On 25 October at 11:00 a.m., the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Law at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid will host the graduation ceremony of the first cohort of the Bachelor of Arts in European Studies (BAES) — the first truly joint bachelor’s degree developed within the framework of the Una Europa alliance, composed of eleven leading universities across the continent.
BAES combines in-person teaching with academic mobility in several European countries, fostering interdisciplinary education in the humanities, social and political sciences, law, and European culture.
A total of 140 out of the 160 students in this first BAES cohort will travel to Madrid with their families for the graduation ceremony. The first BAES graduation represents an unprecedented milestone in European higher education, enabling students to receive a joint degree awarded by KU Leuven, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie, and Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Five other Una Europa universities also participate in the programme as mobility destinations. This pioneering model is paving the way for other university alliances within the European Universities Initiative promoted by the European Commission.
The event will be attended by rectors and vice-rectors from the four universities jointly awarding the degree, ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives from the participating countries, officials from the Ministry of Education, the Head of the European Commission Representation in Spain, and various academic authorities. With around 450 attendees, including graduates and their families travelling from across Europe, this first BAES cohort celebrates not only their graduation but also the beginning of a new era of truly shared higher education — a success story of European university cooperation.
The graduation ceremony will be streamed live via UCM Directo (https://www.ucm.es/directo) and the UCM YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@ucomplutensemadrid/streams).