Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

On 8 June 2018 the Autonomous University of Madrid celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a series of commemorative events, starting with a debate on university autonomy (after the scandal of the former president of the Community of Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes and her Master degree in the University Juan Carlos I). In the debate, called "Past, present and future (1968–2018)", the rector of the UAM Rafael Garesse, and the rectors of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Margarita Arboix, and the Basque Country, Nekane Balluerka participated. The university was founded in 1968 alongside the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the University of the Basque Country (UPV), in Barcelona and Bilbao, respectively.

The campus of the university spans a rural tract of 650 acres, mostly around metropolitan Madrid. Founded in 1968, its main campus, Cantoblanco, is located near the cities of Alcobendas, San Sebastián de los Reyes and Tres Cantos. UAM's Cantoblanco Campus holds most of the university's facilities. It is located 15 km north of Madrid and has an extension of over 2,200,000 m². Of these are nearly 770,000 urbanised and about a third of them garden areas. UAM offers 94 doctorate programs in all of the universities studies. It also offers 72 unrecognized master's degrees

The Stabilization Plan of 1959 and the development plans of the 1960s boosted the Spanish economy after years of austerity and the self-sufficiency-based economy. The end of diplomatic and economic isolation led to an economic boom in Spain that resulted in the consolidation of a middle class similar to that of other Western European nations. The demand of higher education increased, and the Spanish university system grew increasingly congested.