The Campus of International Excellence of the University of Oviedo will strengthen its international projection and its relationship with the regional business network after having received funding in a new call of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. The project presented by the University of Oviedo framed within its Ad Futurum Project envisages the implementation of a Transnational Astur-Chinese Campus in the province of Shandong, joint PhD programs with the University Ruhr of Bochum (Germany), and an internship program which favors job placement for postgraduate students, among other actions.

The Asturian academic institution has received around 174.000 euros in the call aimed at consolidating excellence projects at universities, which will provide funding for five actions, either totally or partially, included in the CEI proposal Ad Futurum and which are described below:

Ad Futurum will develop an internship program for master students and will increase European research Project, among other actions.

Joint PhD Programs between the PhD Schools of the University of Oviedo and the Ruhr Universität of Bochum (Germany). . The objective is to implement joint postgraduate programs, as well as co-supervision of PhD Theses, in the fields of specialization of the Campus of International Excellence: Energy, Environment and Climate Change and Biomedicine and Health. As a result, students will earn a PhD Degree issued by both universities. This program will be promoted through a call for mobility grants for students. The proposal also includes Joint Doctoral Days and a Doctoral Summer School, with the participation of researchers from Oviedo and Bochum who will lead the research lines in which joint PhD Theses may be developed.

Astur-chinese Transnational Campus in the province of Shandong. In line with the promotion of internationalization of the University of Oviedo, Ad Futurum has received funds to become more visible in the international sphere. This initiative includes the creation of a CIE office in the province of Shandong, which will be the connection with the University of Oviedo in China, where there are already 12 agreements with universities, and also in Asia. In addition to facilitating the mobility of Chinese students to Oviedo, the Asturian academic institution aims to develop a Specific Degree – Master´s Degree in Spanish Language and Culture in Shandong, with has a population of 94 million inhabitants. This degree will give Chinese students the possibility to achieve the level of Spanish language required to undertake postgraduate programs at the University of Oviedo. There will also be promotion lectureships for graduates of the University of Oviedo at institutions of the province of Shandong, and a system of internships at those institutions for the students undertaking the Master´s Degree in Spanish as a Foreign Language.

Participation in projects and networks of the Horizon 2020 Program linked with the fields of specialization of Ad Futurum. Internationalization of research, promoted in the past few years by the Clusters of Biomedicine and Health and Energy, Environment and Climate Change of Ad Futurum has resulted in an increase of the number of European projects the researchers of the University of Oviedo join. With this proposal, the CIE aims to increase the success rate in international research calls, strengthen networking with researchers from other countries and increase the international mobility of researchers.

Internship Program. The proposal, supported by the Ministry, includes an action aimed at establishing a closer collaboration with companies considered to be the driving force of the Campus of Excellence, such as ArcelorMittal, Thyssen Krupp, Telefónica, EDP or TSK, in the field of Energy, Environment and Climate Change through internships for students undertaking a master program. This action will encourage the elaboration of Final Master Projects linked with relevant research lines for the company with a double objective, promoting quality training of postgraduate students and their options to enter the labor market, and also establishing a closer collaboration with the productive fabric. In order to promote this model to get started in applied research, it is expected to launch a call for grants for students who are developing their Master final project under this modality.

Development of a telematic tool to achieve info-accessibility of the virtual campus of the University of Oviedo. The initial action will be a pilot experience in the first Degree that the University of Oviedo delivers fully online, Public Management and Administration (GAP), so that the teaching contents, especially the audiovisual ones, meet the requirements of universal accessibility for students with any kind of disability.

All public and private Spanish universities with a CIE service may participate in this call for grants for the consolidation of campuses of international excellence. The maximum amount awarded is nearly 300.000 euros.