A five-member delegation from UC Davis and the UC Office of the President are in Spain this week to study and discuss a Spanish corporation’s interest in building a comprehensive branch campus of an American university outside Madrid. Several months ago, a Madrid-based educational consulting firm, Onion Education, approached UC Davis on behalf of a client — Manuel Jove Capellan, and his investment holding company, Inveravante — to gauge UC Davis’ interest in creating a branch campus about 20 miles south of Madrid.

Onion is discussing the project with more than a half-dozen American research universities. As envisioned, Inveravante would design, develop, build and maintain the physical campus, including student and faculty residences. The participating American university would pay an annual rent for the facilities. The new campus would serve all of Europe and North Africa, and there would be opportunities for students on both campuses to study abroad.

Pictured at the proposed site are (left to right): Juan Marti, president and founder of Onion Education; Santiago Blasco Martin, executive director, Spain, for Inveravante; Harold Levine, dean of the UC Davis School of Education; and Jean-Xavier Guinard, UC Davis’ associate vice provost of international programs.