Alliance of public universities in the Barcelona metropolitan area

The rectors (Joan Guàrdia, from the UB; Javier Lafuente, from UAB; Daniel Crespo, from UPC; and Laia de Nadal, from UPF) presented this university platform that aims to promote Barcelona as a benchmark for knowledge and innovation with its voice in the Europe of cities. The BKA will be a driving force behind a common metropolitan strategy that will be beneficial both for the universities that make it up, in terms of visibility and international presence, and for the institutional, economic, cultural and social fabric of the city. With this alliance, the four universities assume an active role in tackling the city's main challenges through knowledge and research with social impact and consolidate their relations with different organizations and institutions in the metropolitan area.

The Barcelona Knowledge Alliance will also serve to integrate the international dimension into all areas of university activity, such as teaching, research and knowledge transfer. At the same time, it will enable the establishment of strategic partnerships with higher education institutions around the world, maximizing Barcelona's name in international decision-making environments.

The alliance will have an annual rotating presidency among the four participating universities. The first institution to hold this responsibility will be the UB, in the rector’s figure, Joan Guàrdia, followed by the UAB, the UPC and the UPF.

A great potential
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The four public universities in the metropolitan region have more than 130,000 students, more than 15,000 teaching and research staff and more than 7,000 technical, administrative and service staff. The University of Barcelona, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and the Pompeu Fabra University occupy leading positions in the main international rankings that measure various indicators related to university research.