The symposium will take place at the Universitat de Barcelona, a public university, offering quality education and research and engaging with society.
The UB provides the widest course offering of any university in Spain and are national leaders in research, thanks to a standing commitment to quality. This status is reflected in the foremost international rankings and is reflected in the extensive transfer activities that channel our results into society.
The Universitat de Barcelona represents a community of almost one hundred thousand people with a body of shared values: liberty, democracy, justice, equality and solidarity, and a commitment to social responsibility and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Alongside our close historical ties with the city of Barcelona and with Catalonia as a whole, we are a global university with a presence around the world and contributors to the European universities initiative
UB in figures
For the academic year 2024-2025, 17,640 students chose the UB as their first option. The demand ratio for places is 1.7
We are a large and growing community. Thanks to our extensive course offering we teach more than 60,000 students each year. We have a team of almost 6,400 teachers and researchers who, together with some 2,600 administrative and service staff, accompany you through the different stages of your university studies. These are the most notable figures that summarize our academic, research, transfer and internationalization activities over the last academic year.
Commitment to society
The Universitat de Barcelona is a socially responsible institution that cares for its community. We strive to make ongoing improvements to our social impact and to reduce our environmental footprint. We are committed to pursuing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and have integrated them into every area of our activity as we work towards achieving the aims of the 2030 Agenda .The commitment to society is one of our university’s core missions and guides our efforts to address many of today’s global challenges, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, wealth distribution, peace and justice.
UB campuses
Barcelona is our main campus area, but our roots also stretch into the wider metropolitan area and beyond into the rest of Catalonia. We are a fundamentally metropolitan university, with seventeen faculties divided across a network of campuses: in the city centre, the Diagonal and Mundet campuses, and in near-lying towns and cities such as Santa Coloma de Gramenet, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Sant Joan Despí and Badalona. We are also present in other areas of Catalonia, thanks to a series of collaborations with fifteen university hospitals. Our activities are complemented by the work of ten affiliated centres and other research and knowledge transfer facilities.
The UB in the world
The Universitat de Barcelona is a global university, leading and working with prestigious international networks and centres.
Some 130 are represented at the UB, we have more than 3,500 agreements with institutions around the world and 77 active Erasmus+ projects. These alliances offer excellent opportunities for academic and research mobility for all of our community. We are a European university, belonging to the European University Association (EUA), and are the only Spanish member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU). We also coordinate CHARM-EU, one of the first university alliances aimed at creating a new European university model.
Culture
The Universitat de Barcelona generates culture and project it into the world, drawing on a long-standing tradition and vocation for knowledge. We understand culture as a whole, encompassing arts, science and heritage. It is a fundamental channel for reaching society and fosters a greater sense of belonging among members of the University’s community. We open our doors to all, providing a unique space for social interaction, participation and engagement.
Barcelona City
A walk through the history of Barcelona
The first human settlements in Barcelona date back to Neolithic times. The city itself was founded by the Romans who set up a colony called Barcino at the end of the 1st century BC. The colony had some thousand inhabitants and was bounded by a defensive wall, the remains of which can still be seen in the old town.
For over 200 years, Barcelona was under Muslim rule, and, following the Christian reconquest, it became a county of the Carolingian Empire and one of the main residences of the court of the Crown of Aragon. The fruitful medieval period established Barcelona’s position as the economic and political centre of the Western Mediterranean. The city’s Gothic Quarter bears witness to the splendour enjoyed by the city from the 13th to the 15th centuries.
From the 15th to 18th centuries Barcelona entered a period of decline, while it struggled to maintain its economic and political independence. This struggle ended in 1714, when the city fell to the Bourbon troops and Catalonia’s and Catalans’ rights and privileges were suppressed.
A period of cultural recovery began in the mid-19th century with the arrival of the development of the textile industry. During this period, which was known as the Renaixença, Catalan regained prominence as a literary language.
The 20th century ushered in widespread urban renewal throughout Barcelona city, culminating in its landmark Eixample district, which showcases some of Barcelona’s most distinctive Catalan art-nouveau, or modernista, buildings. The Catalan Antoni Gaudí, one of the most eminent architects, designed buildings such as the Casa Milà (known as La Pedrera, the Catalan for stone quarry), the Casa Batlló and the Sagrada Família church, which have become world-famous landmarks.
The freedoms achieved during this period were severely restricted during the Civil War in 1936 and the subsequent dictatorship. With the reinstatement of democracy in 1978, Barcelona society regained its economic strength and the Catalan language was restored. The city’s hosting of the 1992 Olympic Games gave fresh impetus to Barcelona’s potential and reaffirmed its status as a major metropolis.
In 2004, the Forum of Cultures reclaimed industrial zones to convert them into residential districts. An example of the renewed vigour with which Barcelona is looking towards the 21st century
Source: Universitat de Barcelona website and City of Barcelona Tourism Office.
