University of Salamanca

Paraninfo.

Aula Fray Luis de León, at the major schools.

The University of Salamanca (in Latin, Universitas Studii Salmanticensis) is a Spanish public university based in the city of Salamanca, where most of its centers are located., although it also has centers in the cities of Zamora, Ávila, Béjar and Villamayor. It is the oldest university in operation in Spain and the Hispanic world and the third oldest in Europe.

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

History

Foundation and consolidation

Its origin, like most medieval European universities, were cathedral schools whose documented existence goes back at least to the year 1174, when its maestrecuela appears in documents of agreement between the diocese of Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo, signed before the Archbishop of Santiago. This fact presupposes that the creation of the post of maestrecuela of the cathedral schools took place in the 12th century, either in the reign of Fernando II de León or in that of his predecessor Alfonso VII.

In the year 1218, Alfonso IX of León granted the category of General Studies to these schools, with the name Studii Salmantini. This title of General Study shows the diversity of the teachings taught, its non-private property (open to all) and the validity of its titles. The University of Salamanca was born as an eminently legal Study, in line with the University of Bologna and in contrast to the universities of Oxford and Paris, more focused on Theology and the Arts. In 1254, King Alfonso X the Wise endowed the university of some statutes that defined its financing system and created the position of librarian and new chairs. The University of Salamanca thus became the first in Europe to have a public library. The university was financed by the Church, although indirectly. Its funds came from the royal thirds of the ecclesiastical tithe. As the tithe was a tax on agricultural production, the economic situation of the university was strongly influenced by the agrarian crises that occurred regularly. Studies were then taught in Law, Medicine, Logic, Grammar and Music. The subject teachers Related to Law enjoyed a higher salary, as it was a university inclined towards legal disciplines. During the 13th centuries and XIV new chairs were created, especially in Law. The final accolade came in 1255 with the bull of Pope Alexander IV, who granted him the licentia ubique docendi, which recognized the validity of the degrees awarded by the University of Salamanca throughout the world. the world. Between 1381 and 1386, he began to teach Theology studies.

Classes were taught in Latin, which facilitated the international mobility of teachers and students as it was a language used throughout Europe. The main destinations for the students were Bologna, Paris and Montpellier. However, international mobility in this period was insignificant, with very few foreign students arriving in Salamanca. Most of the students came from the Northern Plateau, Portugal, Galicia and Asturias. The university was small, in terms of number of students, compared to others of the time such as Bologna. At the end of the XIV century, between 500 and 600 students studied in Salamanca. Growth during the 15th century was very significant, reaching about 3000 students at the beginning of the XVI. All were male and the clergy predominated over the laity.

It took a long time for the institution to have its own buildings in which to teach. Until the 15th century, classes were held in the cloister of the Old Cathedral, in houses rented from the council and in the church of Saint Benedict.

The first proper university building was the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé, founded by Bishop Diego de Anaya Maldonado, construction begun in 1401. Shortly before, the Aragonese cardinal Pedro de Luna, who would later become Antipope Benedict XIII, great protector of the institution, promoted the purchase of the first lots and in the constitutions of 1411 forced the construction of the Escuelas Mayores (sometimes known as the historical building of the university). Almost immediately (1413), King Juan II promoted the construction of the Hospital del Estudio (current Rectorate) and later (in 1428) the building of the Escuelas Menores began. The first constitutions of the University were granted by Pope Luna. In 1422 they were replaced by those of Martín V.

In the Minor Schools the teachings that gave access to the Bachelor's degree were taught. In the Major Schools, they studied for the degrees of Bachelor, Magister and Doctor, major titles.

In addition to the Schools, the teachings were given in the Major and Menor Colleges or in convents of the religious orders. In the Spain of the Golden Age there were only six Halls of Residence: the four in Salamanca: San Bartolomé, Oviedo, Cuenca and Santiago, to which were added Santa Cruz in Valladolid and San Ildefonso in Alcalá. Salamanca also had countless minor colleges and other university centers of various kinds.

Splendor

Schoolyard.

Cloister of the Minor Schools.

