Universidad
Politécnica de Madrid

01.13.2025

Óscar García Suárez has taken office as rector of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) in a ceremony presided over by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid. Professor at School of Industrial Engineering, Óscar García Suárez was selected rector of the UPM on November 20th in the first round, obtaining 69.73% of the weighted vote and will be in charge of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid for the next six years. The new rector succeeded Guillermo Cisneros, who served the position for the last eight years.

García Suárez´s speech underscored that “without sufficient financing, our public universities cannot fulfill their essential social function, much less aspire to do so with excellence.” “But in addition, equally relevant is establishing a medium-term financing plan. This would allow public universities to plan and program the multi-year actions that we need with a strategic vision. I trust that the steps taken for the awaited Autonomous Universities Law will prioritize this aspect.”

Raising the UPM to its highest levels of excellence

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, congratulated the new rector and his team who will face new challenges within the framework of the Higher Education, Universities and Science Law, that “seeks to guarantee stable financing for universities, its functioning, which covers unique needs but also stimulates the achievement of resources by objectives, with effective incentives and also with tools for public-private collaboration.

The new team has the full support of the Community of Madrid to “raise the UPM to its highest levels of excellence (…) and to always be guided by the principles of freedom, transparency, plurality and of course the permanent search for quality,” said the president.

Addressing the new rector, Díaz Ayuso pointed out that “you will face a difficult and exciting task of consolidating and advancing the position of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid as one of the best institutions of higher education and research in Europe and worldwide preserving even more, the pride of taking part of the UPM”

Finally, the president of the Community of Madrid invoked the construction together of "a university that has devotion to truth, knowledge, innovation and service to science and real needs of society."

Challenges and goals for the upcoming years

“Generate knowledge, create new companies that bring wealth to the country and our community, attract international talent, increase industrial GDP and contribute to make Madrid a privileged place in Europe to study, work and live,” are some of the objectives set by Óscar García Suárez for the mandate that begins today.

Likewise, he added that "we have the opportunity to strengthen our organizational structure, reduce bureaucracy, review our degrees, modify and create new ones and speed up promotion processes, among other challenges."

“I wish the UPM become the best, a leading university that is a pole for talent and a reference in the academic and research fields. I aspire the UPM to be among the five best universities in the European Union and Latinoamerica,” he concluded.

Guillermo Cisneros, emeritus rector of the UPM

 “Love, understand and share are three verbs that I tried to exercise continuously,” Guillermo Cisneros, emeritus rector of the UPM, reminded the audience during his speech in which he thanked the UPM community for the support received during his term.

Reflecting on what a university should be, Cisneros described: “an institution for the constant generation and application of knowledge and for the constant transmission of that cutting-edge knowledge - to subsequent generations and as a service to society at the highest level of international recognition".

Cisneros assured that he ends “this beautiful journey much more in love with our UPM --started eight years ago- its capabilities, strength, understanding and its people.”