University of Seville
Encyclopedia
The Universidad de Sevilla or University of Seville, in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, is a top-ranked European university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Founded under the name of Colegio Santa María de Jesús in 1505, the University of Seville, with a student body of over 50,000, is one of the top-ranked universities in the country. It is located in the 2,000-year-old artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir
Guadalquivir
The Guadalquivir is the fifth longest river in the Iberian peninsula and the second longest river to be its whole length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is 657 kilometers long and drains an area of about 58,000 square kilometers...

, in Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

. The building itself dates back to the 15th century when the Catholic Monarchs recovered the area from the Moors, a history reflected in its architecture. It is located centrally in the city next to the prestigious Hotel Alfonso XIII which hosts Europe's royalty and international celebrities.

History

The University of Seville is steeped in history and is one of the most important cultural centers in Spain, dating back to the 15th century when the Catholic Monarchs recovered the area from the Moors. It was originally the Colegio de Santa Mari­a de Jesus which had been created by Arcediano Maese Rodrigo Fernandez de Santaella and was confirmed as a practising university in 1555 by the papal bull of Pope Julius II. Today, the University of Seville is well known for its vital research in Technology and Science which not only aids the development of science as a whole but, more importantly, enriches and develops not only the culture of Seville but all of Andalusia.

In the middle of the thirteenth century the Dominicans, in order to prepare missionaries for work among the Moors and Jews, organized schools for the teaching of Arabic, Hebrew, and Greek. To co-operate in this work and to enhance the prestige of Seville, Alfonso the Wise in 1254 established in that city "general schools" (escuelas generales) of Arabic and Latin. Alexander IV, by Bull of 21 June 1260, recognized this foundation as a generale litterarum studium and granted its members certain dispensations in the matter of residence. Later, the cathedral chapter established ecclesiastical studies in the College of San Miguel. Rodrigo de Santaello, archdeacon of the cathedral and commonly known as Maese Rodrigo, began the construction of a building for a university in 1472; in 1502 the Catholic Majesties published the royal decree creating the university, and in 1505 Julius II granted the Bull of authorization; in 1509 the college of Maese Rodrigo was finally installed in its own building, under the name of Santa María de Jesús, but its courses were not opened until 1516. The Catholic Majesties and the pope granted the power to confer degrees in logic, philosophy, theology, and canon and civil law. The colegio mayor de Maese Rodrigo and the university proper, although housed in the same building, never lost their several identities, as is shown by the fact that, in the eighteenth century, the university was moved to the College of San Hermanegildo, while that of Maese Rodrigo remained independent, although languishing.

Influence

The influence of the University of Seville, from the ecclesiastical point of view, though not equal to that of the Universities of Salamanca and of Alcalá, was nevertheless considerable. From its lecture halls came Sebastián Antonio de Cortés, Riquelme, Rioja, Luis Germán y Ribón, founder of the Horatian Academy, Juan Sánchez, professor of mathematics at San Telmo, Martín Alberto Carbajal, Cardinal Belluga, Cardinal Francisco Solis Folch, Marcelo Doye y Pelarte, Bernardo de Torrijos, Francisco Aguilar Ribon, the Abate Marchena, Alberto Lista, and many others who shone in the magistracy, or were distinguished ecclesiastics. The influence of the University of Seville on the development of the fine arts, was very great. In its shadow the school of the famous master Juan de Mal Lara was founded, and intellects like those of Herrera, Arguijo, and many others were developed, while there were formed literary and artistic clubs, like that of Pacheco, which was a school for both painting and poetry. During the period of secularization and sequestration (1845–57) the University of Seville passed into the control of the State and received a new organization. At present it comprises the faculties of philosophy and letters, law, sciences, and medicine, with an enrolment (1910) of 1100 students.

At the same time that the royal university was established, there was developed the Universidad de Mareantes (university of sea-farers), in which body the Catholic Majesties, by a royal decree of 1503, established the Casa de Contratación with classes of pilots and of seamen, and courses in cosmography, mathematics, military tactics, and artillery. This establishment was of incalculable importance, for it was there that the expeditions to the Indies were organized, and there that the great Spanish sailors were educated. This species of polytechnic school, which, according to Eden, Bourné, and Humboldt, taught a great deal to Europe, following the fortunes of Spanish science, fell into decay in the seventeenth century.
.

Equality, Liberty, Justice and Pluralism

The university takes pride in its self-government and independence but, above all, in its ability to provide a service at such a high standard due to the calibre of the professors and lecturers that teach there. This motivation is reflected in their ancient motto with the four qualities that the university lives by:`Equality, Liberty, Justice and Pluralism´. This motto applies to both teaching and learning but above all, the progress made in science, technology and culture.