In the transition from the 15th century to the XVI, the University of Salamanca became a national benchmark. Until the 17th century it was seen as the most prestigious, famous and influential university in Spain, for having the greatest variety of teachings, the best physical and human resources and the most international student body. The rise of the University was largely due to the conquest of America by Spain and the construction of the centralized state by the Catholic Monarchs, which required bureaucrats, officials and lawyers that the University of Salamanca could offer thanks to its specialization in legal studies. At the end of the XVII century, 65 % of the budget allocated to salaries went to law and theology professors, while the chairs of Mathematics, Astrology and Music were the worst paid. fed the administration ation of the Spanish monarchy of civil servants for the State.

Despite the legal nature of the University, from the end of the XV century it also joined the humanist movement, although relatively overshadowed in this area by the then recently created University of Alcalá. During this period some of its most brilliant members lived in Salamanca in what became known as the School of Salamanca. The members of the School renewed theology, laid the foundations of modern peoples law, international law and modern economic science, and actively participated in the Council of Trent. Mathematicians from this School studied the reform of the calendar, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII, and proposed the solution that was later implemented. Salamanca also had at that time what were probably the first university students in the world: Beatriz Galindo and Luisa de Medrano. Medrano was the first woman to teach at a University.

The faculty of the University discussed the feasibility of Christopher Columbus's project and the consequences of his statements. Once America was discovered, the right of indigenous people to be recognized with full rights was discussed, something revolutionary for the time.

In the 17th century, the humanistic character was abandoned and there was a relative decline. Since a degree from Salamanca or having been a college student was the key to obtaining important positions in the administration, the sons of the nobility gradually took control of the colleges, which ceased to serve their original function: to teach poor but capable young people. They were able to seize power because the colleges functioned as a democratic institution in which the college members collectively decided all aspects of government, including the admission of new members. As soon as they formed a large enough group, they closed the admission of those outside the nobility, among other things demanding proof of purity of blood, which could only be provided by the nobles, who had organized files.

Reform

In the 18th century, especially during the reign of Carlos III, reforms were carried out that made the University Salamanca constituted one of the main foci of the Spanish Enlightenment. All support would be given to the development of Medicine, Physics, Mathematics and classical letters. Around Ramón de Salas y Cortés —professor of Moral and Legal 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 or the poets and politicians Juan Nicasio Gallego and Manuel José Quintana. Many of the students, professors and intellectuals linked to this enlightened circle played, such as Diego Muñoz-Torrero, a fundamental role in the Cortes of Cádiz, the elaboration 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, such as Bertrán or Tavira (the latter, also a professor at the University), both of enlightened ideas, were not alien to this revival. By Royal Decree of July 12, 1807, Caballero's curriculum for all the universities of the kingdom, following the guidelines drawn up by the University of Salamanca, which was already pointing towards a new type of university, more focused on natural and social sciences, and less on canon law and theology; However, the plan could not be implemented, due to the French invasion first, and then to the absolutist and ultra-conservative policy of Fernando VII of Spain that eliminated the advances established during the brief liberal triennium from 1820 to 1823, and led to the frustration of this renovating and prolonged intellectual movement.

Decline

Lesson of Theology at the University of Salamanca, with students of various religious orders. Cabinet doors of the manuscript deposit of the University Library. Martin de Cervera, 1614.

Detail of the cloister of the Minor Schools, photography probably from the end of the century XIX.

During the French invasion (1808–1813) many of the buildings of the Salamanca Colleges were destroyed during a phase of the so-called "Battle of Salamanca" by English historians, to the south of the city, present-day Calle Ancha, where British troops stormed this part of the city that 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 its libraries (part of them had been transferred to the Royal Palace when the Colleges were closed in 1780) was looted. Those books were recovered from King José's baggage after the battle of Vitoria (1813). A part was given by Fernando VII to Lord Wellington as a thank you, 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 that 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 time, Salamanca stopped playing the role of a model university, which would pass to the Central. It lost two faculties (Medicine and Sciences), being reduced to another two: Law and Philosophy and Letters. The Provincial Council and the city council financed the continuity of Medicine and Sciences, as free faculties, installing Medicine in the Colegio del Arzobispo building and the so-called Colegio Libre de Ciencias, in the Escuelas Menores building, until After the efforts of the rectors Esperabé and Unamuno, in 1904, they were once again recognized as state faculties.

