ES
Carlos Amat Casas, SEK-Alborán Alumni, has been selected by the “la Caixa” Foundation to receive one of its postgraduate scholarships abroad, which will enable him to pursue a Master’s in Law at New York University, one of the world’s most prestigious universities in the field of law. The young Almerian, from El Ejido, is one of the 100 university students chosen from among 1,101 applicants.
Amat studied at SEK-Alborán from the first year of Early Childhood Education through to the second year of Baccalaureate, completing a 15-year journey at the school. In 2025, he graduated in Law and International Studies from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and, after working for a year at an international law firm, will begin this new academic stage in the United States with the aim of developing a global legal profile and becoming qualified to practise law both in Spain and in New York.
His professional vocation is focused on international arbitration, a legal specialism at the intersection of law and international relations. Through this training, he hopes to develop a career centred on resolving disputes between companies, investors or States from different countries, through procedures that are more flexible and better adapted to the international dimension of each case.
A journey marked by excellence and international outlook
The awarding of this scholarship recognises an academic and personal journey marked by excellence, international ambition and social commitment. During his university studies, Carlos Amat received excellence scholarships from the Community of Madrid in recognition of his academic record, as well as a scholarship from the Ramón Areces Foundation and Universidad Carlos III to complete his third year at the University of California, Berkeley, and a scholarship from Banco Santander and Universidad Carlos III to study a semester of his fourth year at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
He has also gained professional experience at leading national and international law firms such as Baker McKenzie, Garrigues, Pérez-Llorca, Uría Menéndez and Freshfields, and is embarking on this new stage with the aim of continuing to build a legal career with a clear international focus.
The “la Caixa” Foundation’s postgraduate scholarships abroad, now in their 44th edition, are considered among the most prestigious in Spain. This year, 100 scholarships have been awarded for study at universities in Europe, America and Asia, with an investment of 10 million euros and an average award of 100,000 euros per scholarship. Since the programme was created in 1982, the Foundation has allocated more than 229 million euros to the international training of 4,177 students.
From SEK-Alborán to the world
Carlos Amat’s time at SEK-Alborán was marked by his involvement in academic, social and leadership projects. Together with teacher Manuel Berrio, he developed the humanitarian project Light for Honduras: Teaching How to Teach, which was awarded the US Davis Projects for Peace scholarship and enabled him to spend three weeks in Honduras implementing it.
He also took part in SEKMUN on three occasions, receiving the Best Delegate award in 2018 in the WHO committee, representing Pakistan, and serving as President of General Assembly I in 2019. He was a member of the SEK-Alborán Debate Club, competed in school and university tournaments, won the school Hackathon twice, was an active member of the WeAlborán press club and delivered the graduation speech on behalf of his class in 2019.
His subsequent career has maintained that same focus on public speaking, critical thinking and international law. In 2023, he was national debate runner-up with Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, has won six national debate tournaments representing the university and has been recognised as Best Speaker on several occasions. He was also part of the Carlos III team that took part in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, an international commercial arbitration competition held in The Hague and Vienna, where his team received an honourable mention for its memorandum for claimant.
