Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia

In 1978 Pope John Paul II promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which made allowance, in Article 3.3, for the establishment of Catholic universities by laypersons. By the wording of this document,

UCAM the plan of founder and president José Luis Mendoza, was the first such university to be established under the new conditions presented in the Article. Mendoza, a strongly homophobic member of the Neocatechumenal Way, the Pontifical Council for the Family and father of 14 children with ties to the far-right party Vox, served as president of the university.

At its establishment in 1996, UCAM attended approximately 600 students. As of 2026, its students were 21,386.

UCAM's stance toward the secular world is informed by this notion, as can be seen in the Letter from the President introducing English-speaking foreign students to UCAM. According to Mendoza, the university has:"a vocation both to teach and evangelise in the academic, scientific and cultural world and provide an instrument in Faith to solve the many questions and problems of contemporary society and in this way contribute to social, cultural and human development and progress".Nowadays, the university has a wide range of national and international partnerships with institutions such as EU Business School, Sevilla FC, CDEI Business School, CESAE Business & Tourism School, etc.

UCAM promotes theological and philosophical research, and thus areas such as anthropology, social doctrine, ethics, bioethics and humanities play a leading role in all degree programmes.

International conferences are organised every year. In some of these, illustrious personalities from the religious, scientific and political world have taken part. Examples include the then Cardinal Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) or the former head of the Spanish government José María Aznar; Kiko Argüello, founder of the Neocatechumenal Way; Javier Echevarría Rodríguez, prelate of Opus Dei; the journalist José María García and the orthopaedic surgeon Pedro Guillén.

Other research is focused on the field of nutrition and health, in collaboration with other institutions. There are currently 17 official doctoral programmes and different lines of research. Among the research programmes, the international doctorate in collaboration with the FOM - Fachhochschule fuer Oekonomie und Management of Germany is worth mentioning.