UNED Torrevieja marked the opening of the 2026–2027 academic year on Tuesday 20 October by honouring its first Early Childhood Education graduates and students who passed university entrance examinations for people aged over 25 and over 45.
The ceremony took place at the Virgen del Carmen cultural centre, the same venue where the local university teaching centre began its activities four years earlier.
Nuria López Sánchez, Erin Marie Mcnish Procter and Andrea Husken Hernández collected their graduation diplomas, although not everyone who had completed the degree attended.
Speaking on behalf of the new educators, Andrea Husken described adapting to an independent, demanding and disciplined way of studying with support from tutorials and fellow students.
Recognition for adult learners
The centre’s coordinator, Jesucristo Riquelme, also highlighted the effort made by people returning to education after years or decades away from the classroom.
Antonia Cruz shared her experience of the university access course and explained the path that has enabled her to begin studying Psychology after retirement.
Lecturer Ana Isabel Pérez Caselles congratulated the graduates; councillors Federico Alarcón and Ricardo Recuero, whose responsibilities include universities, were among those attending.
Plans for the new academic year
Riquelme reviewed the Early Childhood Education, Psychology and university access provision and outlined preparations for a third degree, Communication, rather than presenting it as an already available course.
He also discussed the application for UNED Torrevieja to become an Instituto Cervantes examination centre, with obtaining Spanish nationality among the aims of the initiative.
The university extension programme includes Universidad Abierta, Cine Crítico, exhibitions, books and a conference on the Generation of ’27 planned for November.
Francisco Escudero Galante, director of the associated centre in Elche, delivered the inaugural lecture on Miguel Hernández, childhood and the values expressed in his work.
Pianist Sergio Martínez Blasco, viola player Stanislav Tkach and soprano Susanna Vardayan provided the ceremony’s music, concluding their programme with Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
The graduates also received a commemorative salt boat made by craftsman Vicente Martínez.
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