Partner Institutions

The University of Deusto (UD) is a not-for-profit university, managed by the Society of Jesus and established in 1886 in the Basque Country. UD has two main campuses at the city centres of Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastián, and smaller units in Vitoria-Gasteiz and Madrid. UD was accredited as an International Campus of Excellence in 2015. 

UD has currently over 12,000 students in degree-granting official programmes. Around 15% of the students are international. Beyond the School involved in this project, Deusto Business School, the UD has five other Schools (Law, Engineering, Education and Psychology, Social Sciences and Humanities, and Theology) and 12 research institutes.

Deusto Business School (DBS), which is the oldest Business School in Spain (established in 1916) and is currently in the last stage of international accreditation at AACSB. DBS has a total of 80 permanent full-time academics, plus 20 permanent researchers at the Orkestra research centre. There are more than 2,000 students registered in official degrees (Bachelor and Master’s level) at DBS. 

DBS’ mission according to the 2025 Strategic Plan is:

• To contribute, in collaboration with other agents, to a fairer, more inclusive and wealthier world, providing solutions to the most relevant challenges of our society and of organisations, training and accompanying professionals who may promote and lead sustainable enterprises in a global context, and generating interdisciplinary knowledge.

Within this mission, a number of initiatives, like the Bizkaia Financial hub, the ESG Finance Summer Programme or the Bizkaia ESG Finance Summit have been organised in recent years. DBS professors actively participate at Spainsif, the reference platform on sustainable and responsible investment in Spain. Besides, DBS research linked to this field includes Measuring impact, Non-financial accounting reports, Humanistic Management, and Ignatian Leadership among other.

The UD has been very active in international Project Management since 1989, coordinating large projects such as the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Windows, Erasmus Mundus Masters Programmes, Marie Curie Initial Training Networks, a Thematic Network on Humanitarian Action, and co-directing (with the University of Groningen, the Tuning Higher Education Structures project, both in Europe and in Latin America. Since 2017 it has created a specific unit, the Erasmus Projects Management Unit (UGPE) to enhance Eramus+ Projects, which will be actively engaged in this project. It has experience successfully managing more than 35 Erasmus+ programmes.