Approval of the Rector’s report and the Declaration on the freedom for political prisoners and the filing of the legal case against UB members

The first issue the rector commented on in his report was the analysis in the teaching area in the current map of studies, together with an insightful study on the different regulations directly or indirectly related to teaching. In this area, he referred to the task in teaching innovation and the RIMDA project. He also put emphasis on the outstanding position of the UB in degrees that are accredited with excellence (24 % compared to the 12 % of the whole Catalan system) and commented on the extension of the coverage of grants in the 2018-2019 call. He finished this chapter dedicated to students reminding the attendants that this year, the UB is in charge of coordinating the Catalan University Sport.

Regarding the academic staff, the rector said “this team aims to continue with the development of strategies to rejuvenate the staff” and noted that this year the number of vacancies has been doubled compared to 2017. “We can say the number of competitive examinations will be higher than the one in2018”, he added. He also said an analysis of the collective of adjunct lecturers is being carried out as well as a new entry normative for permanent teaching staff.

As for PAS, the rector said that, regarding 2019, the General Managerʼs Office wants to work on the organizational changes in the centers and the RLT.

The rector dedicated a chapter of his report to the good governance, transparency and the values of the UB, and another to the areas of equality, support and social action. Regarding heritage, he mentioned the main lines of improvement on diffusion and participation, setting bases for the future Museum of the UB and the enrichment and improvement of the cultural heritage of the University.

Digitalization, entrepreneurship and research

In the area of digital strategy, the rector noted that the pilot for the new Virtual Campus, to be active for all the community during the academic year 2019-2020, will be carried out in February. Also, next September, an institutional app for mobile devices will be launched. He mentioned the creation of a pioneering program on training and certification of digital skills in accordance to the European guidelines, for PAS and PDI, to be launched next academic year.

Regarding the integral plan of entrepreneurship, Elias talked about the creation of a space for projects to hold spin-offs and start-ups, as well as a budget to start working on the activities.

Regarding the area of doctoral studies, the rector highlighted the beginning of the reform of the Doctoral School, through its decentralization. He also talked about simplification of administrative procedures and the design of a legal procedure that has been guaranteed by the Advisory Legal Committee of Generalitat on the control of plagiarism, which enabled the declaration of annulment of administrative processes in two theses which had a report.

In ranking policy and UB positioning, a commission has been created in order to coordinate the different services of the UB that work on this field. “It is necessary to mention -said Elias- that the UB position has improved notably in rankings over 2018, with a better international reputation and reliability”.

As for research, Elias highlighted that, despite the decline of research lecturers over this last period, “the amount of submitted projects in different calls of the ministry has lived a slight growth”. The rector noted that “the governing team wants to regulate the feeling of belonging to this University not only for researchers in the ICREA program but for all people that have been hired with projects in FBG”. Also, he talked about easing the welcoming to researchers who win grants by the European Research Council or similar grants, who want to work in the UB. The UB has created a call for the renewal of research facilities for a minimum amount of a million euros, to be biennial.

The rector remembered the thirtieth anniversary of the Scientific and Technological Cnters and mentioned the centers that received the new accreditations Maria de Maeztu: the Institute of Neurosciences and the Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry. Elias believes it is essential to “launch a new institute in one or more than one areas of human sciences”. He also highlighted the implantation of the new research PDA, to be launched on the first trimester of 2019.

Internationalization, Communication and CRAI

Elias said the action on internationalization has been focused on creating strategic allies, mainly with countries in Latin America and Asian, “two geographical fields where we can grow”, he said. Also, he highlighted the recent collaboration with Trinity College Dublin and the universities of Montpellier, Utrecht and Eötvos Lorand (Budapest), to enter the call the European Union has opened to constitute what they call the European Universities.

Regarding communications, he mentioned some actions, such as the renewal of the institutional website, the definition of the Communication Plan of the UB, the newsletter La UB al dia, and the implementation of Campus M for students.

Joan Elias dedicated the final part of his speech to talk about the most relevant actions carried out by the Learning and Research Resource Center (CRAI), highlighting the EFQM 500+ European Excellence Seal, the highest level of seals.

During the turn to speak, many comments revolved around the Declaration on the freedom of political prisoners and filing of the legal case against members of the University. Speakers also urged the rector to include the feminist perspective in all syllabuses of the UB and to end with the patriarchal culture. Also, some demands were focused on the precarious contracts of adjunct lecturers, the need for a generational succession in some centers, and the solution of the working situation of some workers in CRAI.