The opening day of the CIRIEC-Spain researchers’ congress in Jaén also served as the closing and summary session for the 6th University Week of Social Economy, held from March 24 to April 3. With the latest registered activities during the #SemanaUniversitariaES 2025, around 150 events were organized in 36 universities across Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. Participation is estimated at around 5,000 people, marking yet another success for the ENUIES Network, the Interuniversity Research Network on Social Economy affiliated to CIRIEC-Spain.
This 6th edition featured memorable moments, such as the day at the University of Valencia, organized by IUDESCOOP on March 25, which focused on social economy initiatives to support villages affected by the devastating floods in southern and western Valencia in October 2024.
Another highlight was the CIRIEC-Spain Awards for Best Studies in Social Economy and the tribute in Valencia to the cooperatives Anecoop, Consum, and Caixa Popular—not only for their response to the floods but also for their long-standing collaboration in social economy research and education with CIRIEC and universities.
A major event was also the Chair of Social Economy and Cooperativism at the Public University of Navarre, which on April 1, along with the Navarra Social Economy Association (ANEL), held its session at the Parliament of Navarre to present the results of their EdukaCoop project.
Highly significant too was the event by the Cooperative Studies Center (CECOOP) at the University of Santiago de Compostela, which launched the Social Economy Statistics Portal of Galicia (GALESTAT)—joining VALESTAT (Valencian Community), CLMESTAT (Castilla-La Mancha), ARAESTAT (Aragon), and CIRIECSTAT on a national level.
Another major event took place on March 28 at the Complutense University of Madrid, organized by the EESCOOP Specialization School and AECOOP, focusing on the draft law to promote social economy in Spain. That same day, the EESCOOP Awards were presented to Carmen Marcuello and Carlos Vargas for their academic and research careers, as well as to IUDESCOOP and UNIDE at the institutional level, along with several research project awards.
A major new feature this year was the rollout of a new Network of Social Economy Chairs across the ten public Andalusian universities. Each chair organized numerous activities involving key regional cooperatives and social economy entities, along with hundreds of students. Additionally, a new Chair in Social Economy was launched at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Other standout universities included the Catholic University of Ávila, which held activities every day of the initiative, and the University of Zaragoza, which originally initiated this collective event and continues to offer a wide range of programming each year.
Significant participation also came from the Universities of Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, Polytechnic of Cartagena, and La Laguna, along with universities from Portugal and Latin America, specifically: Polytechnic University of Porto (Portugal), Cooperative University of Colombia (UCC), National University of Tres de Febrero (UNTREF – Argentina), São Paulo State University (UNESP – Brazil), and the University of Santiago de Chile.
ENUIES Network and CIRIEC-Spain express deep gratitude for the broad participation of public administration representatives—national, regional, and local—as well as numerous agents from the social economy sector. Organizations such as CEPES, Agro-food Cooperatives, COCETA, LABORPAR, ANEL, various regional confederations, FOROESGAL, Cajasiete, and many more were involved.
