16 December 2016
Bilbao Campus
Emotion. This is what we all felt yesterday as the Main Ceremonial Hall of our University was filling with fellow colleagues, students, alumni, authorities, but especially, friends. Quite right too. We celebrate 130 years. 130 years of history, of tradition, but especially, 130 years of success.
The Rector, José María Guibert, the Mayor of Bilbao, Juan María Aburto, the chairman of the Basque Country High Court of Justice, Juan Luis Ibarra, the Basque Country Chief Prosecutor, Juan Calparsoro, and the Regional Deputy Minister of Justice, Miren Gallastegui, among others, joined our Dean, Gema Tomás, and all the people who make up the Faculty, in this celebration.
We worked through the past together, as a lot of things have changed since 1886: the first cohorts of graduates, the first female students at the Faculty...We also went through our present together, with our students as leading actors. We had the privilege of having them too. Marta Enciso, Vice-Dean for Student Affairs and International Relations, presented us with some of the Faculty’s distinctive features and new initiatives, as well as its strong international commitment. Always looking to the future.
We were accompanied by Aitzol Asla, representing the Biscay Bar Association and David Fernández de Retana, chairman of Deusto Law Alumni, who both gave emotional speeches.
Ione Zinkunegui, a great artist in her first year of study on the BA in Law + Specialism in Economics, livened up the cocktail reception in the cloister with her music. Pure Magic.
And today, one day later, and with the emotion still fresh in our minds, we would like to thank you all for your affection, congratulations and, above all, for the presence of those who, in one way or another, share our educational work with us.
Let me close with some words from the Dean: “It is education that transforms societies”. Let us continue transforming another 130 years… and more.
