The institution first originated as the Escuela Politécnica Superior, a Polytechnic school open to young people in the region set up by Father José María Arizmendiarrieta in 1943. The current university was created in 1997 by the association of three existing educational cooperatives tied to Mondragon Corporation: Mondragon Goi Eskola Politeknikoa “Jose Mª Arizmendiarrieta” S. Coop., ETEO S. Coop., and Irakasle Eskola S. Coop. Until then, these three educational cooperatives were affiliated with the University of the Basque Country. The new entity was set up as a non-profit cooperative university, an unprecedented organizational structure in the Spanish landscape of private universities, with the aim of creating a university "close to the needs of businesses". The new university was officially recognised by the Basque Parliament on 30 May 1997.
Faculties
The university consists of four faculties:
Faculty of Engineering: it has three campuses, the main campus in Mondragón, the Goierri campus in Ordizia, and the Donostialdea campus, centered on energy and eco-engineering, in Hernani.
Faculty of Business Studies: it has two campuses, the original campus in Oñati, and the Bidasoa campus in Irun, which opened in 2003.
Faculty of Humanities and Education: it has an education-centered campus in Eskoriatza and an audiovisual communication-centered campus in Aretxabaleta.
Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences – Basque Culinary Center: based in San Sebastián, it opened in 2011.
In addition, the university contains a global network of social innovation ecosystem labs along with Mondragon team academy, The Innovation and Entrepreneurship unit of Mondragon University Business School. These social innovation labs are located in Irun, Oñati, Madrid, Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia, Shanghai, Queretaro, Seul, Puebla, Berlin, Pune and Seattle. memorial at the Mondragón campus.
Academic offering
Mondragon University works in seven different areas of knowledge:
This academic offer is aimed at young people who attend the university through different undergraduate degrees, new graduates who are offered different master's degrees and students who have finished the master or workers who wish to continue developing their skills through the wide range of offers for professionals. Nowadays, the University offer 33 university degrees and master's degrees, 19 of them are dual. Mondragon University also collaborates with Bizkaia Talent, the associative project of the Foral Government of Biscay to promote research, creation, innovation and knowledge in the historical territory of Biscay.