At present, the university's main aim is to continue with the innovations developed in the scientific and technological fields as they look towards the future with a new and exciting perspective. This is reflected by the number of degrees offered; students attending the university have the choice of 65 different subjects and one of the widest ranges of academic and sporting facilities in Spain, making it a very popular university for both Spanish and international students.

In 2004 it had 73,350 student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...

s scattered around different campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...

es, being the second Spanish presential university by number of students.

Campus Internationalization

Since 1994, North American study abroad students have been able to take classes taught by University of Seville faculty members in Spanish in the Faculty of Philology and the Faculty of Geography and History. As of Fall 2009, the university has agreements with 15 international organizations like the Council on International Educational Exchange
Council on International Educational Exchange
Council on International Educational Exchange is a non-profit organization promoting international education and exchange. It was founded in 1947 and is based in USA....

, the College Consortium for International Studies, International Studies Abroad, SUNY New Paltz and Wells College
Wells College
Wells College is a private coeducational liberal arts college located in Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake. Initially an all-women's institution, Wells became a co-ed college in Fall 2005....

.

Organization

It comprises
  • Governed by the Department Council (Consejo de Departamento): The Departments
  • Governed by Centre Council (Junta de Centro): consists of
    • Faculties,
    • Technical Sciences Schools (Escuelas Técnicas Superiores), and
    • University Schools (Escuelas Universitarias).


The main building of University of Seville is known as the "Old Tobacco Factory", because of the building's original use. Built in the 18th century, Seville's tobacco factory was the largest industrial building in the world at that time and it remained a tobacco factory until the 1950s. This beautiful building is also the setting for the very well known opera by Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...

, Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...

. Carmen was a fictional worker in the tobacco factory, the original story being a novella by Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée was a French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and short story writer. He is perhaps best known for his novella Carmen, which became the basis of Bizet's opera Carmen.-Life:...

. This building houses two of the university's faculties: the School of Literature & Philology and the School of Geography & History.
Other Faculties are located throughout Seville, including the Health Science schools in La Macarena, the Business School in Nervion, the Engineering School and School of Communications in La Cartuja
La Cartuja
Isla de la Cartuja is an island in the Guadalquivir River at Seville, Spain.The island's name derives from the cloistered monastery located on the site, the Monasterio de Santa María de las Cuevas...

 and its Languages Institute Instituto de Idiomas and Science Schools in Reina Mercedes.

Famous people

  • Baltasar Garzón
    Baltasar Garzón
    Baltasar Garzón Real is a Spanish jurist who served on Spain's central criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional. He was the examining magistrate of the Juzgado Central de Instrucción No...

    , (born October 26, 1955 in Torres, Jaén, Spain), a respected, sometimes polemical, judge
    Judge
    A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

     in Spain.
  • Felipe González
    Felipe González
    Felipe González Márquez is a Spanish socialist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. To date, he remains the longest-serving Prime Minister of Spain, after having served four successive mandates from 1982 to 1996.-Early life:Felipe was...

    , former Prime Minister of the Spanish Government.
  • Alfonso Guerra
    Alfonso Guerra
    Alfonso Guerra González is a Spanish politician. A leading member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , he served as Vice President of the Government of Spain from 1982 to 1991, under the presidency of Felipe González...

    , former Deputy Prime Minister of the Spanish Government.
  • Luis Rojas Marcos
  • Luis Cernuda
    Luis Cernuda
    Luis Cernuda , was a Spanish poet and literary critic.-Life and career:...

    , poet.
  • Pedro Salinas
    Pedro Salinas
    Pedro Salinas y Serrano was a Spanish poet and member of the Generation of '27. He was also a scholar and critic of Spanish literature, teaching at universities in Spain, England, and the United States....

    , professor and poet.
  • Raquel Martínez Rabanal
    Raquel Martínez Rabanal
    Raquel Martínez Rabanal is a journalist, television and radio hostess from Palencia, Spain. Martinez begun working for RNE in Valladolid, were she hosted the show La memoria del vino in 2004. In 2006, she started to host the news in Canal 24 Horas.-Early life:Martínez was born in 1979 in Palencia,...

    , radio and television hostess.
  • Stephen Sommers
    Stephen Sommers
    Stephen Sommers is an American screenwriter and film director, best known for The Mummy and its sequel, The Mummy Returns. He also directed Disney's live action version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, the action/horror film Van Helsing, and the 2009 film G.I...

    , American writer/director.

External links

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