University of Santiago de Compostela

The University of Santiago de Compostela (in Galician and officially Universidade de Santiago de Compostela - USC) is a public university based in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia (Spain), and campus in Santiago de Compostela and Lugo.

It was founded in 1495 by Lope Gómez de Marzoa and is, with its more than 500 years, the university with the longest tradition in Galicia, and one of the oldest in the world.

Since its inception, the University enjoyed an important cultural and economic boost under the archbishopric of Alonso III de Fonseca, a cultured man, patron and friend of Erasmus of Rotterdam. Thus, from the beginning of the XVI century, the University will have several University Colleges where Theology, Grammar and Art studies will be taught, training offer that will soon be completed with the careers of Law and Medicine.

The USC will have great importance during the Enlightenment period, for which reason King Carlos III will distinguish this University with the title of Royal and will add the symbol of the Crown that, together with the arms of Castilla, León and Galicia, and the emblems of the founders of the institution, make up the coat of arms of the University. Soon after, the students set an example of patriotism by forming the famous Literary Battalion that fought against the French during the Spanish War of Independence.

In the XX century, there was a spectacular growth in the number of students and degrees offered, which is why new faculties and university campuses, also creating two new institutions (the University of Vigo and the University of La Coruña) that will complement the educational offer of the Capitoline University.

The University is currently finalizing the adaptation to the EHEA and offers a large number of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in all areas of knowledge. In 2009, the USC was recognized for its Campus Vida project as a Campus of International Excellence by the Ministry of Education, a distinction that places it among the 9 best universities in the country. The university's short-term goal is to become one of the top 100 biosanitary campuses in the European Union.

The Library of the University of Santiago de Compostela, with 1,227,796 volumes, is the fifth largest university library in Spain after the Library of the Complutense University of Madrid and the libraries of the University of Barcelona, the University of Seville and the University of Valencia. On the other hand, it has an online repository, where you can consult books, magazines, Final Degree Projects (TFG), Final Master's Projects (TFM), theses... And PreLo an online book lending platform, which works the same as a physical library but with documents in PDF and ebook format.

History

Foundation and early years

The first germ of the University of Santiago is linked to the personal action of a Compostela notary named Lope Gómez de Marzoa, who created in 1495, with the support of the abbot of San Martín Pinario, a school for the poor known as Estudio de Grammar, installed in some dependencies of the monastery of San Pelayo de Antealtares. From that moment on, a period of uncertainty began, based on the scarcity of resources. In the year 1504, the Diego de Muros family accessed this educational institution. This religious got Pope Julius II to grant a bull that allows the realization of higher studies in the Old Study or Grammar.

Alonso III de Fonseca.

The period in which the University achieves its definitive development is defined by the figure of Alonso III de Fonseca, who was named Archbishop of Santiago in 1507, inheriting the title from his father Alonso II. Alonso de Fonseca is considered to be an extremely cultured person, a man of the Renaissance, a patron of numerous artists and scholars of the time, who had frequently maintained contact with thinkers such as Erasmus of Rotterdam.

The purchase for the University of the old Pilgrims Hospital dates from this period in order to transform it into the university college. The one in Santiago Alfeo is built, today called Colegio de Fonseca, epicenter of university life until the second half of the 18th century. Late 16th century and early XVII the college of San Patricio or de los irlandes and San Clemente were created, and in the middle of the century the one of San Xerome was moved to its current location.

These schools, differently from what happens today, brought together all the studies in the same building, where they also lived as a boarding school. At that time, the training offer was made up of theology, grammar and the arts, disciplines that would later be completed with the study of Laws and Medicine, with almost exclusive attention, in the case of Laws, to ecclesiastical law, and concerned about the health of the soul more than the care of the body, in the case of Medicine.

The Illustrated University

The 18th century brings with it a profound transformation at the University of Santiago de Compostela, thus completing the process of secularization of the institution by moving away from ecclesiastical control. The centralizing dynamics to which the institutions were subjected at this time contributed to the University losing some autonomy. It was at that time that Carlos III granted the status of royal to the USC, adding to its emblem the royal crown that, on the arms of Castilla, León and Galicia, and together with the heraldic emblems of its most prominent founders, is integrated into The shield.

After the expulsion of the Jesuits, ordered by Carlos III, he granted the University the land and buildings that this religious order owned in Santiago, becoming the center of the new enlightened university. A new study plan was immediately carried out, recovering disciplines ceded to certain religious congregations, creating academic degrees and introducing new practical and scientific teachings, such as experimental Physics or Chemistry.

