© Provided by eldiario.es
The first private online university in Andalusia will be installed in the former company of a councilor of the Junta
Next September is the start date for academic activities planned for the Atlantic-Mediterranean Technological University (Utamed), whose draft law was approved on February 7 in the Governing Council of the Andalusian Government. The headquarters of what might become the first private online university in the autonomous community would be set up in a building on Avenida Doctor Marañón in Málaga, occupied by Diario Sur and in which Utamed would occupy a space of 2,800 m2. The promoter entity needs to rehabilitate the building and, while that happens, it is proposed that the University headquarters be installed provisionally in a 250 m2 space at 4-6 Malasaña Street in Malaga, headquarters of Medac and other group companies, linked to the Minister of Education, Javier Imbroda (Cs) until shortly before his arrival on the Board in January 2019. “I had to sell everything to access politics. I have no links, I sold everything before the elections,” he said In an interview four months following being appointed adviser to Moreno Bonilla.
In fact, Utamed is promoted by the entity Sapere Aude Arco Mediterráneo SL, established in March 2019 and with registered office at the same number on Calle Malasaña. It is a single-member company whose 100% of its share capital belongs to the PEF1 Mediterráneo Active Holding SL Group, which has a share capital of 3 million euros and has among its participants, with 11.34% (340,203 euros) , to the founder of Medac, one of the partners of Imbroda when his basketball coaching career expired and he embarked as sole administrator of that company in 2010.
63.98% of the shares of the companies that make up the PEF1 Mediterráneo Activo Holding SL Group correspond to investment companies, so the corporate support for the initiative to create the new university is provided by a group whose main activity is the financial and venture capital area, according to the supporting report in relation to the preliminary draft of the Utamed Recognition Law, dated the same day of its approval in the Governing Council and to which elDiario.es Andalucía has had access. By the way, it was the only “urgent” issue approved along with the bill for the recognition of the Fernando III el Santo University that February 7 in Linares (Jaén). There were two previous attempts to pass this procedure, since the agreement of the Governing Council left without effect the authorization to start the file dated January 26 and February 2.
Before this authorization from the Board, as a necessary requirement for the timely registration in the Mercantile Registry of the deed of incorporation of Sapere Aude Arco Mediterráneo SL, a copy of the deed of social agreements of PEF 1 Mediterráneo was provided in the allegation phase of the file. Activo Holding S.,L, dated April 16, 2021, by which the unanimous agreement of its partners to expand the corporate purpose of this company in order to include the activity of educational teaching and didactic activities between its corporate purpose, modifying the Bylaws of PEF 1 Mediterráneo Activo Holding, just eight months following the start of the Utamed file for its recognition as a university and following a long list of obstacles.
“The Minister’s rush for Utamed is clear. It is his university and he has to leave it on track or finished before leaving,” says a union source from the university education field. The rectors of the ten Andalusian public universities have not been happy with this step forward by the Board either. Last week they issued a joint statement in which they clearly stated that the expansion of the private university offer must always go through the “demand to these institutions of the same strict quality requirements that are demanded of Andalusian public universities”. The Minister of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge, and Universities, Rogelio Velasco, has to respond this Thursday to a motion and two oral questions related to these issues in the plenary session of Parliament, to proposals from the opposition.
One of the members appointed by the Parliament of Andalusia, among personalities of recognized prestige in the educational, cultural or scientific field, expressly referred to this list of obstacles that Utamed has been overcoming, and which will now be exposed, during the celebration of the Andalusian Council of Universities (CAU) on December 13. He said that “the procedure for the recognition of a private university should be rethought” since, according to what he stated, “the proponents include an initial report containing their University model, and there are different iterations with the administration in different areas, and They point out the deficiencies that are detected, so the administration becomes an advisor to the promoters in the different areas, correcting the documentation provided at various moments of the procedure, but the University model proposed by the promoter is maintained”, according to It is recorded in the minutes of the CAU, to which this medium has had access.