Recovery

Since 1951, the Minister of National Education Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez tried to reduce to a certain extent the degree of political control exercised by the Government over the universities, open the Spanish university to Europe and grant some autonomy to the centers. The University Salamanca, due to its historical significance, was a good model to start the process, which is why the Government strongly supported the preparations for the celebration of the VII centenary of the University in the 1953-1954 academic year, an act that was to serve as a showcase of the new policies. The University took advantage of the anniversary to express its objective of recovering the privileged place it had previously occupied in the Spanish university scene, abandoning the role of provincial university to which it had been relegated by the liberal centralist policy of the century XIX. The centenary celebrations managed to recover the image of the University thanks to the tribute received by the more than 70 universities from around the world who attended the event and the recognition of the University of Salamanca as the alma mater of Latin American universities. In the events held in October 1953, the rector of the University, Antonio Tovar, made public the agreement reached in 1948 to grant the doctorate honoris causa to Francisco Franco, a movement with which it was intended to obtain concessions from the dictator. The acts of the centenary had prompt repercussions: and n November 6 of that same year, the Council of Ministers returned to the University of Salamanca the power to grant the title of doctor (Decree of 11/6/1953); In May 1954, a thousand manuscripts from the libraries of the former Colegios Mayores that had remained in Madrid since the time of Carlos IV were returned to Salamanca, and in 1955 the granting of a special regime to the University with some decision-making capacity was proposed. and autonomy that could later be extended to other universities based on the results observed in Salamanca. However, this process of relaunching the University of Salamanca was cut short in 1956 with the resignation of Minister Ruiz-Giménez, who was unable to convince the process of opening and reform to the most conservative sectors of the Franco regime.

Entrance to the Minor Schools.

Despite everything, at this time there was a renaissance of the University with a group of notable professors, including the rector Antonio Tovar, the former rector Ramos Loscertales and professors Guillermo Arce, Miguel Artola, Norberto Cuesta, García Blanco, Maluquer, Ruiz-Giménez, Granjel, Tierno Galván, Zamora Vicente and many others. From the end of the opening process 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 academic year 1962-1963 there was a constant growth in the number of students enrolled, doubling in ten years to reach 7,727 students in the academic year 1972-1973. The increase in the number of students did not occur homogeneously in all the faculties that made up the University, which led to a change in the weight of each of them over the total student body. Until 1965, the bulk of the students were concentrated in the Faculties of Law and Medicine. As of that year, 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. The main reasons for this redistribution of the student body between faculties were the increase in the female student population, which showed a greater preference for the teachings of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, and the increase in the number of foreign students, mainly Ibero-Americans, who mainly demanded studies in Medicine.

From 1955 to 1970, the University of Salamanca increased its international projection, comparable only to those of the Central University of Madrid and the University of Barcelona, also leading universities at the time. Between 1955 and 1965, the enrollment of foreign students tripled, subsequently recording a slight decline until 1970. Overall, the number of foreign students doubled from 371 students in 1955 to 773 in 1970. An average of 80.5% of foreign students came from Latin America and they mainly demanded studies in Medicine (78.3% of foreign students attended this faculty). The rise of the Faculty of Medicine was largely due to the achievement of a certain prestige at the national level thanks to the creation of new professional centers and schools such as the Clinical Research Institute, the Professional School of Ophthalmology and the Professional School of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the need to pr professionals and specialists in this field in Ibero-America. 11.4% of foreign students attended the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, mainly the Higher Course of Hispanic Philology launched in 1950 and which began the teaching tradition of Spanish in Salamanca that lasts until today. These students came mostly from Europe (mainly the United Kingdom) and the United States.

