Campus Mare Nostrum gets the maximum rating (A), in the CIE program of the Ministry of Education

The Campus of International Excellence of the University of Murcia and the Polytechnic University of Cartagena has been assessed very positively by the Government, underlining the extent to which the objectives were achieved despite economic difficulties.

The International Commission for the follow up of International Excellence Campus (CEI) grants the rating “A” to Campus Mare Nostrum in its final report and keeps the CEI quality seal  for the project of both public universities in the Region of Murcia.

The Programme Campus of International Excellence of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports is framed in the University Strategy 2015 and aims to modernize the Spanish University. It promotes strategic aggregations between universities and other institutions located in the campus in order to create knowledge ecosystems that support the internationalization of the Spanish university system, the social cohesion and the territorial economic development.

In order to track the progress of the projects selected as Campus of International Excellence in 2013, Campus Mare Nostrum among them, a progress report was issued including a detail of activities implemented from October 2010 to June 30, 2013. This report included a publishable summary of the progress of the period in relation to the project objectives, the achievements and milestones and the partial results.

The Progress Report was assessed by an International Committee of experts, appointed for that purpose, in charge of monitoring projects of International Excellence. The International Committee was composed, among other experts, by the President of the Dutch Association of Universities, the President of the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) and other present and former academic authorities of European universities and European institutions, such as Newcastle, Tel-Aviv, Manchester or the Austrian FAI.

The International Commission for the Monitoring of CEI projects rated very positively the actions of our Campus in the areas of teaching, research and campus development. With regard to teaching excellence, the Commission explicitly underlines the CMN programme for teaching in English as well as the efforts for the internationalizationin of Master’s programmes in the UMU and UPCT. Regarding research and transfer, the Committee underlines the good planning of human resources and materials in the framework of the CMN research Networks and the new research facilities that will allow the development of the CMN fields of specialization.

In 2012, CMN was first evaluated by an International Commission under the CEI program. Last year, the project was rated B + and maintenance of the CIE label was recommended. This year, despite economic difficulties, Campus Mare Nostrum has not only maintained the CIE rating but has also gained access to the highest rating. Due to the competitive nature of the initiative, this year the International Commission has recommended to phase out several CIE projects.
 

The International Commission has also issued ​​a number of recommendations to ensure the project success. These recommendations include the need to enforce the collaboration with businesses, to develop new projects of international teaching, to increase research in specific areas such as food security as well as the need for further joint actions between UMU and UPCT with the support of the CARM government. These recommendations will be discussed by the CMN team and, in short, by the management teams of both universities. As a result of this work, new master plans in teaching and research will be published to guide the progress of CMN until 2015, the date on which the final project assessment will take place.
 

All information related to the CIE programme and its follow up process is available on the website of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport: http://www.mecd.gob.es/campus-excelencia/

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