"The most efficient and intelligent governments in the world support their universities, establish scholarship programs with good economic endowments aimed at students with fewer resources, favor the attraction of international talent and establish basal funding formulas for the most promising research centers". These are the words of Alfonso Sánchez Tabernero during the official opening of the academic year 2019-20. The President underlined the respect and collaborative activity between universities and other institutions as points of support to drive progress in society. "Navarra has an excellent university system, with high quality centers, which provide a very broad study options , and which work in great harmony. The Public University of Navarra, the UNED and the University of Navarra constitute a great opportunity to boost prosperity, cohesion and the scientific and cultural development of Navarra." 

At 10:00 a.m., a Mass was celebrated by the auxiliary bishop of Pamplona, Monsignor Juan Antonio Aznárez. Afterwards, the academic ceremony began with the parade of 225 doctors from the different faculties to the classroom Magna of Central Building. Among other authorities in attendance were the President of the Government of Navarra, María Chivite; the President of the Parliament of Navarra, Unai Hualde; the Minister of Universities, Juan Cruz Cigudosa; the Mayor of Pamplona, Enrique Maya; the President of the Superior Court of Justice of Navarra, Joaquín Galve; the Attorney General, José Antonio Sánchez; the President of the Public University of Navarra, Ramón Gonzalo and Carmén Jusué, Director of the UNED in Pamplona. The musical part of the ceremony was performed by the choir of the Bidasoa International Ecclesiastical College.  

The importance of precision nutrition

The University Secretary, Gonzalo Robles, took the floor first to detail the most significant figures and data of the activity at the University during the 2018-19 academic year. Then, the Full Professor of Nutrition and President of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences, Alfredo Martínez Hernández, gave the inaugural lecture, based on the latest advances towards precision nutrition, as part of personalized medicine.

Alfredo Martínez spoke about Nutrigenetics, or the study of the interaction of genes with nutrition and specific foods. He also referred to precision nutrition, which studies the genetic components of the individual and other variables such as medical history, age, sex, physical activity, psycho-emotional and social state, in order to achieve more effective assessments and personalised diets.

This new concept thus achieves improvements in health and advances in the individualised treatment of people with obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular, neurological, digestive and kidney diseases, as well as oncology patients.

"A personalized per diem expenses with distinctive genome-based dietary approaches could be an effective way of medically controlling weight and prescribing diets with different macronutrient composition. This has been the subject of several University of Navarra patents, some of which have been licensed to a pharmaceutical laboratory in Navarra, so that its application today is not utopian but a promising reality," he explained.

The professor pointed out that one of the most notable scientific advances in the field of medical nutrition is precisely the development of the so-called nutriomic sciences, which address the global study of genes for a better knowledge of metabolism and the diagnosis of health or prognosis of disease, with the aim of prescribing an exclusive precision nutrition for each person. "A dietetically balanced nutrition is the main element not only in the maintenance of health, but also in the prevention and treatment of disease as has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO)," he recalled.

innovation in educationresearch and collaboration between institutions

The academic ceremony concluded with the speech of President . The vocation of service, the innovation in educationThe words of Alfonso Sánchez Tabernero focused on the vocation for service, the commitment to research and collaboration between universities and institutions. The President advocated continuing to promote innovative and formative teaching programs that attract students from all over the world. "Three figures reflect that we are moving in that direction: the grade average of the 2,200 students who began their studies at Degree last September was 8.11 out of 10; the students' evaluation of their university experience last year was 4.1 out of 5 and international students now account for more than 25%," he said.

He then referred to the good news that closed the 18-19 academic year, the third place obtained by the University of Navarra in the Times Higher Education ranking in teaching, behind the campus of Oxford and Cambridge.

Sánchez Tabernero had words of remembrance for the first President of the University, Professor Ismael Sánchez Bella, who passed away in December 2018. "It seems like a funny joke or an act of poetic justice that, a few months after the death of Don Ismael, that small Estudio General that he started six decades ago has appeared in a ranking next to the two mythical English universities that he longed to resemble."

Among other academic novelties, he cited new master's programmes that are being launched: the Executive Master's in Big Data Science and the Master's in Business Management Pharmabio Tech, in the Alumni building in Madrid, and the Master's in Management, at IESE.  

A major commitment of the Clinic

Together with the innovation in teaching, the President highlighted the research projects carried out by the University, increasingly interdisciplinary and with larger teams, which have obtained new funds, both from public calls and from the business world.

He then addressed an ambitious project of the Clinic, which in the coming months will start up a large proton radiotherapy infrastructure in Madrid. "This is a technological innovation, a pioneer in our country, which will make it possible to initiate a new line of frontier research, with the aim of finding effective therapies against cancer." Sánchez Tabernero affirmed that the Clinic has consolidated its presence in Madrid, while maintaining its level of activity in Pamplona, and recalled the first place achieved for the fifth consecutive year in the MERCO index of the reputation of private hospitals in Spain. 

In this regard, he cited IESE's leadership, at the top of the Financial Times' world ranking for executive education, and that, according to The Economist, it offers the best MBA program in Europe. "These awards encourage us to continue undertaking service-oriented projects, such as the research centers, the Art Museum and campus in Madrid, which this year will offer eleven master's degree programs," he said.

"We are and always will be a University that aspires to be at the frontier of science, with a vocation of service, non-profit, committed to the intellectual growth and staff of students and that is inspired by the great proposals of Christian thought to face contemporary challenges," he concluded.