UMA
The origins of the University of Málaga go back to the 70s when a clear need was seen by the population, authorities and press, for a university in the city. Their arguments were based on the disparity between the number of universities in the north compared to the south. Added to this was the fact that Málaga was the only European country with more than 300,000 inhabitants that had no university or technical col-lege.
One of the main campaigners for the university was the Asociación de Amigos de la Universidad de Málaga, (Friends of Malaga University Association) with members of important standing in the community, who combined forces to push for the creation of a higher education institution. The association arose from the community itself, having as their representative a group of people from Málaga who came from different sectors of the province. The association made good use of the press at the beginning of their campaign, in order to inform the local population of the importance of creating a university in Málaga.
The foundations for the institution had been laid befo-rehand, since Málaga already had a technical college, a teacher training college, an Economics faculty, (belonging to the University of Granada), and a seminary, where theology and Philosophy were taught.
The creation of the university took place over time. Among the most important events in this process was in 1970, when classes began in the Science, Arts, Medicine and Pharmacy faculties. Then on 18 August 1972, a decree was issued for the creation of Málaga University, together with those of Córdoba and Santander. The last official act was on 30 Sep-tember 1972 with the publication of a bulletin. Initially, the university was composed of the already existing faculties of Economic Sciences and Business Studies, and the faculty of Medicine, which was set up at this time.
During the first few years the main centre of university activity was in the El Ejido campus, with other faculties dotted around the centre and neighbouring districts. The faculty of Medicine was the first to operate at Teatinos, and it was on this site that the main campus of the university would eventually be set up.
Some of the faculties changed sites, this being the case with the faculty of Arts and Philosophy. In 1985 it moved from the centre to install itself finally at the Teatinos campus, as did the Science faculty, which at one time was situated in the old University College. Nevertheless, there still remain some faculties situated at different points of the city and at the El Ejido campus.
Over the past 35 years, Málaga University has not only been a great promotor of cultural events, but also an important source of support in technological and investigative areas. Together with the Business Park and the airport, these three entities form what is known as the "productive triangle'' of the city. The university and Business Park maintain a conti-nuous flow of ideas, highly qualified professionals and ad-vancements in technology.
The aim of the university is to eventually gather all the dif-ferent faculties and services together in one area on the Tea-tinos campus. In the next few years the building of new cen-tres and the splitting of those faculties which are at the mo-ment teaching distinct subjects, means the future university complex will cover an area of almost two million square metres.
The university Vice Chancellor's office together with the Secretary General and Manager's office is presently in the old main post office building. This noteworthy building con-tains the archeological remains of a wall discovered under-ground and which was once part of the port. The remains are open to the public.