Valencia, 29 November 2023 – Eva Alcón, President of Crue and Rector of the Universitat Jaume I, has inaugurated the 62nd General Assembly of the Red Española de Fundaciones Universidad-Empresa (RedFUE).
During the opening ceremony, the president of Crue insisted on the need to ‘open more bridges’ between the university and business and ‘strengthen ties’ with the different social agents and organisations that constitute the gateway to the labour market for graduates.
Fernando Martínez, president of REDFUE and executive vice-president of the Fundación Universidad-Empresa, expressed himself along the same lines, stating that ‘there are many challenges, but also many opportunities because this alliance is the key to improving the employability of young people’.
Moreover, the president of REDFUE stressed the importance of this network, especially in ‘critical times like the present’, and not only related to employability. Martínez mentioned that lifelong learning is an ‘area in which institutions such as university-business foundations have a lot to say’, being able to work hand in hand with companies to create university micro-credentials with which to create the professional profiles that the business world needs and, in this way, to accompany universities in the necessary impulse to face an environment that is constantly changing. Fernando Martínez stated that ‘the role of the network and the university-business foundations is vital. We must be a single voice in the face of the current threats’.
The president of the ADEIT Foundation and the Social Council of the University of Valencia, Vicent Soler, also recognised the work of the REDFUE and the university-business foundations as ‘backbones’ between the university and business spheres. ‘Working in a network allows us to optimise resources, generate resources and carry out work of greater quality and impact’, he stressed.
This is the first assembly held with the new executive committee formed by the president Fernando Martínez, the vice-presidents, Juan Manuel Penín López-Terradas, from ADEIT- Fundación Universidad Empresa de Valencia and Jorge Izquierdo Zubiate, from the Fundación General de la Universidad de Burgos and the secretary treasurer of REDFUE, Ana Gea Segura, manager of the Fundación de la Universidad Almería. In addition, Javier Pereiro Pérez, general director of the Fundación Empresa-Universidad Gallega (FEUGA) and Eduardo Manrique de Lara, managing director of the Fundación Universidad de Las Palmas, have joined the Executive Committee as members.