The Rector reviews current affairs and future projects of the University of Barcelona in a meeting with the media
News
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Institutional
(30/09/2025)
Yesterday, the rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, conveyed a strong message to the media about the leading role of the UB in the Catalan university system. He did so in an informal meeting with journalists on the occasion of the 575th anniversary of the institution.
News
|
Institutional
30/09/2025
Yesterday, the rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, conveyed a strong message to the media about the leading role of the UB in the Catalan university system. He did so in an informal meeting with journalists on the occasion of the 575th anniversary of the institution.
Guàrdia said that the UB is “a key player in the research system of Catalonia and the first university in the Ibero-American world in many international rankings.” In this context, the rector outlined the UB’s main projects for the future to maintain its leadership and expand its influence. Among them, he highlighted the UB Clínic Health Campus, which will involve relocating the Hospital Clínic and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences to the university area of Diagonal; the MIES project, a strategic initiative to promote research and talent in the fields of mathematics, computer science, economics and health, and the Brain Centre for Applied Neurosciences (BCAN), which will be a centre for research, development and innovation in the field of neuroscience applied to health.
The rector also mentioned the creation of Faculty 18, one of the main new features of the start of the academic year 2025-26 at the UB. The University’s commitment to Palestine and the Gaza Strip has been constant since October 2023. Faculty 18 will be a platform of institutional and academic denunciation of the situation of the Palestinian people, as well as a permanent link with their university system, starting with the three public universities in the Gaza Strip. It will also act as an institutional umbrella for all the actions already being carried out, such as the UB Refugi programme and the BASE project.
The rector also mentioned the creation of Faculty 18, one of the main new features of the start of the academic year 2025-26 at the UB. The University’s commitment to Palestine and the Gaza Strip has been constant since October 2023. Faculty 18 will be a platform of institutional and academic denunciation of the situation of the Palestinian people, as well as a permanent link with their university system, starting with the three public universities in the Gaza Strip. It will also act as an institutional umbrella for all the actions already being carried out, such as the UB Refugi programme and the BASE project.
Guàrdia highlighted the UB’s central role in the university and research system on the institution’s 575th anniversary.
Another of the objectives of the UB’s Governing Team has been to stabilize the number of adjunct professors over the last three years. Guàrdia pointed out that in three years, the UB has stabilized and improved the conditions of 2,043 adjunct professors. He also explained the roadmap to foster a generational shift in the Technical, Management, and Administrative and Service Staff (PTGAS) and the Research and Teaching Staff (PDI), and pointed out that the UB has the lowest PTGAS/PDI ratio of all the universities in the system, 0.40.
Finally, Guàrdia explained that the UB has recruited between 12 and 14 members from research centres in the United States during the academic year 2024-25. According to the rector, the UB has received numerous applications to join the institution, many of which could not be accepted.
Finally, Guàrdia explained that the UB has recruited between 12 and 14 members from research centres in the United States during the academic year 2024-25. According to the rector, the UB has received numerous applications to join the institution, many of which could not be accepted.
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