Blanca Sorigué gives a session at the opening ceremony of the UIC’s 2024-25 academic year

• The general director of the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, Blanca Sorigué, in the opening speech encouraged the university community to “cultivate attitude” and the “constant desire to learn”.

• The event was chaired by the rector, Dr. Alfonso Méndiz, and was attended by Mrs. Laura Román, secretary general of the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia.

• Among the academic novelties, the approval of six new university master’s degrees stands out.

Barcelona, 17 October 2024.- The Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona) today inaugurated the 2024-25 academic year with a solemn ceremony in the university’s Aula Magna, which included an inaugural lecture by Blanca Sorigué, general director of the Barcelona Zona Franca Consortium (CZFB). The event was attended by some 400 people, including academic authorities, rectors of different Catalan universities and members of the university community.

The businesswoman and general director of the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, Blanca Sorigué, was in charge of giving the inaugural lecture. Under the title ‘The transformative power of female leadership’, Sorigué encouraged students to “cultivate motivation and the desire to learn” because “it will be what will allow them to face any situation and overcome obstacles”.

Blanca Sorigué pointed out the need for students “to be up to date with innovations” and made it clear that, in order to “achieve success, four ingredients are necessary, self-confidence, resilience and being able to see beyond to innovate”.  In his opinion, success happens “by doing what you like to be able to impact others and society”.

Sorigué insisted that, in a world “in full transformation”, it is necessary “to be able to constantly adapt to changes” as “we already do at the CZFB, where we are creating the cathedral of industry 4.0”. To do this, “you have to learn constantly.”

In her speech, the director of the CZFB, the first woman to hold the presidency of this body, stressed that the “ecosystem” that UIC Barcelona has is “a network of knowledge, a great value to be preserved” and reminded the students that “the most important thing is to have attitude, the skill most sought after by companies today”. “Attitude is the commitment to oneself, to learning, to making changes and to adding value to others and to society as a whole,” he concluded.

For her part, the Secretary General of the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia, Laura Román, highlighted the importance of UIC Barcelona “within the university system of Catalonia” and praised “the reinforcement it has made of its studies in a coherent, adjusted and high-quality way”, as well as “its commitment to the areas that allow us to build a better society”.

In this sense, he pointed out that the university has positioned itself “in an important way in the areas that affect the daily life of citizens, such as health and education”. According to Román, “in a society where the population is increasingly ageing, health is increasingly important. Hence the importance of training professionals and the creation of master’s degrees such as Dentistry and Implantology or Bioengineering for Human Health, which demonstrate a firm commitment to promoting the area of science and salt,” he added.

Future challenges

The rector of UIC Barcelona, Dr. Alfonso Méndiz, who inaugurated the 2024-2025 academic year, mentioned in his speech the challenges facing the University for the next three years: “focused research, digitalization, the creation of a structure and a wide range of master’s and postgraduate programs, the redesign of the academic career in accordance with new state legislation and a strong boost to social commitment.”

In this regard, Dr. Méndiz recalled that the university is preparing the UIC 28 Strategic Plan, a plan that integrates 79 projects, around four strategic objectives: “attracting, retaining and developing talent, internationalization, improving governance, digitalization and infrastructures, and growth in research and transfer”.

Academic milestones

During the event, the general secretary of the University, Belén Castro, read the academic report for the 2023-2024 academic year, which is available in digital version.  During the reading, Castro reviewed the most outstanding milestones in the field of teaching, research and knowledge transfer and the social commitment actions promoted by the institution during the previous year.

The general secretary has highlighted, as academic novelties, the approval of the creation of six new university master’s degrees, five of them in the area of dentistry and one in palliative care.

He also highlighted the constitution of the Institute of Culture and Thought (CIP) and the growth of the Experience Campus for the elderly, which already has about 400 students in 5 sections: Barcelona, Andorra, Calonge, Penedès and Bolvir de Cerdanya.

Social impact

UIC Barcelona’s research is based on two strategic axes that encompass all the multidisciplinary research carried out in the University’s scientific community: “Health and comprehensive care” and “Person and social innovation”.

In terms of research and transfer, the Secretary General mentioned that UIC Barcelona currently has 147 research projects, 37 of which are competitive. The university also stands out for its 12 families of current patents and the 24 recognized research groups. It has 5 research institutes, 15 business chairs and 3 university clinics.

Internationalisation is another of the university’s commitments, which during the 2023-2024 academic year expanded its alliances with universities in other countries and signed 33 new mobility agreements. UIC Barcelona currently has 451 mobility agreements in 63 countries and, as a result of some of these agreements, it has a total of 45 international double degrees on offer. Currently, 31.76% of the student body is international and 106 nationalities coexist on the two campuses.

The course report also refers to the reputation and positioning of the university, which appears in the main national and international rankings. Beyond classroom training, Belén Castro recalled that UIC Barcelona has promoted various solidarity and cooperation initiatives.

The event ended with the traditional Gaudeaumus Igitur and the rector inaugurated the 2024-2025 academic year.