Nacemento e evolución da Universidade de Vigo (1989-2014): Un motor para as tres cidades do sur de Galicia

Abstract

This article analyzes the brief and recent history of the University of Vigo, (1990-2015), starting with contextual factors from previous decades which gave rise to the birth of the institution. It goes on to discuss the evolution of university life with the main themes being grouped into five areas: aspects related to organization and the democratic governance of the university; the campus, centers, degree programs, education and student body; faculty and research; financing; Community Services, Administrative and Services Staff and extension courses (Culture, sports, social projection, linguistic standardization, students and the community in general).
The democratization process had a high level of participation from the university community, in terms of both creating operational regulations and making management decisions, including the election of the successive governing bodies and officers. The three campuses that make up the University were established upon the transformation of the centers and degree programs transferred by the University of Santiago de Compostela, in addition to the creation of other new centers. This represented a continued increase in students in the 1990s, reaching a maximum number of over 30 000 at the end of the century. Also noteworthy was the decrease in the number of associate and undergraduate degrees awarded in the last few years, owing to the application of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), which has been compensated for by the creation of new postgraduate or doctoral degrees. The number of students also dropped owing to the fact that the groups in these new study programs were smaller in size. The teaching staff nearly tripled in this time period, with an increase in doctoral programs which had their share of problems. In addition to dissertations, also of interest are research and knowledge transfer activities of many notable, well-established groups, especially in the fields of science and technology.
All of these efforts were carried out in a budget framework that seldom led to a determined commitment to create a Quality Public University System in Galicia. A situation aggravated in recent years by government cutbacks, which has made for a tight situation in terms of support available to education and research. Over the course of its 25 years of history, the University has been provisioned with the basic services to support teaching, research and the social projection of the university, with the recent addition of areas such as Equality and Environment to complete the list of general services.