Universidad CEU San Pablo has been awarded the 2026 Zairi International Award for Excellence in Higher Education in the “Disruptive Education” category for its international project “Worldwide Career Opportunities in Pharmacy, Biotechnology, and Nutrition through Mentorship,” developed by the School of Pharmacy in collaboration with the Université Paris-Saclay in France and the Università degli Studi di Torino in Italy.
The award was announced on September 29 in Dubai during the opening ceremony of the seventh edition of the MENA Higher Education Leadership Forum (MENA-HELF). Her Excellency Ohood Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Government Development and the Future of the United Arab Emirates, presented the award, which was accepted on the University’s behalf by the Vice Rector for Internationalization, Ainhoa Uribe, and professors from the School of Pharmacy: Paola Otero and Carmen Pérez García. They are, respectively, the Vice Rector’s Office for Internationalization attaché and the Faculty’s Vice Dean, and served as coordinators of the award-winning project.
The minister’s presence at the ceremony reinforced one of the event’s central messages: the need for universities to anticipate major social, technological, and professional changes and prepare their students for scenarios that are still taking shape. In this context, the recognition of Universidad CEU San Pablo highlights an educational model that combines internationalization, pedagogical innovation, mentoring, and direct connections to the professional world.
The Zairi International Awards for Excellence in Higher Education honor said institutions for innovative and transformative initiatives. The “Disruptive Education” category specifically recognizes projects able to rethink traditional teaching and learning models, as well as offer new solutions to students’ needs in a constantly evolving international environment.
The award-winning initiative launched in 2021 with the goal of broadening Pharmacy, Biotechnology and Nutrition students’ professional horizons through direct contact with experts and professionals from different countries. Since then, it has fostered an international network of more than 170 professionals affiliated with 171 institutions in 15 countries and has involved over 400 students and 47 faculty members.
The award recognizes the team of 17 faculty members, led by Carmen Pérez, Paola Otero, Carolina Hurtado, Rocío de la Iglesia, and Fernanda Rey-Stolle, who have collaborated with their French and Italian partners with the support of the Vice Rectorate for Internationalization.
The program has also established itself as part of the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programs (BIP), combining international online learning with in-person activities and fostering the creation of learning communities that transcend the boundaries of individual universities. Its innovative nature had already been recognized internationally with its selection as a finalist for the 2025 QS Reimagine Education Awards due to its impact and potential for transfer to other university contexts.
Universidad CEU San Pablo’s participation in the 7th MENA Higher Education Leadership Forum was rounded out by two presentations as part of the academic program. The Vice Rector for Internationalization, Ainhoa Uribe, presented “Global Citizenship as a Strategic Imperative: The CEU San Pablo Case,” an overview of the university’s comprehensive internationalization model and its commitment to incorporating global citizenship into the students’ educational experience.
For their part, Paola Otero and Carmen Pérez presented the paper “Advancing Pharmacy Educators’ Capacity to Create Inclusive Learning Communities: A Transnational Faculty Development Approach for Equity and Social Impact,” based on the Erasmus+ FPD-Include project, led by the University of Bergen, in which the universities of Utrecht and Helsinki collaborate alongside the CEU team (Paola Otero, Carmen Pérez, Julio Sevillano, Fernanda Rey-Stolle, and Ángela García) to enhance faculty capabilities.
The forum is a prominent gathering of leaders and representatives from the education field in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) with a global reach. With this recognition, Universidad CEU San Pablo consolidates its presence in the leading international forums on university innovation and reinforces a strategy in which internationalization is not viewed solely as academic mobility, but as a cross-cutting dimension of education, teaching innovation, and students’ professional preparation.