The Present and Future of Academical Dress in Spain: Catalogue of Guidelines on the Use of Academical Dress and its Colours in Spanish Universities
Transactions of the Burgon Society
The Present and Future of Academical Dress in Spain: Catalogue of Guidelines on the Use of Academical Dress and its Colours in Spanish Universities
María Teresa Galino Mateos
Jerónimo Hernández de Castro
Francisca de Paula Saravia González
Jonathan C. Cooper
Harper Adams University
Follow this and additional works at: http://newprairiepress.org/burgonsociety Recommended Citation Galino Mateos, María Teresa; Hernández de Castro, Jerónimo; de Paula Saravia González, Francisca; and Cooper, Jonathan C. (2014) "The Present and Future of Academical Dress in Spain: Catalogue of Guidelines on the Use of Academical Dress and its Colours in Spanish Universities," Transactions of the Burgon Society: Vol. 14. https://doi.org/10.4148/2475-7799.1120
-
Article 8
The Present and Future of Academical Dress in Spain:
Catalogue of Guidelines on the Use of Academical Dress
and its Colours in Spanish Universities
Translated by Jonathan C. Cooper1
Introduction
Tprofessionals in Spanish universities who are responsible for the organization of
acahe Association for the Study of University Protocol,2 founded in 1997, brings together
demic ceremonies, university traditions, as well as the new activities derived from those
traditions which maintain the university in its place.
In the course of the activities of the Association it soon became apparent that it was
necessary to understand with the greatest possible degree of accuracy ways in which
academical dress was used and that it was important to establish a catalogue of suggestions
on its use and of the current use of colours. The fruits of this labour, co-ordinated by the
authors of this article, were elaborated in such a Catalogue.
Furthermore, the Conference of Spanish University Rectors3 considered these efforts
and, through its Sub-Committee of General Secretaries at its meeting held at the
University of Cádiz in 2008, it was agreed to forward this Catalogue of Guidelines on the use of
Academical Dress and its Colours to universities to serve as an indicative guide. The first
printed edition was presented to participants of the 9th Conference of University Protocol
and Institutional Relations Officers and 1st Luso-Hispanic Conference of University
Protocol,4 held at the University of Salamanca in 2010. It is intended to be a tool for
professionals and for all those who are drawn to the rich cultural and symbolic heritage, brought
up-to-date by each institution independently. The Conference of Spanish University
Rectors established a Sub-Committee on Communication which includes a Working Group on
Protocol and Institutional Relations which, among its other objectives, gives due attention
to such matters.
1 The title in Spanish is ‘Presente y futuro del traje académico en España. Catálogo de
orientaciones sobre el uso del traje académico y sus colores en las universidades españolas’. The translator
thanks Br Michael Powell for helpful comments on the translation.
2 Asociación para el estudio y la investigación del protocolo universitario.
3 Conferencia de Rectores de las Universidades Españolas.
4 IX Encuentro de responsables de protocolo y relaciones institucionales de universidades y
I Encontro hispano-luso de protocolo universitario.
Efforts were co-ordinated by the Association for the Study of University Protocol
and preparation was by María Teresa Galino Mateos (Complutense University of Madrid),
Francisca de Paula Saravia González (University of Córdoba) and Jerónimo Hernández
de Castro (University of Salamanca), with contributions from Spanish universities, and is
available at http://bit.ly/1jJgZyb.5
Publication was made possible by the cooperation of the Conference of Spanish
University Rectors, with the sponsorship of the Office of the 8th Centenary of the University of
Salamanca and Santander Universities.
Academical dress: present and future
University protocol and ceremonial have their origins in university traditions, in the
regulations which govern them and in the practices and capacities of universities, which make
them different from any other institutions.
Preserving university protocol is important because it is the means by which
universities manifest their autonomy and because it is a significant component of the cultural
heritage of the universities and one of their distinctive features.
Most of the symbols which come together to make up university ceremonial have
been maintained throughout history, thanks to the fact that the regulations which
governed the workings of the universities also applied to this aspect of their activities and
adapted to changes. Academical dress is possibly one of the strongest symbols of university
protocol.
However, since the mid-twentieth century and, principally, since the approval of
legislation on university reform passed in 1983,6 regulations on the function and organization
of universities have omitted all mention of protocol and its symbols. These changes have
caused (...truncated)