The mission of the Public University of Navarra (UPNA) is to contribute to the progress of society through the creation and transmission of knowledge and the promotion of culture, achieving the comprehensive training of persons and promoting values such as quality, effort, teamwork, coexistence in diversity and social responsibility.
Regarding the vision, the Public University of Navarre contributes to its students' comprehensive training through methodologies based on learning, with customized processes adapted to the European Higher Education Area.
The Public University of Navarre was created in 1987 by the Parliament of Navarre. Consequently, it is a public university, young, modern, and small in the Spanish university context, and located in the Pamplona and Tudela campuses. Its academic activity is developed in the knowledge of the human and social sciences, health sciences, and engineering, so it is a reasonably technical university. The UPNA is in the top group of Spanish universities in teaching, research, and technology transfer. Together with seven other Spanish public universities, it is located in the first third with greater overall productivity (Ranking ISSUE 2014, BBVA-IVIE).
Furthermore, in all its dimensions, social responsibility is another of its priorities, and, in this framework, concrete actions are developed that already have a long history. The UPNA has been one of the main drivers of the Spanish Network of Healthy Universities, aimed at promoting healthy life habits. It has highlighted in implementing specific programs in this area. Its campuses are fully accessible, allowing the integration of people with disabilities, and the UPNA is distinguished by its commitment to equal opportunities for all people.
Solidarity and equality between men and women are part of its pioneering initiatives, encouraging essential values for every person's comprehensive training. This is also reflected in various local and international volunteering and university development cooperation programs with less developed countries.
The University considers that its social responsibility also reaches the projection of its educational and creative capacities to society. Along with an offer of cultural training and creation opportunities aimed at the university community (mainly, the students), the UPNA is present in their immediate environment.
The commitment of the University to teaching and the European Higher Education Area has led to putting 18 undergraduate degrees (2 of them double degrees) and 29 Master's degrees (including nine intercollegiate) into operation. It is a teaching offer appreciated by society, as there is a demand for more than two students per seat.
Its students highly value the University's teaching quality since 75% of its graduates would recommend UPNA to other people (source: Alumni Survey, 2011). About the student/teacher ratio, the University ranks fifth in the Spanish public universities (source: Spanish University Information System, the academic year 2012-13), which provides close and personalized teaching that places the University in the sixth place in productivity teaching, together with other 14 Spanish public universities (source: Ranking ISSUE 2014, BBVA-IVIE).
Also, it should be noted that the teaching provision is tailored to its socio-economic environment: 81% of the graduates have a job (source: Alumni Survey, 2011), which reflects a high rate of employment. Furthermore, it offers a wide range of degrees and up-to-date diplomas and specialization courses in lifelong learning.
Regarding the research and transfer activity, it is carried out by more than one hundred research groups, of which 20% have been listed (in the call 2012) by the ANEP, an agency of the Spanish Government, for excellence international.
The University has a research institute in the Arrosadia Campus: the Agrobiotechnology Institute, a joint center with the Spanish National Research Council and the Government of Navarre, which focuses on agricultural research and biotechnology. The UPNA also has the Jeronimo de Ayanz Electronic & Communication R&D Centre, which operates R&D in industrial and telecommunication technologies applied to the business world.
The University develops cutting-edge basic research in many fields, serving both the economic and social development of its immediate environment and facilitating research that is transformed into innovation. To this end, the UPNA has put in place mechanisms for assessing research groups seeking continuous improvement. It has developed instruments to facilitate the achievement of public and private funding. Among them, the Chairs program is remarkable, dedicated to research and funded by private institutions, along with the commercialization of patents through UNIVALUE (a company of the G9 Group -see below-).
These activities place the University in the second quartile of Spanish public universities in research productivity (source: Scimago Institution Ranking, 2014). As the rate of scientific excellence (percentage of works included in the 10% most cited), the Public University of Navarre occupies an intermediate position. However, it is the fifth University in Spain in the ratio of scientific leadership, defined as the production of an institution where it is the main contributor. Meanwhile, in excellence with leadership (which brings together the previous two indicators), is the tenth University, according to the same report.
The Public University of Navarre is the home of the Group 9 of Universities (G-9), whose Shared Virtual Campus is the largest interuniversity on-line Campus of Spain, both in several enrollments (around 6,400) as in the subjects available (around 90), in recent years.
Along with Zaragoza, Lleida, and La Rioja, the Public University of Navarre forms the Campus Iberus, distinguished by the Spanish Ministry of Education as a Campus of International Excellence (CEI). This project is based on three areas of expertise: materials and technology to improve quality of life (with two aspects: health technology and energy and environment), agri-food and nutrition and memory, heritage, and identities.
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