Ball starts rolling for two new private university campuses in Malaga

Jesús Hinojosa

Malaga

Friday, 19 July 2024, 12:39

The go-ahead will shortly be given for Malaga to have two new private universities. The Andalusian Parliament is expected to approve next week the bills to authorise both the European University and Alfonso X El Sabio University to set up in Malaga city. These two educational bodies were awarded land by the city authorities back in 2021 to establish their own campuses in the El Romeral and La Térmica areas respectively.

This step by the Andalusian government is a decisive endorsement of both initiatives. However, in order for them to start operating in Malaga, they will have to obtain authorisation from the regional authority, the Junta de Andalucía. This step starts with a formal proposal from the Regional Ministry of University, Research and Innovation, and there follows a report from the Andalusian Council of Universities (CAU). This month CAU voiced its rejection of the authorisation of new private universities in Andalucía in a communiqué to the regional government's relevant ministry. Even so, as CAU's report is a mandatory but non-binding report, everything suggests that there will be no obstacles put in the way of the European University and Alfonso X El Sabio University obtaining final approval from the regional government to develop their respective projects.

The laws to be passed by the Andalusian Parliament next week give both educational institutions a period of four years to apply for authorisation for their higher education (HE) activity, which will first have to be reviewed by the regional ministry for universities, based in Seville. The ministry has six months to respond to this request and, if it does not do so within this period, authorisation is understood to be granted by default. From the moment their respective curricula are published, both universities have a maximum of two years to recruit students and start teaching courses.

However, the intention of both universities is to start operating in Malaga as soon as possible, so it will not take long for them to obtain the final authorisation for their educational projects. At the urban planning level the campus project to have progressed most is that of the European University that, as SUR reported last Tuesday, has started geotechnical studies (soil consistency and structure, groundwater levels and so on) on the plot of land granted to it by Malaga city hall. The plot is next to Calle Navarro Ledesma, between El Romeral and El Cónsul, with a surface area of 22,412 square metres.

The build for this campus, designed by architect José Seguí, has already had city planning approval and is now awaiting permission for building work to go ahead, subject to the European University of Andalucía - as it will be known - obtaining Junta approval for its teaching activity. This is why Malaga city's planning department has already authorised the first land surveys to be carried out on site.

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Turning to the campus for Alfonso X El Sabio Mare Nostrum University, designed by Madrid-based architects Luis Vidal+arquitectos (working in conjunction with Malaga architects HCP), this will be built on plots of land located between the track up by Térmica and the tennis courts belonging to Inacua sports centre (27,623 square metres). This project has been delayed somewhat in terms of its urban planning process because, as this newspaper reported last February, it has come up against objections from state and regional bodies regarding noise levels, increased traffic and the risk of flooding.

However, the project sponsors have already presented further studies to city planners to overcome these objections. Specifically, with regard to the acoustic impact due to the proximity of the MA-22 access road to the port, an area of 3,012 square metres has been identified where permitted noise levels for educational use are exceeded. To resolve this issue, the university has modified the project so that the buildings for the administrative services on campus will be built in this space, which would be compatible with the noise level caused by the proximity of said road.

They have also provided a hydrological study and a traffic study which concludes that the implementation of this campus does not have a "significant effect on the level of service" of the MA-22 road. This stems from an analysis of the traffic forecast for 2027, when it is estimated the university will be in operation, compared to the traffic forecast for 2047. Once central and regional governments verify that these documents respond adequately to their unfavourable reports, the campus project can be definitively approved by Malaga city council.

The bills to be approved by the Andalusian Parliament next week detail the higher education offer from each university. The European University of Andalucía will have a Faculty of Social Sciences (with degrees in Business Administration and Management, teacher training for Early Childhood and Primary Education, and several master's degrees), a Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Sport (Biomedicine, Dentistry, Psychology, Physiotherapy, etc.) and a Polytechnic School with a degree in Computer Engineering and a Master's in MBI Big Data Analysis, among other HE programmes.

As for Alfonso X El Sabio Mare Nostrum University, the campus will have a Faculty of Health and Sport (with degrees in Biomedicine, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy, Nutrition, Dentistry, etc.), a Faculty of Business and Technology (with degrees in Data and Business Analytics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, and several Masters), and a third Faculty of Art and Design (degrees in Industrial Design and Project Development, and Design and Development of Video Games).

Both universities estimate that they will be able to accommodate around four thousand students apiece. The Alfonso X El Sabio University will pay Malaga town hall a total fee of 60 million euros for a 50-year lease of the land in the area of La Térmica, and will make 2.4 million euros in scholarships available to city hall. For its part, the European University agreed to pay a total fee of 67.6 million euros and 400,000 euros in grants for use of the land in El Romeral.