USC today

The arrival of the XX century brings to the University of Santiago a new generation of intellectuals, future protagonists of a good part of the cultural resurgence of Galicia at that time. At the same time, the different currents of thought in the different scientific fields find a welcome and impulse at the USC, which favors the approach to the USC of key figures in the different fields of science. In this period, the USC experienced a significant increase in the number of students as well as in the courses offered, with the consequent provision of infrastructures. In this way, the extension of the University building, the current Faculty of Geography and History, is completed, also building the College of Veterinary Medicine (current Parliament of Galicia), the College for the Deaf and Dumb (headquarters of the Junta de Galicia) and the Faculty of Medicine. Another great project was the University Residence, carried out in the 1930s. In short, it is a period of expansion in which facilities improve and studies are regionalized, seeking a better adaptation to the Galician reality.

Another characteristic that the XX century brought with it was the beginning of relations with foreign university education institutions, in a fundamentally Portuguese at first, as well as the access of women to the classrooms (course 1913-1914). In addition, the volume of the institution's books increased significantly, with new and outstanding donations, such as the one from the América Library.

In this progression, the military uprising against the government of the republic and the outbreak of the civil war gave a new meaning to the path that the Compostela university was tracing. The coup plotters dominated the city, purged the university by imposing a new rector and rules such as praying before and after each class. But the anti-Franco opposition in Santiago came precisely from the intellectuals and students and not from the labor movements, as had happened in La Coruña, Vigo or Ferrol, to cite a few examples.

In recent decades, with the universities of La Coruña and Vigo already segregated, USC continued to grow until it had more than 45,000 students at the end of the 1990s. Currently, between its two campuses in Santiago and Lugo, university students have nearly thirty centers, nearly eighty departments and more than sixty degrees, as well as numerous facilities such as research institutes, university residences, sports or cultural facilities, libraries etc After more than five centuries, the University of Santiago de Compostela continues to look decisively to the future, respecting its past, but promoting new initiatives every day, putting its knowledge and leadership at the service of the society to which it is due.

Administration and organization

Escudo de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.

The USC is a Public University financed by the Ministry of Education and the Department of Education, Culture and University Planning of the Junta de Galicia. It has more than 28 faculties and educational centers, 75 departments and more than 2,100 professors and researchers. It offers more than 50 bachelor's, bachelor's, and diploma degrees, and more than 110 master's and doctoral programs. The total sum of students of all levels is close to 30,000. Participating in one of the largest cultural exchange projects, USC is part of the Erasmus Program, hosting more than 1,000 students from all continents each year in its facilities, allowing them to live the experience of residing in a foreign country.

Government

• The USC is governed by two bodies: the Board of Directors and the Colegiate Governing Bodies.
• The Board of Directors consists of the rector, currently Antonio López, the General Secretariat, the Manager, and several vice-rectories: Research and Innovation, Teaching Offer and EEES, Economics and Financing, Lugo Campus, University Community and Social Commitment, Culture, International Policy, and others.
• The Governing Bodies are the University Cloister (with student and teacher representation), the Governing Council, and the Social Council.
• In addition, each faculty has its own governing bodies, whose representative is the figure of the Dean.

In popular culture

As the nucleus of the Galician intelligentsia, and even of that of the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, during a good part of its more than five centuries of history, the USC was a nursery for numerous writers, and at the same time the scene of their works. The best-known of these is undoubtedly La casa de la Troya, a novel published in 1915 by Alejandro Pérez Lugín, which saw numerous film and television adaptations throughout the century XX. In 2001 the film Sleeping Beauties was released, based on the story The House of Sleeping Beauties by the Japanese Yasunari Kawabata: it stars the British actor Clive Arrindell, who gives life to a professor who goes to teach a course at the University of Santiago. More recently, the Faculty of Physics and the Campus Vida of Santiago de Compostela are also settings for the novel Viento del Sol, published in 2015 by Camilo P. Iglesias, although the USC is transmuted in this case in a fictitious University of Galicia.

Colleges and schools

USC has faculties and schools in Santiago de Compostela and Lugo.

Santiago Campus

• North Campus and Historical Campus. There is a project to create a unitary campus for Humanities and Social Sciences renamed under the name Campus da Cidadanía, but it is not yet in operation.
  • Faculty of Communication Sciences
  • Faculty of Education Sciences
  • Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences
  • Faculty of Nursing
  • Faculty of Philology
  • Faculty of Philosophy
  • Faculty of Geography and History
  • Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
  • Faculty of Optics and Optometry
• Campus Vida (South, experimental sciences and nature)
  • Faculty of Biology
  • Faculty of Education Sciences (Pedagogy)
  • Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
  • Faculty of Law
  • Faculty of Pharmacy
  • Faculty of Physics
  • Faculty of Mathematics
  • Faculty of Psychology
  • Faculty of Chemistry
  • Faculty of Labour Relations
  • Higher Technical School of Engineering
• Adscribed and linked centres
  • University School of Social Work
  • School of High Musical Studies of Galicia
  • Centro Superior de Hostelería de Galicia

Lugo Campus - Terra Campus

• Faculty of Business Administration and Management
• Faculty of Sciences
• Faculty of Teacher Training
• Faculty of Humanities
• Faculty of Veterinary
• Higher Polytechnic School
• University School of Nursing (adscribed and linked)
• University School of Labour Relations (adscribed and linked)

