Adolfo Utor criticises the preliminary draft of the University System Organic Law (LOSU) and calls for unity to bring Spanish universities into line with international successful models 

Amparo Navarró highlights the role of the social councils as promoters of society's involvement in the university and vindicates research as a driving force for progress

The 5th Alicante University Social Council Awards Gala was held last night in the Auditorium under the slogan "Common Values"

FULL VIDEO OF THE AWARDS CEREMONY

Alicante, Wednesday 17 November 2021

The University of Alicante Social Council presented its annual awards last night as a recognition of academic performance, professional careers, sports merits, social and university involvement, volunteering, research and sponsorship. A total of 21 award winners in 13 categories received a tribute of social and political authorities, who did not miss their appointment at the fifth edition of these awards.

In addition to recognition and celebration, there was also room for criticism and vindication at the gala. UA Social Council chairman Adolfo Utor did not miss the opportunity, as a leading voice of the evening, to charge forcefully against the preliminary draft of the University System Organic Law recently approved by the Council of Ministers.

In his speech, he described the new law as "continuist" and said that it does not address the structural changes necessary to improve the Spanish University in order to bring it closer to the models of international success to which we can compare ourselves. 

Utor called for unity in order to modify the draft bill and called on everyone, that is, the university community, political leaders from all sides, companies, professional associations, trade unions, civil society, to work together for a new University Act more in line with the times and with the majority of successful universities in the world. According to him, the sole and exclusive goal for this is having an exemplary, efficient and excellent University, which fulfils the important mission of serving society, its progress and its sustainable development

 The University of Alicante Social Council chairman stated that there is only one option left, which is to act to reform and not to disappoint anyone. He also reminded that there is still time, since the draft bill is still in the amendment phase.

University of Alicante president Amparo Navarro was in charge of closing the event after presenting the 2021 Academic Career Award to Professor José Carlos Rovira Soler, with whom she joined in a tight embrace. In her speech, Navarro vindicated the role of the social councils in promoting the involvement of society in the university and congratulated the winners for being an example for our students, who, as we know, are the raison d'être of our academic activity.

The UA president pointed out that despite the heterogeneity of the award winners, they have a common feeling, which is to love the University of Alicante. To love the University is to recognise its mission to train new generations, to value the fact that the world is known through research and that it is the engine of progress for our province and for our country. She also stated that it is time to look forward, with serenity and calm, but also with confidence, in the conviction that only education in equality will give prosperity to new generations and only Science will offer solutions to our problems.

Earlier, Regional Minister for Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society Carolina Pascual was clear in praising the universities for their role during the pandemic. She pointed out that the universities always responded magnificently to the proposals of the Regional Ministry to find solutions to the difficulties of the moment and stressed that they have been able to ally themselves with the business world and with professionals so that this knowledge can be transferred in a process of innovation that brings all the research work to life.

Pascual also wanted to point out what, in her opinion, is the role of universities in transforming the current economic model, which she summarised in three points: educate and training for new jobs; research; and knowledge transfer. She also pointed out that within this change we need to promote STEM education, the four main areas of knowledge in which scientists and engineers work (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Award winners

This year's University Involvement Award went to the Red Cross, an organisation with which the UA works closely. At present, the Red Cross has established a collaboration agreement with the Valencia region public universities to raise awareness of social issues and encourage volunteering among the university community. In the case of the University of Alicante, the organisation also has another collaboration agreement with the Alicante Science Park for the application of Artificial Intelligence to charity projects.

The UA Student Support Centre receives the Social Involvement Award. The jury highlighted the essential work of this centre which, since its creation in 1997, has responded to the socio-educational needs of the University of Alicante students. In particular the needs of those who, due to personal, family or socio-economic circumstances, may be at a disadvantage or with academic performance challenges. One of the aspects that has weighed most heavily in the decision to grant this award has been its involvement in ensuring full university participation of these students and their personal skills development, following the principles of equal opportunities and universal accessibility through educational inclusion programmes, advice and awareness-raising aimed at the university community.

The Employability Award goes to the company specialising in sports equipment Sprinter, Its commitment to student employment through work placements as a training activity was highlighted by the jury. As stated by Social Council's Social Relations Committee chairwoman Cristina Rodes, this is an activity that allows students to apply and complement the knowledge acquired during their academic life and, at the same time, favours the acquisition of skills for their professional career, making their employability and capacity for entrepreneurship easier.

The Social Council recognises the long career of Fernando Maestre Gil by presenting him with the Best Researcher Award. Maestre is a distinguished researcher at the University of Alicante, winner of the 2020 Rei Jaume I Award for Environmental Protection, 2014 Humboldt Research Award and 2019 Distinguished Scientist, among other merits. This award has been a great joy for Maestre and has made him very excited to come from his alma mater Social Council, the university where he was trained and to which he has had the opportunity to return after many years away. It is also a recognition of all the work they in his research group; it is a stimulus for all of them to continue working with the same enthusiasm as they have been doing over the years.

