IE University will inaugurate the IE Tower in September 2021 to promote education as key to sustainable development
Madrid: IE University will inaugurate IE Tower, its new vertical, technological and sustainable headquarters in the north of Madrid, in September of this year as part of its mission to promote education as the key to sustainable development. The announcement is timed to coincide with International Education Day, which will take place on Sunday, January 24, to highlight one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. IE Tower reinforces IE University’s commitment to drive positive change through education, research and innovation. The event reaffirms Madrid’s position as a leading global educational hub.
At 180 meters high, with 35 floors covering 50,000 square meters, and 7,000 square meters of green space, IE Tower has the capacity for 6,000 students. One of the few high-rise university centers in the world, it is designed to be a benchmark for innovation and technology in education, and has also been built with sustainability criteria and maximum energy efficiency in mind. Over the course of 2021, IE University will promote the development of social impact initiatives as part of its sustainability strategy within the framework of its ‘Ten-Year Challenge’, which sets annual goals to promote sustainability within the institution between 2020 and 2030. With this objective, IE University endeavors to train resilient people, aware of their potential for change and capable of having a positive impact on the community.
Students from all of IE University’s undergraduate programs, who come from 140 countries, will study at IE Tower, which joins four other high-rise buildings in the business complex driving growth in northern Madrid. From its new headquarters, IE University will promote urban and social transformation initiatives, energize the capital’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and develop new collaborative projects with international companies. The new campus joins IE University’s current locations in the Spanish capital’s nearby financial district, for those students participating in master’s and executive education programs, as well as the historic campus in Segovia, in the 13th century Convent of Santa Cruz la Real, for undergraduate students.
“IE Tower marks a milestone in the history of IE University. Our new innovative and sustainable campus, nearly 200 meters high, will promote a new way of relating within and outside our institution and will enrich the experience of our students,” said Santiago Iñiguez, President of IE University. “Our goal is to make an impact on their lives and on the world through inclusive, equitable and quality education, and to promote lifelong learning opportunities in line with the objectives of the United Nations. Education is key to sustainable development.”
President Iñiguez highlighted health and safety guarantees on IE University’s campuses. “This year we have designed health protocols that have gone beyond the recommendations of the authorities: we have carried out more than 16,000 tests, we have monitored the health of students and teachers daily through our app, we have a health passport to control access to our buildings. Our new headquarters will have the same health safety protocols, which will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.”
Spaces for technological immersion
IE Tower classrooms will be equipped with the technology to simultaneously deliver face-to-face and online sessions. Students will experience technological immersion, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence applied to their programs. The new building will have 64 classrooms with a flexible configuration and 30 unique spaces that will favor interaction, innovation, and creativity, as well as open areas on various floors to promote social and cultural experiences. Among the main spaces will be a Venture Lab to accelerate the creation of startups, a FabLab to develop architecture and design projects, and an auditorium with the capacity for 600 people. IE University’s new headquarters will have more than 7,000 square meters of green space as well as sports facilities, including a heated swimming pool, gymnasium, and sports courts, and also art exhibition areas, rehearsal and micro-concert spaces, and reading and meditation areas.
During the 2020-2021 academic year, IE University launched its strategic commitment to liquid learning, an educational model that transforms the educational experience. Programs have an innovative design that integrates classroom learning on campus, hybrid sessions with some students in class and others connected online who enjoy the same immersive experience, and asynchronous sessions to encourage individual work. With more than 20 years of experience in the design of online training programs, IE University is a pioneer in Europe and is considered among the best institutions in the world for its online MBA programs in leading international rankings such as the Financial Times.