Other Centers

• International Center for Doctoral and Advanced Studies of the USC (CIEDUS)
• Centre for Propios Studies
• School of Legal Practice

Services

Support Services for Teaching and Research

• Valuation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship (AVTE/OTRI)
• Archive of the University of Santiago de Compostela
• University Library (BUSC)
• Center for European Studies and Documentation of the USC (ECDE)
• Centre for Modern Languages (CLM)
• Learning Technologies Centre (CeTA)
• University Hospital Complex of Santiago (CHUS)
• Estación Científica del Courel
• "A Graña" Marine Biology Station
• Hydrobiological Station "Encoro do Con"
• Herbarium SANT
• Hospital Clinic Veterinary "Rof Codina"
• Laboratory of Energy and Meteorological Characterization (LACEM)
• Museum of Natural History
• Astronomical Observatory "Ramon Ma Aller"
• Research and Technology Office (ILO)
• Computer Aulas Network (RAI)
• Network of Research and Technological Development Support Infrastructures (RIAIDT)
  • Magnetic Resonance
  • X-ray
  • Electronic and Confocal Microscopy
  • Mass Spectrometry and Proteonomics
  • Elementary analysis
  • IR-RAMAN
  • Magnetosusceptibility
  • Criogenia
  • Analytical support
  • Animal Experimentation
  • Archaeometry
  • Glass and Quartz blow
  • Sequence and Functional Genomics
  • Assessment of Pharmacological Activities of Chemical Compounds
  • Territorial Information Systems (SIT)
  • Radiophysics Laboratory
  • Structured Wood Engineering
  • Area of Radioisotopes and Radiological Protection
• Audiovisual Media Service (SERVIMAV)
• Publications and Scientific Exchange Service
• Scientific Instrumentation Technical Service
• Smoking unit and addictive disorders

Services to the University Community

• Quality and Improvement of Procedures
• Culture Area
  • University
  • Chamber Space Orchestra
  • Dance Space
  • Sound Creation Group (Lugo)
  • Theatre classroom
  • Canal Campus - LAB
• Infrastructure Management Area
• Work Guidance and Employment Area
• Information and Communication Technologies (ATIC)
• Casa de Europa
• Coffee shops and dining rooms
• Ombudsman for the University Community
• "Breogán" Children's School
• Fonoteca
• Communication Cabinet
• Imprenta Universitaria
• Observatory of the Code of Ethics
• Sustainable Development Office (SDGs)
• Office for Gender Equality (OIX)
• University Information Office (OIU)
• Web Office
• Mobile Park
• Program “A Ponte entre o Ensino Medio e a USC”
• Post Service
• Sports Service
• Language Standardization Service
• Optometry Service
• University Participation and Integration Service (SEPIU)
• Risk Prevention Service
  • Area of ergonomics and psychosociology
  • Hygiene area
  • Security area
  • Radiological protection service
  • Health monitoring service
  • Hazardous Waste Management Unit
• Foreign Affairs Service (SRE)
  • Unit of Conventions
• University Service of Residences (SUR)

Institutes and facilities

Research institutes

• Instituto de la Lengua Gallega (ILG)
• Aquaculture Institute
• Instituto de Biodiversidad Agraria y Desarrollo Rural (IBADER)
• Ceramic Institute
• Institute of Education Sciences (ICE)
• Instituto de Ciencias Forenses "Luís Concheiro" (INCIFOR)
• Institute of Criminology
• Instituto de Estudios y Desarrollo de Galicia (IDEGA)
• Food Research and Analysis Institute
• Institute for Technological Research
• Institute of Mathematics
• Gallego Institute of High Energy Physics

Singular Research Centers

• Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecule Materials (CiQUS)
• Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CiMUS)
• Center for Research in Intelligent Technologies (CiTIUS)

Own Research Centers

• Centre for Cooperative Studies (CECOOP)
• City History Studies Centre
• Security Studies Centre (CESEG)
• Western Sahara Studies Centre (ESC)
• Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Turísticas (CETUR)
• Centre for Physical Studies (CEFILMUS)
• Center for Research of Emerging Cultural Processes and Practices (CIPPCE)
• Centro Integral de Analytics y Resolución de Conflitos (CIARCUS)
• Interdisciplinary Center for American Studies "Gumersindo Busto"
• Interdisciplinary Center for Feminist Research and Gender Studies (CIFEX)
• Centre for Social Responsibility, Corporate Government and Protection of the Investor (CERGI)

Cultural facilities

Compostela Campus:

• University Auditorium
• Paraninfo da USC
• Roberto Vidal Bolaño Room
• Luísa Cuesta Room
• Fonoteca Universitaria
• Exhibitions:
  • Fonseca College
  • Church of the University

Lugo Campus:

• Casa do Saber
• Exhibition Room Isaac Díaz Pardo
• Theatre and dance hall
• Photography Laboratory