Complutense University of Madrid: Institutional History and the 1970 Statutes

The history of Complutense University of Madrid includes distinct stages of foundation in Alcalá, relocation to Madrid and reorganization under modern statutes. Decree No. 3857, signed on 31 December 1970, approved provisional statutes for an existing university. It was published on 27 March 1971 and entered into force the next day. The year 1970 therefore cannot simply be treated as the university's foundation from nothing.

The statutes already used the name Complutense University of Madrid, while requiring continued use of the existing seal: its upper inscription read “Complutense University” in Latin, while the lower inscription retained “University of Madrid” in Spanish. Existing property also remained part of the university's assets. The provisions on name, seal and property show continuity with the earlier institution.

References: [2] [4]

In the late fifteenth century, Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, archbishop of Toledo, planned a university at Alcalá de Henares. Pope Alexander VI authorized it in 1499, and the College of San Ildefonso began admitting students in 1508. Its aims were linked to reform of clerical education, emphasizing theology, canon law and the arts rather than primarily preparation for secular legal careers.

Gutiérrez notes that the educational project also encompassed urban space, student accommodation and teaching facilities. Cisneros promoted construction of colleges, chapels and lecture rooms, making the university an educational system of several units rather than a single teaching school.

References: [1] [2]

The College of San Ildefonso stood at the system's centre, with other colleges providing education and accommodation at different levels. Cisneros contributed personal property and books, and supported long-term operations through land, tax revenues and ecclesiastical benefices. These arrangements were intended to prevent teaching from depending entirely on temporary donations each year.

The college provided thirty-three funded places, alongside fee-paying boarders. Its head served a one-year term, elected within the college and assisted by councillors. Receiving support carried obligations of study and communal life; the number of funded places should not be equated with total university enrolment.

References: [1] [2]

Theology formed the centre of teaching, with the arts supplying training in logic and philosophy. Chairs representing Thomism, Scotism and nominalism stood alongside one another, making room for different interpretive traditions. Teaching of Greek and Hebrew was also connected with study of the original biblical texts.

Claramunt's study treated the editing and printing of the polyglot Bible as a major achievement of this academic project. Scholars collated texts and taught languages, while the printer Brocar turned their work into books, connecting teaching with publication.

References: [1] [2]

On 29 October 1836, Interior Minister Joaquín María López communicated a royal order moving the University of Alcalá to Madrid. With the academic year about to begin, the order did not require the whole university to relocate at once. It moved legal teaching first and instructed the responsible authorities to plan completion of the overall arrangements for the academic year beginning in October 1837.

The former Seminario Cristino served as the temporary law-school premises. Nine relocated teachers formed the main teaching body, with an additional temporary or substitute teacher completing the curriculum. The teachers constituted their own council, one of them serving as head. The order also required housing for the head and authorized alteration of the buildings and reuse of existing equipment, showing that relocation reorganized personnel, premises and administration together.

The arrangements included specific financial conditions: relocated teachers received allowances for the capital's higher living costs; students paid a registration fee of sixty reales; and designated ministry funds covered relevant expenses. The order also identified training qualified teachers who could work in the provinces as an objective, connecting teaching in Madrid with a wider educational network.

References: [3]

The statutes annexed to the 1970 decree defined the university as a public-law corporation with legal personality and property rights. The precise extent of administrative and economic autonomy remained to be determined by definitive statutes under education law. They did not declare the university independent of national educational administration.

Article 4 made departments the basic units of teaching and research, organized within faculties for administrative and academic purposes. Departmental councils prepared teaching and research plans and budgets, while department heads organized implementation. Institutes could connect departments within one faculty or across several to conduct specialized teaching and research. Institutional cooperation thus acquired explicit procedures.

Financial management used annual budgets reflecting the activity plans of teaching units and service bodies, rather than revenue estimates alone. The statutes also allowed the university, through institutes, departments or chairs, to enter research agreements with public or private institutions, subject to approval by its governing authorities. This modern organizational framework and the earlier system sustained through colleges and ecclesiastical revenues represented institutional arrangements formed under different historical conditions.

References: [4]