The University of Oviedo and Avilés' City Council have signed this morning an agreement of educational cooperation for developing the university Master's Degree in Social Policy and Welfare. The Rector, Vicente Gotor, and the Mayor of Avilés, Pilar Varela, signed the agreement by which the City Council provides professional staff for the teaching of the master and offers practicals to students.

The agreement reinforces even more the institutional colaboration, as both the Rector and the Mayor stressed. Pilar Varela pointed out that this master's degree, which lasts two years, "formalizes the colaboration of the City Council in a master's degree that reinforces the bet for social cohesion as a cross-cutting objective in all municipal policies".

The Rector, Vicente Gotor, stated the importance of training qualified technicians and professionals in so a sensitive subject as social policies, and specified that it is in the official postgraduate studies that universities are distinguished from others.

This master's degree was presented a year ago at the University Services Centre in Avilés. It aims to provide professional training in the field of social policies and welfare with two lines of specialization: job placement and management of social organizations and services.

Six of the lecturers of the master's degree are staff in the area of Social Welfare of the City Council, which is the institution providing the highest number of personnel and the one responsible for the higher number of practicals as well. A total of 38 students of the University of Oviedo have taken part in the first two editions of the master's degree.