Mondragon University ( eu, Mondragon Unibertsitatea, MU) is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

private university in the Basque Country, officially established and recognised in 1997. It is part of

Mondragon Corporation The Mondragon Corporation is a corporation and federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain. It was founded in the town of Mondragon in 1956 by José María Arizmendiarrieta and a group of his students at a technical ...

. Its main campus is in

Mondragón Mondragón ( eu, Arrasate or ''Mondragoe''), officially known as Arrasate/Mondragón, is a town and municipality in Gipuzkoa Province, Basque Country, Spain. Its population in 2015 was 21,933. Economic and historical significance The town is be ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

. As of February 2016, it had about 4000 students pursuing 22 bachelor's degrees, 13 master's degrees and several advanced courses.

History

The institution first originated as the ''Escuela Politécnica Superior'', a

Polytechnic Polytechnic is most commonly used to refer to schools, colleges, or universities that qualify as an institute of technology or vocational university also sometimes called universities of applied sciences. Polytechnic may also refer to: Educatio ...

school established by Father José María Arizmendiarrieta in 1943 and open to young people in the region. The current university was formed in 1997 through the association of three existing educational cooperatives tied to

: ''Mondragon Goi Eskola Politeknikoa “Jose Mª Arizmendiarrieta” S. Coop.'', ''ETEO S. Coop.'', and ''Irakasle Eskola S. Coop''. Prior to 1997, these three educational cooperatives were affiliated with the

University of the Basque Country The University of the Basque Country ( eu, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, ''EHU''; es, Universidad del País Vasco, ''UPV''; UPV/EHU) is a Spanish public university of the Basque Autonomous Community. Heir of the University of Bilbao, initially ...

. The new entity was set up as a non-profit cooperative university, an unprecedented organizational structure in the Spanish landscape of private universities, with the aim of creating a university "close to the needs of businesses". The new university was officially recognized by the

Basque Parliament The Basque Parliament (Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected assembly to which the Basque Government is responsible. The Parliament mee ...

on 30 May 1997.

Faculties

The university consists of four faculties: *The Faculty of Engineering, which has three campuses - the main campus in

, the

Goierri Goierri ("Highland(s)" in Basque; es, Goyerri) or "Basque Highlands" is one of the eight ''comarcas'' (''Eskualdea'' in the Basque language) in the Spanish province of Gipuzkoa. It is composed of 18 municipalities, Beasain, Ordizia Ordizia, for ...

campus in

Ordizia Ordizia, formerly known as Villafranca de Ordizia, is a town and municipality located in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, northern Spain. The professional cycle road race Prueba V ...

, and the

Donostialdea Donostialdea is one of the eight regions of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Autonomous Community, corresponding to the basin of the lower Urumea River, along with a strip of basin corresponding to the Oria River, the region borrowing its name from Dono ...

campus, centered on energy and eco-engineering, in Hernani. *The Faculty of Business Studies, which has two campuses - the original campus in

Oñati Oñati ( eu, Oñati, es, Oñate) is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the north of Spain. It has a population of approximately 10,500 and lies in a valley in the center of the Basqu ...

and the

Bidasoa __NOTOC__ The Bidasoa (, ; french: Bidassoa, ) is a river in the Basque Country of northern Spain and southern France that runs largely south to north. Named as such downstream of the village of Oronoz-Mugairi (municipality of Baztan) in the pro ...

campus in

Irun Irun ( es, Irún, eu, Irun) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as ...

, which opened in 2003. *The Faculty of Humanities and Education, which has an education-centered campus in

Eskoriatza , population_note = , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = BasqueSpanish , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and an audiovisual communication-centered campus in

Aretxabaleta Aretxabaleta is a town in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is located on the Bergara road, almost adjacent to its larger northern neighbor, the city of Arrasate, and the smaller Eskoriat ...

. *The Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences – Basque Culinary Center which is based in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

and opened in 2011. In addition, the university contains a global network of

social innovation Social innovations are new social practices that aim to meet social needs in a better way than the existing solutions,Howaldt, J./ Schwarz, M"Social Innovation: Concepts, research fields and international trends" IMO international monitoring, 2010 ...

ecosystem labs along with the Mondragon team academy (MTA World), the Innovation and Entrepreneurship unit of the Mondragon University Business School. These social innovation labs are located in Irun, Oñati, Madrid, Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia, Shanghai, Queretaro, Seoul, Puebla, Berlin, Pune and Seattle.

Academic offering

Mondragon University works in seven different areas of knowledge: * Engineering * Business management * Entrepreneurship * Education * Communication * Gastronomy * Cooperativism These academic offerings are aimed at young people who attend the university through different undergraduate degrees, new graduates who are offered different master's degrees and students who have finished their masters or workers who wish to continue developing their skills through the range of offerings for professionals. Currently the university offers 33 bachelor's and master's degrees, 19 of them dual. Mondragon University also collaborates with

Bizkaia Talent Bizkaia Talent is a public body, attached to the Department of Economic Promotion of the Foral Government of Biscay, established as a talent recruitment agency, with the aim of attracting, linking and retaining highly qualified people in the in ...

, the associative project of the Foral Government of

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

to promote research, creation, innovation and knowledge in the historical territory of

Notes and references

External links

Mondragon Unibertsitatea

Faculty of Engineering

Faculty of Business

Faculty of Humanities and Education

Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences – Basque Culinary Center (BCC)

Bilbao Berrikuntza Faktoria (BBF) – Bilbao Innovation Factory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mondragon University 1997 establishments in Spain Mondragon Corporation Educational institutions established in 1997 Education in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Mondragon University Buildings and structures in Gipuzkoa Private universities and colleges in Spain