University of the Basque Country

The Basque Autonomous Community's University of the Basque Country is a public university in Spain. It was founded in 1955 as a result of the merger of the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences of Sarriko, the Faculty of Medicine of Bilbao, and the Faculty of Sciences of Bilbao (1968). The Nautical School (1784), the School of Business Studies of Bilbao (1818), and the Technical Schools of Engineers (1897) all joined after the General Law of Education (1970), until it expanded into the complex of thirty centers it is now.

The university's dispersion of faculty and schools is one of its distinguishing features. The University of the Basque Country has three campuses, one for each of the Basque Autonomous Community's three provinces. Campuses in Biscay (Leioa, Bilbao, Portugalete, and Barakaldo), Gipuzkoa (San Sebastián and Eibar), and Vitoria-Gasteiz (Lava). It stands out as the Basque Country's primary research institution, doing 90 percent of the country's basic research and benefiting from the region's favorable industrial climate.

Established: 1980