Complutense University of Madrid

The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of Pozuelo de Alarcón. It is named after the ancient Roman settlement of Complutum, now an archeological site in Alcalá de Henares, just east of Madrid.

The Complutense is one of the most historically relevant universities in Spain and in the world, and arguably the most intimately entwined with the development of the Spanish state. Both the Palacio de la Moncloa (the Prime Minister's official residence) and the Spanish Constitutional Court are located directly on the university's campus grounds. The university has trained numerous Spanish Prime Ministers, EU Commissioners, and NATO Secretaries-General, as well as members of the Spanish Royal House over the centuries. By Royal Decree of 1857, the Central University was the first and only institution in Spain authorized to grant doctorate degrees throughout the Spanish Empire, which established it as the "Docta" (the Learned), making it the ultimate intellectual authority in Spain. This power was decentralized in the late 20th century, but the Complutense retained much of its historical precedence to the present day.

It enrolls over 86,000 students, making it the eighth largest non-distance European university by enrollment. In 1909, the Central University became one of the first universities in the world to grant a doctorate degree to a woman. It was renamed as ('University of Madrid') in 1943. Provided by Wikipedia