The 40th anniversary of the Summer Courses

<p> Presentation of the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the UPV/EHU Summer Courses and of the book “Sinboloen eta Hitzen artean/Entre Símbolos y Palabras” ["Between Symbols and Words"]</p>

• This afternoon the anniversary will be commemorated at an event presided over by the Lehendakari, first minister of the Basque government, in the presence of leading authorities.
• The commemorative book “Sinboloen eta Hitzen artean/Entre Símbolos y Palabras” ["Between Symbols and Words"] will be presented.
• Tribute will be paid to past directors of the Summer Courses Ricardo Echepare, José Luis de la Cuesta and Carmen Agoüés.

The Summer Courses are one of the strongest identifying traits of the UPV/EHU, the University of the Basque Country, as well as representing a fruitful example of how big things can be achieved by combining many small efforts. It is therefore time this afternoon to recognise the astuteness and good work of its directors: Ricardo Echepare, José Luis de la Cuesta and Carmen Agoüés.

This commemorative event will underline that many things have happened since the first edition of the Summer Courses. Our country has changed a lot. Politics, the economy and culture have all changed. The university itself has done so, too. This is why there is a feature of the Summer Courses that the rector wanted to especially highlight: their ability to bear witness, to testify to the extraordinary changes we have seen in every facet of life over four decades.

During this time the format and contents of the Summer Courses have been a sounding box for these social changes and have served to meet the need for rigorous analysis of these changes. For all these reasons, 40 years after they were launched, we can state today that they have met the goals set in that first year: "To disseminate knowledge in society and to contribute to training a well-informed, critical public."

These four decades have served to position the UPV/EHU Summer Courses as the leading ones of their kind in Spain in terms of the number of participants.

3,627 activities have been run by the UPV/EHU Summer Courses over these last 40 years. From 9 courses in 1982 to 200 in recent editions.

287,975 people have taken part in these Summer Courses, 255,777 of them as students, 27,396 as teachers and 4,802 in managing the courses.

In 2021, 12,704 people took part, reaching pre-pandemic levels. Of these, nearly 1,000 were international participants, from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia Chile and Australia, as well as other European countries, mainly France, Italy and Germany.  In 2020 the Summer Courses proved their ability to react by organising 171 activities with 10,776 participants despite the pandemic.

As regards achieving gender equality, it should be pointed out that while in the first year of the Courses only 11% of course management were women, in 2021 the figure is 46%, having reached 52% in 2020.

In turn the Foundation assesses the impact of its activities on Basque society. Study of the impact achieved in 2019, the year before the pandemic, indicated an indirect impact of €3,569,063.58: the result of the total spending in the Basque economic fabric, i.e. the sum of the direct impact (€1,189,000.06) plus the indirect impact (€2,380,063.52).

Apart from the quantitative impacts, the activities organised by the Foundation generate external positives that contribute to social development. This involves the following:

The opening up of potential opportunities to set up networks and relations between people and/or organisations.
The opening up of spaces for debate. From a plural, participatory approach aimed at broader knowledge of the realities around us.
A forum for alternative, different and innovative ideas. Giving a voice to ideas from outside traditional forums.

The event to commemorate the 40th anniversary will include speeches by the Lehendakari [first minister of the Basque government], the rector of the UPV/EHU, the academic director of the Summer Courses and representatives of the Organising Committee - Rafael Pardo, director of the BBVA Foundation; Eneko Goia, mayor of Donostia/San Sebastián; and Markel Olano, head of Gipuzkoa provincial authority-. It will be attended by members of the board, directors of the courses and the public and private bodies collaborating in the UPV/EHU Summer Courses.

At the event tribute will be paid to past directors of the Summer Courses Ricardo Echepare, José Luis de la Cuesta and Carmen Agoués, as well as to members of the staff of the Foundation over the last 40 years.

The event will end with a performance by the Orfeón Donostiarra choir.

The occasion includes the presentation of the book "Entre símbolos y palabras. 40 años de Cursos de Verano de la UPV/EHU" [Between Words and Symbols: 40 years of  UPV/EHU  Summer  Courses] by the lecturers from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the UPV/EHU Eduardo Herrera and Leire Fernández.

This book set out to synthesise in symbols and words the beginnings, development and identity of the UPV/EHU Summer Courses over the last forty years. Symbols and words that aim to recognise and identify an educational experience to complement the university in the summer months, one that already has a long history behind it. Symbols and words that, as powerful resources for expression, attempt to describe and express concepts and values of the public university's Summer Courses, put together in pursuit of the aspiration expressed by Ricardo Echepare at the end of his time as the first director of the Courses, "To carry on with renewed strength, recovering ideas."

The book begins by showing the origin of the symbol created by Eduardo Chillida to identify the Summer Courses, an extraordinary heritage that, in the words of its author, represents "an embrace that expresses the link with the University itself." A symbol to identify all of us, to unite and root the Summer Courses in this country, while at the same time looking to the future.

Then come forty words, each aiming to synthesis the most significant events at each of the forty editions of the Summer Courses held so far. Words that take on a figurative meaning concerning what has been said and done, and that have determined the attitude and actions of the Summer Courses over all these years.

And to finish off, there is a selection of posters from the different editions of the Summer Courses. Posters created by the students taking part in the Graphic Design Workshop, one of the activities that has formed part of the Summer Course programme for twenty years now, and which has always started out from words to create graphic symbols. Words intended to identify and interpret what the Summer Courses represents: what they do, why, for who, how and what is expected from them.

In short, symbols and words that come together in this book to try to express the concepts and values of the UPV/EHU Summer Courses over the last forty years as clearly as possible. Words and symbols that not only aim to declare or account for something, but also aim to serve as a driving force and a guide to carry on in the future.