Apart from the courses leading to official titles taught in the faculties, the main engine of attraction for foreign students was the Summer Course for Foreigners organized by the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters since 1964, with a study plan similar to that of of the Higher Course of Hispanic Philology which included studies in Spanish language, literature, history, geography, art and thought. The course was very well received and the number of students increased year after year: enrollment increased from 112 students in 1964 until 1897 of 1971. This last figure represented a figure equal to 30% of the students enrolled in official studies that same year. The students of the Summer Course for Foreigners came mainly from the United States (between 30% and 50 %) and France (around 30%).

Academic information

Organization

Currently, 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 a university school: Nursing and Physiotherapy.

In addition, in the campuses that the University of Salamanca has in other cities, there 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 Turismo de Ávila and the Zamora School of Education (see Campus de Ávila and Campus de Zamora).

The University of Salamanca also has several research centers:

• European Documentation Centre
• Cancer Research Center
• Centro Tecnológico de Diseño Cultural y de Desarrollo de las Comunicaciones
• Centro Hispano-Luso de Investigaciones Agrarias (CIALE)
• Center for Research and Technological Development of Water
• Linguistic Research Centre (CILUS)
• Centro Tecnológico Multimedia
• Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Comportamiento (CICCO)
• Centro de Investigación de enfermedades Tropicales (CIETUS)
• Centro Cultural Hispano-Japanese
• Centro de Historia Universitaria Alfonso IX
• Centro de Estudios Brasileños
• Centro Cultural de la Universidad de Salamanca in Colombia
• Centro Cultural de la Universidad de Salamanca in Argentina
• Women ' s Studies Centre
• Centro de Estudios Ibéricos
• Instituto Universitario de Integración en la Comunidad INICO
• Institute of Functional and Genomic Biology
• Instituto Universitario de Iberoamérica
• Instituto de Neurociencias Castilla y León

Degree Program

In the 2012-2013 academic year, the University of Salamanca offered 74 undergraduate degrees in various branches of knowledge. The catalog of studies in philology is one of the most complete in Spain, with studies in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, Ancient Greek and East Asia. The university ranking prepared 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.

Graduate Program

In the 2012-2013 academic year, the University of Salamanca offered 102 postgraduate degrees, of which 66 corresponded to master's degrees and 36 to doctoral programs. The master's degree program is quite diversified, although with some emphasis on the social sciences: 19% of 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 education. The university's doctoral program has a somewhat more diverse structure than the master's, with less weight given to engineering: 22% of the titles correspond to studies in the humanities, 33% to social sciences, 25% to experimental natural sciences and 14% to health sciences. Doctoral studies referring to technical education account for 6% of the total.

Collaborations

Through the Science Park of Salamanca, owned by the University, cooperation mechanisms are articulated between the University, companies and public administrations, with the aim of promoting applied research and technological and industrial innovation. In the Salamanca Science Park collaborates with the University companies dedicated mainly to biotechnology, consultancy, professional services, telecommunications, technological research, engineering and information technology.

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

College Rankings

"Fachada Rica" of the Major Schools.

Facade frog.

The University of Salamanca is the best Spanish public university in teaching according to the classification prepared by the Institute of Financial and Industrial Analysis of the Complutense University of Madrid, occupying sixth place in the general classification. Various academic classifications consider it a of the best Spanish universities in the study of modern languages, especially English and Spanish philology, and in biotechnology and environmental sciences. The QS World University Ranking, the World University Ranking on the CSIC website and the national classification prepared annually by the newspaper El Mundo place it among the fifteen best universities in Spain.

Facilities

Historic buildings

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

Escuelas Mayores Building

University Facade, Salamanca, by Juan Laurent, 1878, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library, Washington, DC

