Literature. So the traditional hegemonic role of the Universidad d Salamanca, as the other 'mayores' (Valladolid and Alcalá, read below), passed to the Madrid University as central district. One year after the Deputatión and the City council of Salamanca came off for the auxilium of the financial institucion, as free faculties of Medicine and Sciences, but in 1904 A.D. under rule of rector de Miguel de Unamuno the college got its statal funds. In 1943 A.D. a new political orden established the Ley de Ordenación Universitaria for whole Spain: the rigid administrative style, the poltiical control and hierarchy defined the laws, then in the frame of accelerated social transformations of Sixties the Ley Villar Palasí conceded good authonomy to the universitas in the issues of teaching and research. Time after, the publication of the Ley Orgánica de Reforma Universitaria (LRU) signed the final point to the liberal model of XIX century to start the new step on enhancing the university authonomy and transformations in every ambitos: in 2001 A.D. the Ley Orgánica de Universidades established the university functioning.

Science and Technology development in Salamanca University led some of the most important progress in last centuries: from the 'salmantino estudio' came off personages as Torres Villarroel or Abraham Zacut, who developed the 'Almanach Perpetuum' an astronomy treat essential for navigation needed to join continents. The advanced thinking of Francisco de Vitoria permited to consider Salamanca University the cradle of International Right, even if its aulas hosted others illustrious figures as Fray Luis de León or Francisco de Salinas or Antonio de Nebrija, creators of the first Spanish grammar. In the Senate of Doctors are shown head of many ispano-american states and Nobel prizes like Mario Vargas Llosa, José Saramago, Paul Nurse and Severo Ochoa, phylosofer and researhers who signed their disciplines running pushing on the knoledge progress: humanism, clever and talent cultivated during the eight centuries of the Universidad d Salamanca history made it an institutión protagonist of the whole world.

Nowadays Salamanca University follows by keeping its great capacity of attraction of steady number of 30.000 students yearly. New Campus have been spreaded among Salamanca, Ávila, Zamora, Béjar y Villamayor cities where are shared the 26 faculties and high schools and all the research that cover such various aspects as libraries or láser, passing throgh agro-alimentary development, neurosciences, history studies or basic research. To this are added dedicated centres to strenghten academic and cultural cooperations with other countries or cultures as the Centro Cultural Hispano Japonés, the Centro de Estudios Brasileños or the Instituto de Estudios de Iberoamérica, where the continuity of movement of teachers and students keep the lace and creates new perspectives for future of these established aliances.

Other distinctive feature of Salamanca University is the teaching of Spanish language, that attracts thousands foreign students to its educative programmes developed in one of the major centre of education for foreigners with world prestige: the Cursos Internacionales de la Universidad d Salamanca. It assigns every year the Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera (DELE) and recently a deal signed with the Instituto Cervantes, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the Universidad de Buenos Aires, has permited to Universidad d Salamanca to develop the first digital certification of Spanish language (SIELE), that could be realizez valid in every side of the world and will bring this certification from the 'estudio salmantino' as guarantee of validity. Salamanca University is one of only 2 Hispanophone universities in the world that have a MoU with the United Nations to train language professionals for the Org. In conjunction with the University of Cambridge, the University of Salamanca co-founded the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) in 1989 A.D..

Salamanca University draws undergraduate and graduate students from across Spain and the world and its scientific research is carried out in the university and research centers associated with it, such as at the Centro de Investigación del Cáncer, the Instituto de Neurociencias de Castilla y León (INCyL) and the Centro de Láseres Pulsados Ultracortos Ultraintensos. Universidad d Salamamca has to relationate directly with the enterprises world, then with the Fundación General de la Universidad de Salamanca and cooperates with several private companies for favourite the creation of products and enterprises into the university community, so to offer practise and training complementary for titulars with the abition to enlarge the possibilities out of Spain, also thanks to the opening of a seat in Bogotá (Columbia).

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Not far from Salamanca are open other 2 historic universitas, the Universidad de Valladolid and the Universidad de Alcalá.

The Universidad de Valladolid was founded in 1241 A.D., as continuation of the first Euroepan public university open in Palencia in 1208 A.D. by king Alphonse VIII of Castile y Leòn, on request by bishop Tello Téllez de Meneses, calling from France and Italy important arts and sciences teachers and paying them handsomely. Also too much...when 50 years later the money ended, the Palencia University sank into debts right in the moment was studying there one of the most important medieval saints as Domenico de Guzman. As compensation the example of the first spanish atheneum inspired others as the Salamanca University, became its main rival, and the Vallodolid University, that will be its official heir.

The University of Valladolid (UVa) is a Spanish public university responsible for teaching higher education in 7 campuses distributed through four cities of Castile and Leon: Valladolid, Palencia, Soria and Segovia. The first building of the university that is notable for its architecture is the one constructed at the end of the 15th century, after the move of the institution from the Colegiata. Within the university there are cultural associations for music and theatre such as a youth symphonic orchestra (Joven Orquesta de la Universidad de Valladolid -JOUVa) run by students of the university and headquartered in the Residencia Universitaria Alfonso VIII of Valladolid. The choir (Coro de la Universidad de Valladolid) is directed by Marcos Castán and the Early Music Group El Parnasso. The theatre group Gente de Teatro de la Uva, founded in 1984 A.D. with the name of People's Theatre of the Faculty of Medicine, became the official theater group of the university. Through the Area of Extension and Culture, the university of Valladolid presents cultural programs throughout the year, with special emphasis on the UniversiJazz Festival and Santa Cruz. The university library has 14 library services located in Palencia, Soria and Segovia provinces, while the rest are situated in Valladolid, each of them with own director but all are managed by a Chief Librarian and coordinated by Central Services. The book collection is available through the Almena Catalogue and UVaDoc repository and the whole collection has 97,0000 books, some of which are really important.

Anyway already in 1293 A.D. Alcalá de Henares hosted an Estudio General approved by king Sancho IV of Leòn, one of the oldest universities in the world, then named Universidad Complutense founded by the Regent of Spain, Cardinal Cisneros, in 1499 A.D. as educative project absolutely innovative: in it were counciled the best models of traditión from París and Salamanca with the more innovative models as Bologna and Louvaine. An example was the production of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible in 1517 A.D., which is the basis for most of the current translations. Cisneros hoped this University, born in the Moder Age as advanced in Spain more than the contemporary European renassaincers and humanists, was the crucible where educate not only the clergy regular and secular available to face the Church Reformation, but also the new formed functionarios needed by the new Reinos de España. The éxito of that enterprise had been that Alcalá converted itself in the seat for the aristocratic university that made possible the 'Siglo de Oro ispanico': for this reason UNESCO declared the Universidad de Alcalá a Patrimonio de la Humanidad.

By royal decree, the University of Alcalà moved to Madrid in 1836 A.D. (initially as the Universidad de Madrid, later as the Universidad Central, which in the Seventies would finally be renamed Universidad Complutense de Madrid): then a new university was founded in the old buildings as the Universidad de Alcalá in 1977 A.D. and parts of the new atheneum occupied the buildings of the old Universidad Complutense in the city centre, including the modern Colegio de San Ildefonso, the Colegio de Málaga and other Colegios and those structures have served as a model for other universities across the Spanish territories in the Americas and other dependencies. Anyway, although the present is named Universidad de Alcalá, the ancient institution founded by Cisneros is the one now called 'Universidad Complutense' and transferred in the spanish capital ('Complutensis' is the Latin word for 'native of Alcalá').

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