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1908 - 1936:

In January 1908, the Santander City Council agreed to donate to S.M. King Alfonso XIII granted the Magdalena peninsula and built a Royal Palace by popular subscription.

For the choice of the architectural project for the building, the City Council convened a meeting. a contest won by Gonzalo Bringas and Javier González Riancho from Santander. On August 4, 1913, the King and Queen took possession of the Palace, furnished and decorated under the direction of the Queen, Doña Victoria Eugenia.

Fernando de los Ríos For 17 years, the Palace was the summer residence of the Kings. After the proclamation of the Second Republic, in April 1931, the Palace remained closed. closed. The following year, the Government approved, at the proposal of the Minister of Public Instruction, Fernando de los Ríos, the decree by which the university was created. the International Summer University of Santander, whose courses would from then on be held at the Palacio de la Magdalena, and of which the historian and philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal was appointed Rector. By the same decree, the Secretary General to the poet and professor Pedro Salinas, true inspirer of this new and singular university institution.

In the summers of the period 1933-36, a series of events developed. In the Palace there was a large number of courses on the most relevant topics of the time, as well as as well as on Spanish language and literature for foreigners that since 1926 had been taught by the Menéndez Pelayo Society and those of the Medical Institute for postgraduates that took place at the Casa Salud de Valdecilla.

1945 - 1974:

After the activities of the International University were interrupted by the Civil War, in the summer of 1938 the Ministry of National Education entrusted it to the University. He asked the Menéndez Pelayo Society to organize language and literature courses for foreigners. And in November 1945, the Government, at the behest of the Minister of National Education, José Ibáñez Marñ a decree by which it was created the Menéndez Pelayo International University in Santander, based in the old San Rafael Hospital. The new institution began its He completed his tasks in 1947, mainly in the diocesan Seminary of Monte Corbán, although also in other educational centers in the city.

In the summer of 1949, the University returned to business. to have as its main headquarters the Palacio de la Magdalena, by graceful concession of S.A. Real the Count of Barcelona, Don Juan de Borbón.

Jose Hierro (1972) Its first rector was Ciriaco Pérez Bustamante, who maintained the three major academic activities of the University: contemporary problems and humanities courses, language and literature courses for foreigners, and science courses. doctors at Casa de Salud Valdecilla.

Three names -Pedro Laín Entralgo, Rafael Lapesa and Emilio Díaz Caneja- headed and reflected the intellectual and scientific quality of the extensive list of professors who worked for them. He taught his teaching in the different courses -increasingly diversified and specialized- that were configuring the general program of the educational institution.

Given the constant growth of the University's activities, it became necessary to create a university campus in Las Llamas, with buildings equipped with both classrooms for teaching and reception and residence services for foreign students who followed the courses. of Spanish language, literature and culture, and for students enrolled in humanities courses. Professor Pérez Bustamante was succeeded by in 1968 Florentino Pérez Embid as Rector of the University.

1975 - 1982:

During this period, the UIMP (acronyms that were consolidated over time as an acronym for the University) was governed by Francisco Ynduráin (1974-1980) and by Raúl Morodo (1980-1983). Eight years in which the University affirmed itself as a leader. It is recognized as a notable higher education company, capable of overcoming the changes produced in Spanish life in a complex time of political transition. An authentic “island of freedom,” a poet and university professor, who met good this university

Eight years in which the University affirmed itself as a leader. It is recognized as a notable higher education company, capable of overcoming the changes produced in Spanish life in a complex time of political transition.

Cult and respect for humanistic and scientific knowledge were considered the raison d'être of an institution that, from the outset, had the objective of "satisfying two equally appealing and essential needs for training". modern cultural attitude: attention to the universal human requirements that must arise in every sensitive conscience, and skill in clarifying technical problems that are meticulously delimited and that represent a positive advance in a special discipline". Year after year the number and specialization of the programmed courses increased, in an effort to meet both the novelties that appeared in the different fields of social, humanistic, experimental and technological sciences. logical, such as the requirements and expectations of the students of the different university faculties.

Likewise, cultural activities such as music, theater, poetry recitals, cinema, etc. were extended, parallel to the great festivals of the Plaza Porticada and especially appreciated by foreign students. In turn, the foundation of the University of Cantabria (1972) facilitated the development of This will make the best use of the buildings on the Las Llamas campus, as they are shared and used throughout the year by the two university institutions.

1983 - Present:

Ernest LluchAn extensive period in time and intense in the work of the University. Its Rectors throughout it were professors Santiago Roldán López (1983-1989), Ernest Lluch Martín (1989-1995), José Luís García Delgado (1995-2004), Luciano Parejo Alfonso (2005-2006) and Salvador Ordóñez Delgado (2006-2012). Since December 2012, the Rector has been César Nombela Cano, Professor of Microbiology at the Complutense University of Madrid and former President of the Higher Council for Scientific Research.

During these three decades, the UIMP has undergone notable changes in its structure, facilities and operation. On the one hand, the emblematic venue of La Magdalena has seen the birth of other venues throughout the country: Barcelona, Cartagena, La Coruña, Cuenca, Granada, La Línea de La Concepción, the Pyrenees. (in Huesca), Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Seville, Valencia; and the emergence of another Santander campus in Las Llamas, next to the University of Cantabria, where the Torres Quevedo Residence Hall and various teaching and service pavilions have been built. The venues carry out an appreciable and growing part of all the activity of the UIMP.

In 1993, the rehabilitation works began on the buildings of La Magdalena, both the Palace and the Stables. Classrooms, rooms, and service areas were renovated; new systems and equipment were introduced to support teaching and to improve administrative management, etc. Once these works were finished, the inspection proceeded. to the solemn inauguration on June 14, 1995 by Their Majesties Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía.

During this period, the academic program of the University was incorporating new types of courses and activities:

- The Master Courses and those called "The author and his work", in charge of a single professor.

- The Schools, conceived as highly academic seminars, in areas such as Social Anthropology, Molecular Biology, Philosophy of Science, Materials Engineering, Neurology, Nutrition ;n, Psychology, Theology, etc.

- Ll Aula del Mar "Rector Jordá", in collaboration with the University of Cantabria and the Santander Port Authority, located in the Magdalena Lighthouse, and later transformed into the CITAP (International Center for Technology and Administration of the Port). n Port).

- The Ortega y Gasset Classroom, for initiation to university studies for students who complete their baccalaureate with exceptionally brilliant grades.

- In the last decade, two new activities have emerged with force: language courses (Spanish as a foreign language and English immersion) and a growing catalog of own and official Postgraduates, created in collaboration with the CSIC, the Bank of Spain, and other entities.

In 2002, new University Statutes were published, in order to better define its objectives, governance structure, and operation. The UIMP was left behind. configured as an autonomous body, within the General State Administration.

In the institutional aspect, it is also worth mentioning the appearance of the General Foundation of the UIMP, to collaborate and support the activities of the University, an entity that has recently been absorbed by the Foundation for International Projection from Spanish universities (Universidad.es).

Since 1987, the University sponsors and annually convenes the "Menéndez Pelayo International Award", instituted thanks to the patronage of Santander-Mexican Eulalio Ferrer, who sadly passed away in March 2009. The objective of the Award is to highlight literary or scientific work of personalities whose work has a humanistic dimension and repercussion such as that carried out by Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo. is It is aimed at Spanish or Portuguese-speaking countries, and the proposals of the candidates come from Universities, Academies, and other Institutions and centers linked to culture.