The most emblematic building of the University is known as Escuelas Mayores, which began to be built in 1411. The façade, already from the century XVI, its best-known element, is divided into three bodies. The first contains the medallion of the Catholic Monarchs who wield the same sceptre, and on their heads the yoke of Fernando and the arrows of Isabel. The second body contains in the center the coat of arms of Carlos V, topped with a globe and a cross on a spectacular crown; to the right the eagle of San Juan and the Catholic Monarchs, to the left the double-headed eagle of the Empire. In the third body there is a small chapel that is said to be dedicated to Pope Benedict XIII exhorting the clergy (it is not very probable, and very little correct, that in the XVI the schismatic Pope Luna was still glorified; it is most likely that it is Martin V, who confirmed the favors that Antipope Luna had granted to the University). Its construction was made between circa 1512 and 1533 and its author —or at least the main one—, according to a study published by Professor Alicia M. Canto in 2014, was Juan de Talavera. It would have been financed by Queen Juana I of Castilla, who would appear represented in the second body, facing her son Carlos I of Spain. In 2018, on the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the university, the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre dedicated a commemorative coin to the main façade of this building.

Minor Schools Building

The Edificio de Escuelas Menores is the one that was used as a teaching place for the courses leading to the baccalaureate degree. It currently houses various units of the University.

Study Hospital

The Hospital del Estudio, built in 1413, was used as an inn to offer accommodation services to students with few financial resources. Then it was properly a hospital (in the modern sense of the term) where medicine classes were taught. It is currently the headquarters of the rectory of the University of Salamanca.

Libraries

Ancient library.

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. It is also the fourth Spanish university library in number of reading positions, with 5,379 positions.

Research

The University of Salamanca has 573 laboratories.

Museums

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

Accommodation

The University of Salamanca has three residence halls and four university residences with 1,137 places for students, which makes it one of the universities with the greatest offer for student accommodation in Spain.

Traditions and culture

The University of Salamanca, conceived according to the Siete Partidas of Alfonso X El Sabio as a «teachers and students council», was organized, according to the medieval spirit, as a self-managed corporation, independent of the city and the cathedral chapter, participatory and jealous of their privileges. It had its own rules and even its own penal institutions. The rector, whose mandate lasted one year, could be (until the end of the XVIII century) a student elected by the members of the corporation, although the granting of academic degrees corresponded to authorities such as the maestrescuela or the chancellor. Chairs were assigned by co-optation, through public oppositions sometimes accompanied by riotous assemblies not exempt from applause, booing and brawls, such as those described by Diego de Torres Villarroel.

The Palace of Anaya, currently Faculty of Philology.

The income of the University came largely from the income of the diocese (specifically a third of the ecclesiastical tithe), so the ambitious bishops did not last long in it asking for transfer to dioceses with better incomes. This led to the fact that many of the bishops of Salamanca were highly prepared intellectually and interested in the University, often being, in addition, professors and even rectors of the same.

Students came to class wearing a suit and mortarboard (a uniform from its history as a diocesan school). When they obtained their degree, they put a tassel on top of their mortarboard, the color of the faculty in which they had obtained their degree (blue for science, red for law, yellow for medicine...). If they graduated from more than one faculty, the corresponding colors were mixed on the tassel. When receiving their doctorate, they added to the mortarboard some fringes of the color of the faculty where they were receiving their doctorate. The teachers also wore the muceta, a kind of short hood, also colored. This attire has currently been copied by the rest of the Spanish Universities, although not too rigorously in terms of the meaning of each of the symbols and colors.

Colors of the profession according to the tradition of the university.

The colors were: light blue for Letters, turquoise blue for Sciences, red for Law, yellow for Medicine and scarlet purple for Theology (later they 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 academic dress of the University "will be the traditional one"; This alludes to the characteristic tunic and cape prior to the homogenization of Spanish academic suits with the adoption of the legal gown. However, the use of the latter is allowed, which is the one generally used. The academic suit of the doctors is completed either with the simply doctoral medal, or with the professorial medal, white gloves and a white bow tie. It is admitted that, in the puñetas, the toga incorporates piping in the color of the Faculty, although this is not part of the Salamanca tradition.

Colegio Mayor de Santiago.

Since the 17th century, very few students opted for the title of doctor because of the costs involved in the celebration, conforming to the degree of bachelor, licentiate or master. In Salamanca, the doctoral student kept vigil over the books overnight in the chapel of Santa Bárbara in the cloister of the old cathedral, preparing his defense. The next morning the court entered, as well as any other doctor who wanted to intervene, and sat on the surrounding benches. The discussions were bitter, because it was about putting the doctoral student in trouble.

