The University Senate launches the drafting phase of the UB Statute

The rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, recalled the importance of this process, which is collaborative, open to the entire UB community, and which “is a great opportunity to re-found the University”. The Vice-Rector for Organization and Governance, Maria Elena Lauroba, valued the work carried out in recent months in the deployment and execution of the procedure approved by the Senate on 20 March 2024. In the first phase of this process, from February to June, several meetings were held with opinion groups made up of members of the PTGAS, PDI, Dean’s offices and students. There has also been direct dialogue with the rest of the UB community: with the governing teams of the faculties; the Doctoral Students’ Representative Council; the governing teams of the research institutes; representatives of the UB Group; the Board of Trustees; and the UB Athenaeum, among others.

The Senate has incorporated an important formal novelty in terms of the accountability of the governing team: the vice-rectors responsible for the strategic review of each area have prepared schematic presentations that have been projected on the screen and have been accompanied by five-minute explanations. The aim is to turn the highest representative body of the university community into an agile and modern forum, in line with the renewed image and the new format, which are already consolidated.

The transformation of the teaching and research staff and the stabilization of PTGAS

The Rector began his speech by explaining the status of the agreements between the universities and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and the Catalan Ministry of Research and Universities regarding new teaching posts that should help to adapt the teaching staff to the new Organic Law of the University System (LOSU). An opportunity that will require the establishment of optimal selection procedures and criteria to configure a teaching staff that will consolidate and reinforce the University of Barcelona’s leadership over the next two decades. The Rector also stressed that this transformation of the teaching and research staff will only be operational if it is accompanied by an essential change in the field of PTGAS, with the adaptation of profiles, conditions and structures, the completion of stabilization processes, digitization and generational shift.

The Rector’s analysis is based on the figures and data that Glòria Matalí, the University’s general manager, has unpacked in the presentation of the annual report. A rigorous review of the economic situation of the university, which is still dragging the effects of the 2008 crisis and still operates based on the organizational model of 2004, with the aggravating circumstance of the suspension of the budgets of the Government of Catalonia in 2024. This panorama implies limitations when it comes to developing decisive policies in infrastructures, academic renewal, social commitment and the configuration of the teaching and research staff and the PTGAS. “We are the Catalan public university with the lowest ratio of PTGAS/PDI and this is causing us obvious tensions right now”, noted the director. He also wanted to highlight the fact that, despite the deficit and structural difficulties, the University’s financial management is capable of guaranteeing its activity and promoting a process of constant improvement, and she defined the lines of work that should enable the University to continue to make progress.

Present and future of strategic projects

Regarding the strategic review of the various areas of government, the vice-rectors reviewed the most important projects of the academic year that is coming to an end and made progress on those for the next academic year. Among the work carried out, they highlighted the recovery of democratic memory, the creation of cross-cutting subjects focused on global challenges such as the climate emergency, the increase in competitive resources in the field of research and transfer, the transformation of the Doctoral School and the improvement of the conditions of associate lecturers. As for the projects that will have to be carried out from September onwards, the deployment of the new academic-teaching model, the new academic dedication plan based on flexibility and profile recognition, the new quality model and the deployment of the new research management office, among others, were mentioned.

Vice-rectors Raúl Ramos and Xavier Triadó were able to present their respective projects in greater depth. Regarding the Internationalization Plan, Raúl Ramos, Vice-Rector for Internationalization Policy, highlighted the leap forward it will represent, both in terms of mobility percentages and the focus on key regions of the global academic ecosystem. Xavier Triadó, Vice-Rector for Digitalization Policy, emphasized the improvements in the field of cybersecurity, teaching tools and the second phase of the new UB website.

The senate ended with the presentation of the Sustainability Report 2021-2022, by the Vice-Rector Maria Teresa Sauras, and the report of the Ombudsman, by Lluís Caballol. ​​​​​​​