Vice-Rector for Knowledge Valorization, Transfer and Employability

María Ercilia García Álvarez

The Vice-Rectorate for Knowledge Valorization, Transfer and Employability is responsible for University admission, undergraduate student reception, student services, curricular internships, job placement, the URV job bank, and the URV Alumni project. It is also responsible for promoting student involvement in university life and supporting student associations and representative bodies.

Currículum Vitae

Born in Betanzos (La Coruña) in 1966, I earned my Degree in Economic Sciences at the University of Santiago de Compostela (1991) before beginning my doctorate on the European Doctoral Programme in Entrepreneurship and SME Management at Durham University Business School. I began my teaching and research career at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1994-2001), where I was awarded my PhD in Business Economics.

I became a researcher in the Chair of Family Business at IESE Business School (2002-2004) with a competitive scholarship funded by the European Union before joining the URV's Department of Business Management as an assistant lecturer in 2004. Two years later I became a senior lecturer and in 2010 I became a Serra Húnter full professor.

I teach at the Faculty of Economics and Business and the Faculty of Tourism and Geography. I have participated in several teaching-innovation projects and have coordinated the Master's Degree in Tourism Management and Planning.

I work in an interdisciplinary manner and collaborating with researchers, research groups and institutions. My research, conducted under the framework of competitive projects, has been published in high-impact international journals in the field of Social Sciences and the Humanities. I was appointed a Fellow of the Family Firm Institute in Boston (2004) and am an elected member of the Qualitative Analysis Research Network of the European Sociological Association (2003-05).

I was the founder and first president of the Spanish Association for the Advancement of Qualitative Research. I have been an Academic Coordinator for SAIC (Advanced Seminar of Qualitative Research) (2006-13) and a member of the Group of Trainers for the Professionalisation of Doctoral Supervision, which has received the Teaching Quality Award from the URV's University Council on two occasions (2017 and 2022).

I have also been heavily involved in trade union activity. For example, I participated in the negotiation and signing of the First Agreement on Catalan Teaching and Research Staff Without Civil Service Status. I was also an initial member of the Joint Committee for monitoring this agreement and a founding member of the Space for Dialogue and Negotiation (2010). At the URV I was vice-president of the Works Council for Teaching and Research Staff Without Civil Service Status from 2007 to 2012 and president of that Council until 2018. I was Vice-Rector for Personnel between 2018 and 2020.