Redaccion
The University of Alicante (UA) is the first university in the Valencian Community to turn a campus — the one in Sant Vicent del Raspeig — into a ‘smoke-free’ space, with the aim of reducing smoking and creating a healthier and more sustainable environment on the academic institution’s premises.
This is an awareness initiative launched by the academic institution through the work of the Healthy University Secretariat, in collaboration with the Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC). With the placement of informative signage and various communication actions, the ‘Smoke-Free Campus’ aims to improve the environment by reducing tobacco consumption among the university community, as indicated by UA in a statement.
The inauguration of the initiative, physically represented by the unveiling of one of the main information points of the campaign, took place on the UA campus this Tuesday and was attended by the interventions of the Rector of the University of Alicante, Amparo Navarro, and the vice president of the provincial council of AECC in Alicante, Arturo Jiménez.
The Rector highlighted that it is «a day of joy» for the University of Alicante because «it concludes a great project that has grown little by little to cover the entire campus, in the same way that policies to improve public health that benefit us all so much have advanced.»
In the same vein, Navarro stated that the University of Alicante «not only educates through training, but also educates in values such as collective awareness or responsibility and respect towards other people, as promoted by this campaign.»
Likewise, the main UA official thanked José Ramón Martínez Riera for leading the Healthy University Secretariat, as well as those carried out by the Vice-Rectorate of Infrastructures, Sustainability, and Occupational Safety and the UA Prevention Service, which, with the collaboration of AECC, have implemented the ‘Smoke-Free Campus’.
For his part, Arturo Jiménez indicated that UA «has made a brave decision» with this initiative, making it the first university in the Valencian Community to have a smoke-free campus.
In addition to thanking the collaboration provided by the academic institution in Alicante, the vice president in Alicante of AECC recalled that «it is normalized for smokers to do it in front of others and the University of Alicante does the opposite, not normalizing these behaviors,» to which he added that they hope that «other institutions dare to follow in the footsteps of UA and together we manage to reduce tobacco-related diseases.»
STARTED BY ZONES
The initiative of the ‘Smoke-Free Campus’, led by the Healthy University Secretariat, dates back several years, when it began with votes cast during Welcome Week at UA, where the university community was asked which zone of the campus (divided into three) would be the first to be designated as a smoke-free space.
More than 700 people participated in this survey, and the most voted zone was the one that includes, in broad terms, Club Social 2, classroom I, the Faculty of Law, the Paraninfo, and the Illustrated Forest, popularly known as the «duck park».
Shortly after, the delimitation of this zone of the campus was inaugurated in an event that already had the collaboration of the Spanish Association Against Cancer and the Spanish Network of Health-Promoting Universities (REUPS), who joined this project aimed at raising awareness among young people about the importance of quitting smoking and the dangers of new vaping devices.
In October 2024, the project progressed with the expansion of a second zone as a smoke-free space, covering from the Rectorate and General Services building to the sports facilities, passing through the faculties of Science, Philosophy, and Letters, and the Higher Polytechnic School.
Finally, with the event on this Tuesday, the third zone of the campus has been added to the smoke-free space, and with it, the entire campus is now part of the ‘Smoke-Free Campus’.
