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 European university alliances. The Una Europa alliance, composed of eleven leading universities across the continent, has spearheaded the creation of this degree, which 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. They come from diverse countries and from the nine universities collaborating in this joint degree, which has been made possible through the Una Europa alliance. The BAES represents an unprecedented milestone in European higher education, enabling students to undertake an integrated course of study across several universities on the continent and 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.
The BAES is a three-year degree (180 ECTS) that incorporates mandatory mobility, interdisciplinarity, and shared methodology. Throughout their studies, students have attended various Una Europa universities, benefiting from a genuinely joint approach to teaching, languages, and research. This pioneering model has paved the way for other university alliances within the European Universities Initiative promoted by the European Commission. The achievement marks a historic step towards a more cohesive, inclusive, and internationalised European Higher Education Area, reinforcing Una Europa’s role as a leader in educational innovation and interuniversity cooperation.
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).
