The University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) was the second public university that recorded highest growth in terms of new students in the academic year 2016-2017, according to the advance of the last University Students Statistics made public by the Ministry of Education. A total of 5,348 new students chose the UCLM to study a Bachelor Degree, 416 more than in the previous academic year with 4,932 incoming students that were enrolled for the first time, which represents the second greatest increase in absolute terms of the group of public universities. If these data are extrapolated to relative terms, with an increase of 8.4 percent, the regional university was the first public institution of higher education with a higher growth concerning new enrollments.

The increase of 8.4 percent of incoming students enrolled in a Bachelor Degree registered at the University of Castilla-La Mancha contrasts with the general trend, since public campuses lost 6,562 new students in the academic year 2016-2017, with a reduction of 2.3 percent. Private universities, with face-to-face interaction, also suffered a setback, with a reduction of 0.2 percent.

The University Students Statistical advance 2016-17 reveals that only the group of private universities—with distance education—increased the acquisition of new students with a rise of 1,791 students, but it does not compensate for the fall among other types of universities, yielding a negative balance for the group of the Spanish University System of almost less 5,000 incoming students.

In recent months, reports that highlight different aspects of the higher education and the academic offer of the UCLM have been made public. Aspects such as those from the EVERIS Foundation, in which companies placed UCLM graduates as the third best prepared from Spain in various disciplines; those from Health Ministry, regarding the MIR results ('Médico Interno Residente', Resident Medical Intern) in which the UCLM reached the fifth best position in medicine; or those from the Ministry of Education regarding the employability of university graduates, in which UCLM is ranked among the best in the country in the majority of the bachelor degrees offered.

These results in the area of higher education are accompanied by progress in other areas, making it possible, for example, that the UCLM has been ranked among the best universities in the world by the global rankings developed by institutions such as US News, Times Higher Education (THE), Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), or Jiao Tong University (Shanghai). This year, the UCLM has been recognized with its inclusion in the list of the top 200 young universities in the world and enjoys the distinction of International Campus of Excellence. In addition to this, it has been consolidated with maximum score permanently.

Office of Communications, UCLM. Ciudad Real, 2017