The CEU Beato Luis Belda starts with 97% of the students from the Balearic Islands

PalmaThe CEU Beato Luis Belda has begun its first academic year in Palma with nearly 200 students, 97% of whom are from the Balearic Islands. The new university center offers four degrees (Medicine, Nursing, Physiotherapy, and Psychology) and plans to incorporate Pharmacy, Dentistry, and Physical Activity and Sports Sciences (CAFE) in the 2027-2028 academic year. Later on, it aspires to promote a bio-health campus in collaboration with healthcare institutions. The inauguration brought together representatives from the Government, the Council of Mallorca, the healthcare sector, and the UIB. Attendees included, among others, the Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera; the Minister of Health, Manuela García; the Minister of Finance and Public Service of the Council of Mallorca, Rafel Bosch; and the Director General of IB-Salut, Javier Ureña. The president of the College of Physicians, Carles Recasens, delivered the inaugural lecture.

The director of the center, Antònia Sampol, claimed the CEU's desire to be part of the educational, scientific, and healthcare reality of the Balearic Islands. "Nearly 97% of the new students are from the Balearic Islands," she highlighted. According to Sampol, having more options to pursue higher education can help retain young talent. She also defended a university model based on Christian humanism, which combines scientific preparation with critical thinking, ethics, and care for people. In this line, the center relies on professionals from the Balearic healthcare system involved in the training of students.

The rector of the CEU San Pablo University, Rosa Visiedo, emphasized the role of the students who make up this first graduating class and expressed the hope that, in a few years, the center will have consolidated itself as a benchmark in Palma. "You are the first page of a project that is born with a vocation for permanence and service," she told the students. Visiedo reminded them that a university is built not only with buildings and study plans, but also with study, research, and shared work.

True defense of private (and public) ones

The Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera, took advantage of the inauguration to defend the arrival of new private initiatives to the Balearic university system. He argued that some young people have to leave the Balearic Islands to pursue the studies they want, either because they are not offered there or because there are not enough places. "Expanding and diversifying the university offer is a necessity," he stated. Vera believes that the arrival of private centers can contribute to retaining young talent and giving more options to students who want to pursue a degree in the Balearic Islands. "We must make the arrival of private centers possible, expand educational opportunities and favor that young talent can be trained in the Balearic Islands," he defended. The minister rejected that the debate be posed as a dispute between the two university models. "The debate should not be posed as a confrontation between the public and private university, but based on how we ensure that institutions offer rigor, excellence and academic quality," he said.

At the same time, he wanted to make it clear that defending the entry of new private operators does not imply questioning the role of the UIB. "The defense of private initiative is not incompatible with firm support for the public university; quite the contrary," he stated. Vera has claimed the work of the UIB in training, research and the generation of knowledge, and has assured that the Government maintains the commitment to improve its funding and the conditions of the teaching and research staff. "Favoring the public university and promoting new private initiatives is not contradictory: they are paths that can contribute to building a solid university system prepared for the future," he added. Vera also argued that the university must serve to train citizens with a critical spirit, beyond transmitting theoretical knowledge. To the students who are beginning this first stage at the CEU, he asked them to be demanding, maintain curiosity and put what they learn at the service of society. "Put your talent at the service of people," he told them.

Christian formation

The Grand Chancellor of CEU San Pablo, José Masip, has championed Christian humanism as one of the institution's distinctive traits. "Our mission is to promote the richness of Christian humanism, convinced that our faith helps us to face the world's challenges," he noted. "At CEU, we want to train good professionals, but also people capable of understanding and serving others," added Masip, who defended an education that is not limited to preparing students to practice a profession.