Once the doctorate was obtained, the celebration began, which since the XVII century could be very expensive (which in some times was forced to to invite the cloister to a gargantuan banquet and to sponsor public festivities that sometimes included bullfights). Traditionally, the doctoral student gave special cakes to the members of the court and his colleagues painted a cheer, like the one in the figure, with the name of the doctor (in modern graffiti it is sometimes accompanied by a brief text), on any facade in the one that found a hole (in the same way that graffiti is now painted), which sometimes had sizes of 2 or more meters in height. When the doctorate was in science, the pigment used was bull's blood, when it was in letters, vegetable pigments, but always red.

During Franco's dictatorship, this symbol was used politically, since from the Pidal Plan of 1845 until 1953, the only University that issued doctoral degrees was the Central (Madrid) and, therefore, when the civil war had been in disuse for more than 90 years. From 1954 it was used again for doctors, although it was reduced in size and in very limited places.

Doctoral Investigation

One of the many models of the Doctorate's vitor, which can be seen in the facades of Salamanca.

Currently, 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 acts take place, a colorful procession of professors and university authorities is formed who enter the Auditorium after a brief tour of the cloister of the Escuelas Mayores. The procession is preceded by maceros 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 glance, the academic history of the wearer. Currently, since the homogenization of the 19th century, it is composed of a black gown with cuffs, a hood of the color of the respective Faculties and a mortarboard with a tassel of the color of the faculty where he had obtained his degree and fringes of the color of the faculty where he received his doctorate.; if they have more than one degree, the colors are mixed in the tassel and the same happens with those who have more than one doctorate, even Honoris Causa doctorates, who mix the colors in the fringes; the hood is the color of the faculty where they profess. The Rector's attire, which, with his symbolic rod of authority, closes the procession, is completely black. In past times, the students, who did not have a degree, wore a tunic without a hood and a mortarboard without a tassel or fringes; the graduates, not doctors, wore the tassel but no fringes on the mortarboard.

A rigorous order is followed in the courtship: first the University Schools, then the Faculties; the most recently founded Faculties precede the oldest ones. 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 Faculties of Sciences and the Faculties of Letters, which precede the Vice-Rectors and 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 study had the privilege of remaining seated and covered in the presence of the King, like the Grandees of Spain.

Community

Antonio de Nebrija, a famous student of the University, published in the city the first book of spelling the Castilian language (1517).

Statue of Francisco de Vitoria in front of the convent of San Esteban. He was the promoter of the School of Salamanca, which brought about the rebirth of thought in various areas that carried out an important group of Spanish and Portuguese university professors, but especially theologians, following the intellectual and pedagogical work of Francisco de Vitoria.

Students

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

Teachers

In the 2012-2013 academic year, the University of Salamanca had 2,487 professors. 10.4% were full professors and 29.4% were tenured professors. 27.1% of the total were associate professors.

Sports

The Physical Education and Sports Service of the University of Salamanca is in charge of promoting the practice of sports among its students, both from a recreational and competitive point of view. At a competitive level, in addition to playing 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:

• Feminine and masculine basketball
• Football Women's Room
• Halterophilia
• Female and Male Rugby
• Female volleyball
• Chess

Previously, ADU Salamanca participated in other federated sports, such as women's athletics, where it achieved notable successes such as the Copa de la Reina -the main Spanish interclub competition on an indoor track- in 1998. The ADU Salamanca women's basketball team, Created in 1988, it also competed in the elite, when it was promoted to the Women's League in 1992. After two seasons in the highest category, in 1994 the entity ceded the federative rights of the team to Club Baloncesto Halcón Viajes.

In the arts and popular culture

Samsón Carrasco, a character in the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes, is a graduate of the University of Salamanca. 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 to accept what he says as true:

I know what I say, mistress: go away and do not dispute with me, for he knows that I am a bachelor for Salamanca, that there is no more than bachelor.

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 educated, but that innate skills and attitudes are also necessary, such as intelligence and effort

What natura doesn't give, Salamanca doesn't lend.