The University of Oviedo's Campus of International Excellence has completed the first assessment of results successfully. The Monitoring report prepared by the Evaluation Committed of the Campuses of International Excellence belonging to the Ministry of Education has appreciated positively all the actions taken and it has stressed the "the strong regional impact" caused by the Asturias-Ad Futurum project as well as the support given by the whole society. The report also says that "we can speak about a certain discovery" when referring to the improvement of the academic institution in the local environment.

The rector of the University, Vicente Gotor, and the vice-rector for the Campus of International Excellence, Mª Paz Suárez Rendueles, have presented the main conclusions of this evaluation which was carried out by independent experts and representatives from the Ministry of Education and from the regional Government after their visit to the academic institution on the last 7th and 8th of June.

Vicente Gotor showed a huge "satisfaction" due to the results obtained in this first report, which underlines the University's involvement with the territory, the internationalization policies, the merger process of centres, the fast adaptation to the EHEA and the new direction which has been given to the university master's degrees, among other issues.

On the last month of March, the Ministry of Education began an assessment procedure to evaluate the projects selected in 2009 in the Call of Campuses of International Excellence. The auditing team visited the Campuses of Oviedo, Gijón and Mieres in order to analyze in the field the actions of the Campus of International Excellence as well as interviewing teachers, researchers, deans and managers of the centres and the campuses, master's degrees' coordinators, clusters' managers in addition to the rector's team.

As a result, the monitoring report makes a positive assessment in the various fields of activity performed by the CEI. At first, the report indicates that Ad-Futurum Campus of International Excellence is "progressing properly". It is considered, as the document adds, that "the executed actions and efforts confirm with facts the high interest and relevancy given to the CEI-Asturias project by the university community, social and economic agents as well as by the local and regional institutions. A high effort of leadership has also found in the governing body of the University of Oviedo".

The vice-rector for the Campus of International Excellence noted that the report refers to CEI-Asturias project as "a clear example of strong regional impact which can also be produced by an initiative of these characteristics". The auditing team has pointed out "that the University's image has improved considerably in the University's local environment and particularly in companies with the occasion of the CEI. In this sense, we can speak about a certain discovery".

‘Successful Merger of centres'

The report finds accurate and aligned with the CEI's purposes the reorganization and merger of centres as it affects the optimization of human and material resources. It also takes as positive the redefinition of the educational offer in a record time, taking advantage of the reform in those degrees adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and it considers that plan for the bilingualism promotion begun in some centres has been "well set and well developed". Mª Paz Suárez Rendueles reminded that the implementation of ten bilingual degrees is scheduled for the next academic course.

The launch of the International Graduate Centre (CIP) and the internationalization initiatives, as the Erasmus Mundus and the post-graduate programmes in English, even in collaboration with foreign universities, are some of the aspects which were highlighted in the report. As for Erasmus Mundus master's degrees, the European Union has just approved two programmes in which the University of Oviedo is the main manager apart from renovating another one which has been taught for five years.

In the research field, the report considers that initiative of identifying five lines of research which are priorities within each cluster: Energy, Environment and Climate Change (CEMMAC) and Biomedicine and Health is "very favourable". Furthermore, the action related to the Off-Shore platform is defined as "very interesting and strategic" not only for the CEMACC but for the whole CEI-Asturias project.

Regarding to infrastructures, evaluators have emphasized the urban action executed in the Campus of El Cristo, within the called social spaces of learning. Finally, when talking about governing, the report considers the organization around a vice-rector's office for the Campus of International Excellence adequate and efficient.

In the suggestions' section, evaluators believe in boosting these activities to capture talent. Following this line, the vice-rector announced that in the next days, there will be a call to join researchers of excellence and grants linked to the master's degrees in order to hire the best students.

The report suggests to articulate policies so that clusters can perform a tractor effect in other areas of knowledge, dissemination of CEI in the researchers' specialized publications or in congresses and reinforcement of inner communication with the university community.

In addition to this, evaluators encourage University to "move forward in those efforts towards the future Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital's headquarters". The rector said that auditors' opinion is a "major backing" for the transfer of Medicine's faculty to La Cadellada, a proposal which was included in the Ad Futurum project from the outset.

This monitoring report will form the basis for the evaluation which the Campus of International Excellence's International Committee will perform on the 20th and the 21st of October. All the Universities which were given the excellence hallmark in 2009 must make a presentation of their results on the 20th of October in Madrid.