or school board. Departments are led by the head of department and overseen by the department council. Studies Undergraduate UAM offers Spanish undergraduates fully recognized degrees. There are the Diplomatura and Ingenierías Técnicas (technical engineering), which are three-year studies equivalent to an associate degree. Licenciaturas and Ingenierías Superiores are four to five years studies equivalent to a bachelor's degree. Along with that, UAM offers second level licenciaturas, which allow people who have a diplomatura to obtain a licenciatura by taking courses. In other case, they must have at least the first two or three years of a licenciatura and combined degree, which are very popular among Spanish students. They also offer courses in languages other than Spanish. In addition to the Faculties where the degrees on the different fields of knowledge and science are studied —Faculty of Science, F. of Business and Economic Science, F. of Law, F. of Philosophy and the Arts, F. of Teacher Training and Education, F. of Psychology, F. of Medicine and School of Engineering— there are external centers that teach specific studies and their associated degree: "La Salle" Centre of Higher Education, The Red Cross School of Nursing, The Jimenez Diaz Foundation University School of Nursing, The ONCE University School of Physioterapy. Graduate UAM offers 94 PhD programs in all of the universities programs. It also offers 72 master's degrees, and with the implementation of the Bologna Process 16 recognised master's degrees for the academic year of 2006–07. Research In addition, the alliance of the four leading Spanish public Universities, two in Madrid (Autónoma University of Madrid and Universidad Carlos III) and two in Barcelona (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat Pompeu Fabra) allows close collaboration between projects and researchers. Reputation Throughout its history, the UAM has been one of Spain's most prominent higher education institutions, being ranked second amongst Spanish universities by the El Mundo University Supplement (known as "Las 50 Carreras") (after the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). For the subject "Mathematics" the university was ranked within top 51-75 universities in the world (within top 12 in Europe). It was the Spanish university with the most researchers among the most cited according to the Thomson Reuters ranking citation in 2011. Student life Societies and compromise The Autonomous University of Madrid has an active student body, having organised one of Spain's most important events against the dictatorship in 1976 called the Iberian Peoples Festival. It had