- The Chair will go ahead with the planned activities for 2020, subject to how the health crisis develops
- The two pending doctoral theses are set to begin
The Fundación Cepsa Chair at the University of Cadiz (UCA), located at the Polytechnic School of Algeciras, held its spring committee meeting electronically due to the state of emergency currently in force in Spain.
The committee meeting was attended by María Jesús Mosquera, Vice-Rector of Scientific Policy; María del Mar Cerbán, Vice-Rector of the Bahía de Algeciras Campus; Ignacio Turias, Coordinator of the UCA Chairs; Gabriel González, Head of the Polytechnic School of Algeciras; as well as other members of the University and Francisco Trujillo, Director of the Fundación Cepsa Chair. Representatives of Cepsa's Talent Management area represented Fundación Cepsa at the meeting, with Jesús Velasco, Estrella Blanco and Juan José Gómez representing the foundation in Andalusia, Canary Islands and Campo de Gibraltar respectively.
The committee has reviewed the activities carried out in 2019, which the Fundación Cepsa Chair announced at the beginning of the year with the publication of its report, and the activities planned for 2020. It is hoped that this year's activities will take place after the summer, pending approval of the budget for 2020 and depending on how the health crisis develops.
In addition, the doctoral theses on the determination of volatile and aromatic compounds in paraffin and the operation optimization of biological reactors at the Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery will begin once UCA has completed the doctorate selection process.
Nearly 280 students at the Polytechnic School of Algeciras benefited last year from a wide range of activities, such as: the remotely taught seminar in refining in collaboration with the Fundación Cepsa Chairs at the universities of Seville and Huelva; the Fundación Cepsa Chair Awards; internships at Cepsa's facilities in San Roque; the specialization in oil refining training program; the launching of the Training Paths program; and the completion of theses at Cepsa. Additionally, many students from all over the Bahía de Algeciras Campus benefited from the employability training initiative Powering You Experience. The virtual training classroom was also opened in 2019, with funding from the Fundación Cepsa Chair, which will be used to develop online training courses.
Cepsa Chairs of Andalusia
Cepsa continues to work alongside academia. The Fundación Cepsa-managed chairs at the universities of Huelva, Seville and Cádiz are growing thanks to the contributions and dedication of professionals from all these organizations to help improve training, innovation and research.
The Cepsa Chairs of Andalusia have allowed thousands of students to gain first-hand experience of a real working environment, while bringing university professors closer to the reality of industry in Andalusia. Exchanges between technicians and professors have allowed them to hone their skills and apply their newly gained expertise in their daily work. For all these reasons, today Cepsa is a great ally of universities in Andalusia.