“This new brand identity represents another step towards the consolidation of the project”

Elisenda Paluzie, dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Barcelona, has been one of the main drivers behind the creation of the Universitat de Barcelona School of Economics, launched on February 10th, 2017. In this interesting interview, she discusses the main achievements of former UB Economics and the challenges that still lie ahead.

What does the new Universitat de Barcelona School of Economics brand identity represent?
This rebranding represents another step towards the consolidation of the project. The project was born to foster postgraduate education with an international outlook and research and now has grown up and this brand identity change reflects this change.

Have the project’s objectives changed or have new ones been added?
The objectives are the same, namely to provide support to the most international postgraduates programmes, the PhD, the open recruitment process through the Job Market and contribute to dissemination of research carried out at the Faculty of Economics and Business. In the medium term, this unit should help us to obtain higher education accreditations and quality labels, such as research units of excellence.

Why has the Universitat the Barcelona School of Economics brand name been chosen?
Because of two reasons. On one hand, it is a common name at international level for education and research institutions in its field. London School of Economics, Paris School of Economics and Toulouse School of Economics are just a few examples. On the other hand, the Universitat de Barcelona brand is very powerful internationally and we needed to leverage that, as the new logo does.

What is your assessment of the six-year trajectory of UB Economics?
A very positive assessment. This platform has provided an extraordinary service to the programmes and also to the dissemination of research activities of faculty researchers.

Has former UB Economics helped to improve the university’s postgraduate education in Economics?
Yes, indeed. Former UB Economics has built a sense of community that the MSc and PhD lacked. It has also organised many training activities aimed at students and which are complementary to standard teaching.

What is the Universitat de Barcelona School of Economics position in international research rankings?
We are among the top 150 universities in the world for Economics.

What are the long and short term goals of the Universitat de Barcelona School of Economics?
In the long term, the School should be able obtain new accreditations and quality labels. In the short term, we want to formalise its existence through the creation of an administrative unit with the rector’s acknowledgement, the increase of revenues, the inclusion of more programmes under the scope of the Universitat de Barcelona School of Economics, etc. The short term goals will help to accomplish our long term objectives.

The establishment of the Universitat de Barcelona School of Economics was one of your pledges when you became Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business. Why was it so important?
Because the Faculty’s structure was fragmented in many research groups, institutes and departments that prevented the projection of their research potential in a join and homogeneous fashion at international level.

Now that your second four-year term as Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business ends, could you make a short assessment?
The whole term of office? I think that the Faculty has improved and increased its level of internationalisation. However, there is still a lot of work to do and many challenges that still lie ahead of us. I want to wish the team that wins the elections the best of luck with their work.

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