New University course “Juan Miguel Villar Mir Business Organization and Management”

The rector of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), Javier Uceda Antolin, and Juan-Miguel Villar Mir, president of the Juan-Miguel Villar Mir Foundation, on 31 March signed the agreement between both institutions for the creation of the university/industry course named “Juan-Miguel Villar Mir Business Organization and Management”.

The president of the Community of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, attended the event, along with the director of the School of Civil Engineering, Juan Antonio Santamera Sanchez, and other personalities from business and academic fields.

The main aim of the course will be to encourage the development of excellence in teaching, the transfer and technology of knowledge and research, as well as providing scholarships and grants for training and research in the area of company organization and management.

Its director is Juan Antonio Santamera Sanchez and it will be located on the premises of the School of Civil Engineering of the Technical University of Madrid.

The new course joins the 87 university/industry courses currently running in the Technical University of Madrid. They are an effective mechanism for stable cooperation with other public and private entities in generating scientific and technological knowledge and its transfer to industry.

In his speech after signing the agreement, Juan-Miguel Villar Mir recalled his past as an academic and lecturer at the UPM, stating that “since I passed the entrance examinations in the School of Civil Engineering at 18, I have been firmly connected to this polytechnic university and have always considered it a second home. The years of my life that I have passed here have been many and very intense ones. I’ve been a student, a teacher in charge of a subject, and twice selected as university professor (following competitive exams). “

Regarding the new course, Juan-Miguel Villar Mir said that “it continues in the same spirit that the School of Civil Engineering gave me and that is none other than excellence”. A challenge that “imposes the economic and social reality and that always reminds us of the Community of Madrid and this rectorate.”

Along with this “binding commitment” to excellence, the president of the Villar Mir Group said that according to its plan the new course will provide large grants to allow students of the School of Civil Engineering to conduct post-graduate studies and specialization studies in the best centers in the world.

“From the UPM”, explained its president, Javier Uceda, “there is a strong impetus for the creation of university/industry courses being that, compared to other forms of collaboration such as agreements limited to specific temporary projects, they entail joint projects in the medium and long term, which allows ongoing R & D to be undertaken and support to be given to students in business areas of mutual interest”.

The Juan-Miguel Villar Mir Business Organization and Management course will also promote research, organize seminars and discussions, reward students who perform well, edit publications and facilitate the involvement of worldwide specialists, as well as work to strengthen links between the university and the company.