Even some of those questions are not yet saved. Article 2 of Organic Law 6/2001, of December 21, provides that private universities will have their own legal personality and an exclusive corporate purpose, higher education. “As of today, and in relation to the entity that will endow the University with legal personality, the issue must be resolved, once the Utamed is recognized by Law of the Andalusian Parliament as a Private University, if this were the case,” he says. its preliminary bill. Thus, if the entity that provided legal personality to the University was the promoter, it would have to accredit the change of company name (from Sapere to Utamed SL). On the other hand, and in the event that it is decided to create a new entity that gives legal personality to this University, with the same corporate name (Utamed SL), this end should be accredited in the same way once recognized by Law.
Other issues have been resolved in the process. On March 22, 2021, two unfavorable reports were received from the CGPU and the DEVA regarding the request for recognition of Utamed, as already reported by elDiario.es Andalucía. Already before, on September 16, 2019, the promoters were given a hearing by the CGPU to clarify some questions regarding the project presented for report. The Board, in view of this, decided in April 2021 to extend the deadline to submit a written statement of allegations to the two reports submitted and sent an official letter requiring the entity to correct and provide additional documentation. In July, another request was made to the developer to provide registration of the deed of incorporation of the developer Sapere Aude Arco Mediterráneo SL, as has already been said. Even in January, just days before its approval in the Governing Council, the promoter announced that it would not make allegations once morest the unfavorable report of the Andalusian Council of Universities, which counted six votes in favor, fourteen votes once morest, one abstention and one attendee who did not vote.
Regarding its university model, at first Utamed presented a proposal to start activity in online mode, with a single Faculty of Technological, Legal and Social Sciences, although, following hearing the provisional report granted by the Ministry of Universities, the structure initially presented was modified and a training offer has been proposed consisting of two colleges, with their respective departments, six degrees, seven master’s degrees and a doctorate program, so that the minimum of eight degrees required Article 6.1 of Royal Decree 420/2015, of May 29.
The promoting entity plans that all the bachelor’s and master’s degrees will start in the first year of Utamed’s activity. In the first year, the master’s programs and the first year of each degree will begin; in the second year the second courses of each degree will begin, and so on. A block implementation (4 courses) is not planned to accommodate students who might start their training in advanced courses as a result of the validation processes of university studies already completed. The expected date to launch the degrees would be the 2022/2023 academic year.
Likewise, in the phase of allegations to the provisional report of the CGPU, as well as in subsequent additional documentation presented by the promoter, which has been incorporated into the file, the deficiencies observed with respect to the list of degrees classified by branches of knowledge, the year in which the academic activities would begin and the implementation calendar and the contribution of the study plan proposals.
After the observations made by both the CGPU and the DEVA in relation to the need to accredit the ability to provide internships to its students, the promoter has been providing, at various stages of the administrative procedure, various collaboration agreements duly signed and expanding the number of agreements presented to guarantee the realization of the same, indicates the complete processing file. Likewise, and following the appropriate request, the promoter presented the information related to the access and admission of students, the forecast of mobility of the same and the system of aid and scholarships for study and research.
On the other hand, the CGPU and the DEVA, both in the hearing process before the Ministry of Universities and in the processing of allegations, “detected deficiencies in relation to the necessary elements to prove the solidity and relevance of the research project presented by Utamed” . In this regard, the promoting entity has provided various documentation, substantially improving this section of the project, it is said in the report.
As for the teaching and research staff, the promoter still has to provide a Plan to favor the accreditation of non-accredited hired teachers. “In any case, all this information must be materialized prior to the request for authorization to start activities. At that time, it will be verified that the university meets the requirements established by the regulations,” says the file. On the other hand, in her initial report, the developer stated that the University would have certain outsourced services such as web positioning and digital marketing, communication services, web development and computer applications.
In addition, and once more following the appropriate hearing procedure, the promoters expanded the information regarding the technological resources that would be used. In this sense, they have agreed to use as a technological model an infrastructure designed in layers, Cloud Computing using the Pay-Per-Use service model (IaaS, Infrastructure as a Service), and the CANVAS platform. The promoter clarifies that this technological model had already been tested and planned, being used in Medac, the integrated company of the PEF 1 Group, majority shareholder of the promoter entity.
In the processing of allegations, and to respond to the observations of both the CGPU and the DEVA, the information regarding the main representative and governing bodies of Utamed has been completed and the Organization and Operation Rules have been modified to regulate the procedure and reasons for termination of the University, the figure of the University Ombudsman and the disciplinary regime, are also noted in the justifying report.