The University of Alicante Social Council Alumni Award has been presented to Juan Ramón Gil, general director for Editorial Content at Prensa Ibérica in Alicante, Murcia and Malaga, who studied History at the UA Faculty of Arts, and Anabel García Martínez, a UA graduate in Chemistry and vocalist of the Alicante musical group Mailers.

Juan R. Gil has worked as a journalist, among other media, in Efe agency and Información newspaper, where he was head of the political section and director for 12 years. Since April 2016, he has been General Director for Editorial Content at Prensa Ibérica in Alicante, Murcia, and Malaga. He has taught courses and participated in a number of academic activities at the universities of in the Valencia regions and has collaborated in several radio and television programmes, both regional and national.

Anabel García Martínez currently combines her musical career with her work as a secondary school teacher at Salesianos-Don Bosco school, where she is head of the science department. In 2002, she was awarded the FEYQUE Award  for educational research. As a musician, other than being the lead singer of Mailers, a group that started up in 2012, she works as a composer and lyricist for the Warner Music Spain 2021 record label and is the author of numerous soundtracks. Throughout her career, she has developed relevant charity actions participating in different galas and concerts.

The Sports Merit Award will be presented to Fernando Alarza and Iván Cano at this Tuesday's gala. Fernando Alarza belongs to the UA triathlon team and has participated in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in the individual category of this event, where he was ranked in the 12th position, and also in the mixed relay, where he got the 10th position. Among his sports merits, it should be noted that Alanza was the Spanish Triathlon champion in 2020 and was fourth in the 2019 World Championships. Also, Iván Cano, a University of Alicante student in Sound and Image Engineering in Telecommunications, holds the High Distinction of the Valencia Government for sports merit in recognition for his silver medal at the last Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Cano is currently the European runner-up in his category. He jumped 7.04 metres in the Games, which earned him the silver medal in the long jump in the T13 class for the visually impaired.

On the other hand, the Social Council wanted to recognise the work carried out by the members of the UA Social Emergency project with the University Volunteering Award. The programme, which was coordinated by then UA Vice President for Social Responsibility María José Rodríguez Jaume, was aimed at recruiting people from the university community to carry out tasks capable of reducing the effects of a  health emergency caused by the pandemic. Volunteers were activated during the lockdown with the registration of a total of 1,012 people who, depending on their skills and availability, participated in different programmes. The actions of these volunteers covered such basic needs as the supply of food to vulnerable people, support in learning, help with tuition costs, psychological support, nutritional and mobility advice, processing of aid and healthy habits, and even manufacture and distribution of masks.

The Institutional Chair Award went this year to the Research Chair for Generational Digital Divide for its commitment to knowledge transfer and dissemination to reduce the gaps caused by differences in access, acquisition of digital skills and good use of ICT in the elderly population of the Valencian region, and provides essential tools to integrate groups that may be at risk of vulnerability.

The ASV Group has been awarded the Research Sponsorship Award for its active collaboration with the University of Alicante for more than 6 years on issues related to health transport and the development of portals and technological platforms for the improvement of the sector, which have involved the development of technical assistance projects and services for the development, evolution, implementation and quality control of an assistance platform for health transport, as well as the development and maintenance of other Java platforms.

The Artistic and Cultural Sponsorship Award will go to the Alicante Provincial Council for its continued support for culture at the University of Alicante, especially the exhibition activity of the UA Museum and the L'Alcúdia  Classical Theatre Festival.

The scholarship programme to support university education and the commitment to access to quality university education demonstrated by Banco Santander has led it to receive the Training Sponsorship Award.

The 2021 Academic Career Award in the University of Alicante Social Council Awards will go to José Carlos Rovira Soler, an international reference in Spanish-American Literature, whose long professional career has been recognised with this award. He was a professor at the University of Alicante until his retirement in 2019 and academic life began as a reader at the University of Florence. Among his many merits, he has been a visiting ecturer at various academic institutions, such as the universities of Virginia, Bielefeld, Perpignan, Santiago de Chile, Milan, Salerno, Concepción and the Colegio de México. He is also an author of books such as Miradas al mundo virreinal, (UNAM 2015), Relatos inquisitoriales en la narrativa latinoamericana (Verbum, 2018)  and editor  of Otra antología de Raúl Zurita (University of  Talca, 2019), as well as of critical editions of works by Miguel Hernández, Juan Gil Albert, Pablo Neruda and Rubén Darío. Professor Rovira has also been Vice President for New Technologies (2000-2001), where he participated in the creation of the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library and has been a member of the Scientific Committee since its creation. As the UA Vice President for Extracurricular Activities (2001-January 2005), he created and directed the Mario Benedetti Centre for Ibero-American Literary Studies and is a Corresponding Member of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country (Cuba), Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of Chile, has chaired the Spanish Association of Latin American Literary Studies (AEELH), received the Medal of Merit of the Miguel Hernández Foundation in 2019 and the Ramiro Muñoz Award of PIC/CCOO the same year.