Campus of International Excellence – Aristos Campus Mundus 2015

More than 150 lecturers from the universities of Deusto, Comillas and Ramon Llull met at the 3^rd Conference on Teaching Innovation held by Aristos Campus Mundus (ACM) at the Comillas venue in Madrid, to discuss about the present and future use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in teaching.

In his opening address, Antonio Obregón, Vice-Rector for Academic Organisation and Teaching Staff at Comillas, explained that this third edition of this conference on “university education in the digital era” was more focused on education and research than in previous years, as it combined action, experience, reflection and assessment, in line with St. Ignatius’ maxim.

“We are facing a challenge that has become a need and that we must see as an opportunity to provide our students with an all-embracing education”,  Elena Auzmendi, new Vice-Rector for Academic Organisation, Teaching Innovation and Quality at Deusto said.

According to Jordi Riera, Vice-Rector for Academic Policy and deputy Rector of Ramon Llull, the aim of this meeting was to understand what it means to innovate for the three universities and how they are committed to teaching, which is integrated with research.

Demetrio Castro, coordinator of teaching staff assessment at the National Agency for Quality Assessment (ANECA) and ministerial representative at the conference, praised the responsibility and professionalism involved in holding this type of meetings between lecturers. He encouraged lecturers to incorporate “all truly beneficial changes”.

During the meeting, the preliminary results of a research study on ICT use at ACM universities were presented. This study was carried out by Jordi Cuadros, lecturer at IQS School of Engineering at Ramon LLull University; Rosa Salas, Director of the Master’s in Teaching Compulsory Secondary and Pre-University Education at Comillas, and Sonia Arranz, head of the online training guidance and support service at Deusto.

Discussion also focused on online training, MOOC and SPOC, virtual and on-site environments, digital competences and ethical issues involved.  Participants in this discussion, which was chaired by Alejandro Rayón, from Deusto, included Josu Solabarrieta, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Education, and Gema Tomás, Dean of the Faculty of Law, from Deusto; Pedro Linares, Vice-Rector for Research and Internationalisation, and Robert Robinson, Vice-Dean for International and Institutional Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (ICADE), from Comillas, and Mª Tereza Leal, Director of the Master’s in Management and Intervention in Social Services at the Pere Tarrés Faculty of Social Education and Social Work and Francesc Miralles, Director of La Salle Higher School of Electronical and Computing Engineering at Ramon Llull.

A number of workshops on integrating new technologies in the classroom via mobile devices, social networks and new tools were also held.

Deans and Directors Meeting

The previous day, the Aristos Campus Mundus Directors and Deans Meeting was held, which was attended by 30 executives from the faculties and schools of the member universities of the aggregation. This meeting was opened by the Rector of Ramon Llull University, Josep Maria Garrell and the Director General for University Policy of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Jorge Sainz, who presented the new legislation.

Then, the deans and directors shared their views and reactions of each of the centres with regard to Royal Decree 43/2015, of 2 February 2015. They also discussed about the common agreements reached under this royal decree and sought areas of common ground among the different centres at the three universities. 

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