Prof. Concepción López took office as Rector today, after being elected in January to preside Spanish institution. UC’s EUNICE Office will become part of the Vice-Rectorate for University Transformation
Concepción López Fernández, Professor in the area of Business Organisation, is the new Rector of the University of Cantabria (UC, Spain), after obtaining the 55.64% of the votes, an absolute majority, in the elections held on 14 January 2025. Prof. López, who took office of her new position this morning, will be the first female Rector in UC’s history.
“The University must act as an engine of social, economic and cultural progress, bringing that knowledge to society and transforming it into innovation, sustainability and prosperity”, she said.
The new Rector
Founder of the Spanish Association of Family Business Researchers, Prof. Concepción López’ research activity focuses on strategy, entrepreneurship, innovation, organisational flexibility, and digital transformation with a special focus on family businesses. She has been Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies at UC (1996-2004), during which time she was also Vice-President of the Spanish Conference of Deans of Economics and Business, as well as a member of the Bologna Expert Team (2009-2013) during her time as Vice-Rector for Academic Planning, Teaching Staff and Internationalisation of UC (2006-2013).
At the Spanish national level, Prof. López has worked for the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation, where she was Director of the Faculty Evaluation Division in 2021, Secretary of the National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity, Coordinator of Equity and head of the Equality Unit. She has chaired the Special Commission for the Evaluation of Official Doctoral Programmes of the Catalan Agency for University Quality-AQU (2023) and the Accreditation Commission for University Teaching Staff C20 Business Sciences since December 2023.
Changes in EUNICE
In the next EUNICE General Assembly, that will take place in Viseu (Portugal) in early April, EUNICE’s Boards of Rectors will welcome Prof. Concepción López as a new member, replacing the outgoing UC’s Rector, Prof. Ángel Pazos, who has been highly committed to the university alliance since its very beginning.
In addition, one of Prof. Concepción López’ planned actions is to transfer EUNICE Office in UC from the Vice-Rectorate for Internationalisation and Global Engagement to the Vice-Rectorate for University Transformation, in line with the idea that UC has been advocating for years: institutionalising EUNICE and raising awareness of the fact that it is more that an internationalisation project, but a tool to foster the european strategy for universities. This new Vice-Rectorate will be led by Prof. Gabriel Moncalián, current member of the EUNICE’s Board of Directors and leader of the EUNICE’s work team of Communication, Impact and Dissemination.
Picture: Prof. Concepción López taking office as the Rector of the University of Cantabria, during the ceremony held on 14 February 2025, standing next to the outgoing Rector, Prof. Ángel Pazos.
