About us

ABOUT US

The School of Business / Enpresagintza at Mondragon University forms part of the mixed cooperative social initiative not for profit public utility Mondragon University Enpresagintza Cooperative Corporation.

Located in the town of Oñati in the heart of the Basque Country, it began its activities in 1960 following the tradition and bringing back to life the heritage of the historic Universidad Sancti Spiritus of Oñati, built in 1542.

The beginnings of the ETEO in the 60's were the work of a Catholic priest named Don José María Arizmendiarrieta who created it in order to complement the professional training centre in Arrasate and expand the training in administration and management.

It was originally created as the Technical-Administrative School, which became the seed of the ETEO.

In the 1973-74 academic year, it obtained recognition as a Technical Business School and changed its name to ETEO (Technical Business School of Oñati). That same year, its Business Sciences Degree also gained official status, which was an enormous step because it gave many young people in the region the opportunity to pursue higher education.

The ETEO became a cooperative in 1980.

The most significant changes at the School arrived after the 1997-98 academic year when it was officially recognised as a university by Mondragon Unibertsitatea after the three higher education cooperatives from Alto Deba merged, which were Mondragon Goi Eskola Politeknikoa, ETEO and Irakasle Eskola.

In 2009, a consolidation project was undertaken with MIK S. COOP. with the goal of creating the largest Centre for Research in Advanced Management in the Basque Country out of the refounding of the MIK and incorporating the capabilities of the Enpresagintza and MIK research groups. Its primary goal is to be a leader in generating and transferring knowledge in areas that are strategic for the Basque Country and by doing so, increase the competitiveness of its companies and society as a whole.

Since 1995, M.U. Enpresagintza (previously ETEO) has been applying a management model based in Total Quality. This approach resulted in gaining Q silver recognition by the External Evaluation Services of EUSKALIT in 2006.

In November of 2009, the Department of Culture of the Basque Government certified the School of Business at Mondragon Unibertsitatea with “Gold Level Certification” within the framework of quality certification in Bikain Linguistic Management.

In December of 2009, the Director of Emakunde-Basque Institute for Women awarded M.U Enpresagintza S. Coop. (previously ETEO S. Coop) recognition as a collaborating entity in equal opportunities for men and women.

Today, the School has three distinct campuses in Oñati, Bidasoa-Irun and BBF-Bilbao. Likewise, through the Mondragon Team Academy network, it has laboratories in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Querétaro, Shangai, Holland and Korea.

Its main activities are education, research, development and innovation.

In terms of organisational structure, the School has the following governing bodies:

  • General Assembly of Partners in which working partners, students and companies share a 1/3 representation
  • Dean's Council with the same representation as the General Assembly
  • Coordination Board: Management body headed by the General Director responsible for carrying out strategies approved by the Dean's Council

M.U. Every three years, Enpresagintza S.Coop engages in a strategic planning process that's put into action through the Annual Management Plan.