The Council of Salamanca and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology lead a Project to select five scientists in the city, capable of being at the head of other research groups.
The Program for the Attraction of Scientific Talent is supplied with 2,5 million euro, allocated for the contracting of researchers. The call, which has been closed in September, was open to professionals of all nationalities who had obtained a PhD in the last three years. It is evident that the call was a success, with a total of 170 candidates presenting their proposals, which are now being directed by Mariano Barbacid.
Two main activities that give sense to universities, are teaching of tertiary knowledge and research. In order to be able to do both, it is necessary to rely on people who have the necessary capabilities and who know how to move on a global market. This is what it has been like for centuries in the University of Salamanca; this allows us to have a network of graduates what facilitates exchange and collaboration. A project like that of the University of Salamanca and FECYT contribute to making this mobility two-way. We export talent and we receive it, so that the system advances and strengthens, we have to pursue having the greatest talents.
The model is exportable to the whole University, because for all of this to work it is necessary to have professionals who will certify their capabilities and merits in teaching, in research and also in management. The latter task, often not very attractive to the University ensemble, is necessary if we want to perform other tasks satisfactorily. Here we also talk of risk, we not only have to get the design of the model right for both middle and long term but also the execution of plans and every day management, of both the universities themselves as well as those that develop their activity in them (professors, administration and services staff and students) as well as the relations with the rest of the actors in the system: administrations, public and private businesses, professional regulators, associations, etcetera.
