29 years have passed since the former Franciscan convent opened its doors for the first time to the Adeje Summer Courses, the embryo of the current Summer University of the southern municipality. On July 15, 1993, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, the socialist Fernando Morán, then an MEP, was in charge of giving the inaugural lecture, focused on the role of the Ibero-American community in the UN.
Mayor José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga’s personal commitment to bringing culture and training closer to his neighbors, mostly dedicated to construction and services in full tourist development in the South, has been consolidated over time. Proper names such as former president Felipe González, former director general of UNESCO Federico Mayor Zaragoza, judge Baltasar Garzón or philosopher Sami Nair, among other personalities, have left their mark on the southern forum over the years.
After the restrictions of the pandemic, the Summer University of Adeje (UVA) is back this year with a vengeance and is doing so by recovering the face-to-face format, once the restrictions due to the pandemic have been deactivated. Between July 18 and 22, a wide range of training will be offered, with 11 three-day courses and nine one-afternoon workshops. The registration period will open next Monday and the cost of registration will be 25 euros, in the case of courses, and 10 for workshops.
In this year’s edition, the central theme of the courses will revolve around emotional well-being and health, and, in line with the commitment, the inaugural speaker will be the pedagogue specializing in emotional intelligence Mar Romera, author of several books aimed at school and childhood.
At the presentation ceremony, the rector of the University of La Laguna, Rosa Aguilar, highlighted the return to face-to-face courses, which she described as “very important”, because “this summer university is not only a teaching proposal, but a meeting point for students.
In addition, he highlighted the close collaboration with the Adeje City Council, materialized in the start-up of a university campus and the development of the EBAU tests in its municipal facilities for two years.
At the event, held in the Aula Magna of the ULL, which was also attended by the Vice-Rector for Culture and Social Participation, Juan Albino Méndez, and the Councilor for Culture, María Rosario Clavijo, the poster announcing the courses was presented, a work by the artist Oriol Cruz, which combines views of buildings in the southern municipality from different perspectives with people of different ages and ethnicities.
The eleven courses that will be taught will be the following: Communication, loss and mourning, by Alfonso Miguel García, Participation and community development in my neighborhood (Vicente Zapata), Performing arts for the development of communication skills (Javier Rivero), Anthropology of death (Alfonso García), Direction and management of Social Services after the pandemic (Juan Manuel Herrera), Cognitive biases (Christian Rosales), Are there differences between men and women? (Ángela Torbay), The image is nothing, the story is everything (Patricia Delponti), The eruption of Cumbre Vieja in La Palma (Candelaria Martín), Emotional intelligence (Christian Rosales) and Integration of the SDGs in operations and communication of small and medium-sized organizations (Patricia Delponti).
The planned workshops are: Mental Health, by Eduardo Vera, Spanish Sign Language (Carmen Rodríguez), Science and pseudosciences (Luis Capote), Mindfulness and positive psychology (Teresa Miró), New employment contracts after labor reforms ( Dulce Cairós), Grassroots sport as a tool for values education (Pablo Caneiro) and Botanical-themed trails (Victoria Martín).