UB and Grupo Planeta create UNIBA, an international centre that offers online university training programmes
Today, the University of Barcelona, the public Catalan university with the largest student population and Spanish leader in scientific production, and Grupo Planeta, the leading publishing and communication group in Spain and Latin America in the fields of culture, education and audio-visual entertainment, have signed an agreement to set up a new project to offer online university degrees and masters. The agreement signed by both institutions plans the creation of the Barcelona International University Centre (UNIBA), co-owned by Grupo Planeta and the Institute for Lifelong Learning (IL3-UB), and will be affiliated with the University of Barcelona.
Today, the University of Barcelona, the public Catalan university with the largest student population and Spanish leader in scientific production, and Grupo Planeta, the leading publishing and communication group in Spain and Latin America in the fields of culture, education and audio-visual entertainment, have signed an agreement to set up a new project to offer online university degrees and masters. The agreement signed by both institutions plans the creation of the Barcelona International University Centre (UNIBA), co-owned by Grupo Planeta and the Institute for Lifelong Learning (IL3-UB), and will be affiliated with the University of Barcelona.
UNIBA's course offerings will be based on face-to-face UB's training programmes which receive a great number of international requests, particularly from Spanish speaking countries. In the academic year 2014-2015, three online training programmes will start: the degree in Design and the masters' in Educational Psychology and Territorial Planning and Environmental Management.
These three programmes will be taught in Spanish and are particularly addressed to international students. The new centre will increase progressively its course offerings; in the academic year 2017-2018, it plans to come to seven degrees and fourteen masters'.
The use of new technologies and audio-visual resources enables experiential learning models and practices on an online environment. UNIBA's methodology promotes students' participation individually and in groups. The University of Barcelona and Grupo Planeta will define together the centre's course offerings and teaching staff, which will be mainly composed by UB lecturers.
Distance education has significantly increased in recent years. In the academic year 2013-2014, it represents 15% of the total of students enrolled at Spanish universities; online education gets the same academic results than traditional university models.
With this agreement, UB becomes the first Catalan university that offers an online modality of a face-to-face degree and Grupo Planeta strengthens its commitment to university training programmes and online postgraduate degrees.
This is the second project that UB and Grupo Planeta develop together after the success of the Online Business School (OBS), which was set up in 2007. Every year, the School increases its student population.