Within the framework of Catalonia’s highly integrated and competitive university system, the project Horizon 2020 aims to make the University of Barcelona one of the European Higher Education Area’s most well known institutions and, with a view to the year 2020, an international point of reference for other universities in terms of the quality and renown of its degrees, its advanced scientific level and its innovative character.

The project Horizon 2020 will involve a process of reflection about the University’s development in the long term and, within the UB, a two-pronged approach to the task at hand:

• On the one hand, the project will involve a process of internal reform to enable the University to consolidate its position as a European institution of reference.
• On the other hand, the University will need to play an active role alongside Catalan Generalitat and state government representatives working towards the procedures of decision and policy making for the future of the university system, by engaging in a thorough review of the objectives and needs of our universities and by providing those definitions of university policy that have, until this point in time, been so sorely lacking.

The strategic planning process will hinge on the following strategic objectives:

• In the area of teaching, to maintain the UB in the process of European convergence in the European Higher Education Area.
• In the area of research, to maintain the UB’s position as an institution of science and enterprise in the European Area of Research and Innovation.
• In the area of human resources and of organization, to further the development of the UB’s academic, administrative and service personnel, and to promote the incorporation of new personnel.
• In the area of finance and governance, to maintain and develop procedures for the management of the UB’s human resources and for the presentation of its accounts.