Two faculties of the UB change their name in accordance to the studies they offer
The University of Barcelona changed the name of two faculties to adapt its name to the new studies that are now taught there. These are the Faculty of Library and Information Studies and the Faculty of Philology, which will be now called, respectively, Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media and Faculty of Philology and Communication. Both centers have broadened their training offering over the last years with several studies in the field of communication, a popular sector in which more and more professional profiles are born. Apart from the degree studies in Audiovisual Communication and Communication and the Culture Industry, and the dual degree Infocom (Digital Information and Documentation Management - Audiovisual Communication), both faculties offer a wide range of masterʼs degrees and postgraduate studies adapted to the new professional profiles, such as the masterʼs degree in Specialized Communication, the masterʼs degree on Digital Content Management, and the postgraduate studies on Social Media Content.
The name change, which will be valid this academic year 2019/2020, was approved of last year by the Governing Council and the Board of Trustees of the UB and published in DOGC on July 18.
The University of Barcelona changed the name of two faculties to adapt its name to the new studies that are now taught there. These are the Faculty of Library and Information Studies and the Faculty of Philology, which will be now called, respectively, Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media and Faculty of Philology and Communication. Both centers have broadened their training offering over the last years with several studies in the field of communication, a popular sector in which more and more professional profiles are born. Apart from the degree studies in Audiovisual Communication and Communication and the Culture Industry, and the dual degree Infocom (Digital Information and Documentation Management - Audiovisual Communication), both faculties offer a wide range of masterʼs degrees and postgraduate studies adapted to the new professional profiles, such as the masterʼs degree in Specialized Communication, the masterʼs degree on Digital Content Management, and the postgraduate studies on Social Media Content.
The name change, which will be valid this academic year 2019/2020, was approved of last year by the Governing Council and the Board of Trustees of the UB and published in DOGC on July 18.
The Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media and the Faculty of Philology and Communication are born
The former Faculty of Library and Information Sciences, which was a continuation of the former Escola Superior de Bibliotecàries (School of Librarians) created in 1915 by the Mancomunitat de Catalunya (commonwealth of Catalonia), was dedicated to teaching and research in Library and Information Sciences. Since 2012 it also offers studies on Audiovisual Communication and this is why it was necessary to change the name of the center and find one that identifies the whole idea of the studies that are offered. “This is why it was necessary to change the name of the center into Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media, to be identified with the studies that are taught in there”, says the Dean Miquel Térmens.
Adding the concept of Audiovisual Media in the name of the Faculty identifies the audiovisual studies taught and aimed at professionals who will work on several kinds of media: cinema, television, the Internet, etc. More and more information is managed through data now -text, numbers, sounds, graphics- that are materialized as documentary objects. This is why we talk about information sciences.
Regarding the new Faculty of Philology and Communication, the name change makes sense since this new name summarizes better the set of disciplines taught in the center, as well as the skills that are related to these studies and the professional profiles the students aim for. “The new name shows that we opted for strengthening the tradition with modernity building the new future project”, says the Dean, Javier Velaza.
Since the academic year 2011/2012, the Faculty has been offering the studies on Communication and the Culture Industry, and since the academic year 2014/2015, the masterʼs degree on Specialized Communication. These studies provide students with the necessary skills to develop professions related to the different fields of communication: from technical ones -production, sound, postproduction, graphic design- to organizational ones -communication consultant, head of institutional and business communication- through others which are more aimed at content -screenwriters, journalists, graphic reporters and web content creators. Velaza is convinced of the “social need of Philology studies we teach -and which have obtained the AQU excellence award”, but he thinks it was high time the Faculty included studies on Communication -which have been very popular over the last years.
“The presence of these studies at the Faculty involved a high level of cross-sectionality in the academic field, since there are many lecturers experts on communication media and lecturers of philology and linguistics. These fields of expertize -semiotics, theory of communication and oral and written expression in Catalan and Spanish- are an essential part of the program”, notes Velaza. In addition, the center adapted to the requirements of these studies with the necessary technical equipment -audiovisual material, computer facilities, postproduction rooms- and adding to the syllabuses a wide program of external internships in communication media and music productions.