Junta grants preliminary approval to Andalucía's first online university

The Junta de Andalucía’s ministers have approved the blueprint for the Atlantic-Mediterranean Technological University (UTAMED), an initiative promoted by Medac, a vocational training institute with more than 100,000 students, and in which the publishing group Vocento is a minority partner.

The approval of the preliminary project was announced by Vice-President Juan Marín at a press conference in Linares on Monday 7 February.

The university is a response to the growing demand for online higher education and will offer undergraduate degrees, master's degrees, and technology and liberal arts research projects. The initial catalogue of degrees includes specialisations in areas such as Digital Economy and Business Intelligence, Digital Marketing, Law, and Digital Communication and Journalism. It will also offer master's degrees in Digital Business Management, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Automation and Artificial Intelligence, Educational and Digital Technology and Digital Ethics and doctoral studies based on Digital Society and Technology and three lines of research: Educational Technologies, Ethics in the Digital Age and Digital Economy.

Francisco Ávila, president of the university, said the project "manages to break with the more than 20 years of delay in Andalucía to implement distance university studies with respect to Catalonia and Madrid.”

The UTAMED academic council is made up of professors from various public and private European universities who have supervised the development of the project "and will act as guarantors of its quality and orientation".