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The University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia opens the 2021-2022 academic year, welcoming a return to face-to-face teaching

Acte d'inauguració de curs

The University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia opens the 2021-2022 academic year, welcoming a return to face-to-face teaching

The University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) today held the opening ceremony to mark the beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year. The event, which took place on the Manresa campus and was attended by 170 people in different spaces, was chaired by the rector, Josep-Eladi Baños. He was accompanied by Gemma Geis, the Catalan Government's Minister for Research and Universities, Marc Aloy, the Mayor of Manresa and President of the Board of Trustees of the Bages University Foundation, Anna Erra, the Mayor of Vic and President of the Board of Trustees of the Balmes University Foundation, and Anna Sabata, the UVic-UCC General Secretary.

The minister Gemma Geis said she was pleased that today's event coincided with Procicat's approval of the return to 100% face-to-face teaching in university classrooms. In her speech, she praised UVic-UCC's project, and emphasised its "social role which is rooted in its territory - a territory where innovative and quality initiatives are born." The minister acknowledged that one of the outstanding tasks for her ministry is determining "how to improve the funding system for universities, how to improve the country's research infrastructure and how to ensure generational renewal at universities." For all these reasons, she added, "the budget must enable us to lay the foundations and make the best decisions for the country." "I hope we can help consolidate UVic-UCC," she said.

Geis pointed to two significant challenges in her speech. The first is to enhance knowledge transfer so that it reaches society, and so that society understands the importance of investing in research and universities. The second is to "establish policies so that young people have opportunities in Catalonia in the present and the future; we owe a great deal to the youth of this country. They need to have horizons."

The year of the programme agreement

The rector Josep Eladi Baños also referred to the funding of the University, and said that the programme agreement must be renewed in the 2021-2022 academic year. "We have been talking about it for too long without being able to make it happen, and I know that the current team at the Ministry of Research and Universities understands this and will help us achieve it," he said.

The rector of UVic-UCC thanked the entire university community for their efforts in recent years. Those efforts have been reflected in results such as the Times Higher Education ranking, which "is an extraordinary success" at the same time as being a "major challenge" in the institution's twenty-fifth anniversary year. According to Baños, this year "UVic-UCC must become an even more competitive university in its own particular areas: teaching, research and knowledge transfer."

The event was also attended by the Mayor of Vic and the Mayor of Manresa, Anna Erra and Marc Aloy, who are also presidents of the boards of trustees of the Balmes University Foundation and the Bages University Foundation respectively. Erra discussed the incorporation 

of Elisava School of Design and Engineering in UVic-UCC, and said that "it expands the University in terms of knowledge and its geographical area. Coming together increases our successes. We are an open university with roots in the territory." Marc Aloy declared that the university is "the sum of university efforts on a municipal level, a source of pride for the two cities which offer studies in territories which have no public university thanks to UVic-UCC."

10 years of the Doctoral School

Antoni Tort, the director of the Doctoral School, gave the inaugural lesson, entitled "Doctoral studies. Notes on an anniversary," in reference to the Doctoral School's tenth anniversary, which is being commemorated this year. Tort explained that the Doctoral School was established "to place doctoral studies at the centre of the University's academic activities, as a period that is possible and logical; but above all as its own separate field, as undertaking research is its raison d'être."

The director of the Doctoral School added that "we aim to be another link in improving citizens' living conditions, strengthening independent research communities. The pandemic has highlighted the responsibilities of the academic and research spheres." He emphasised that "what is important is to develop systems and strategies that combine the quality of research, the structures to facilitate it and which take the personal and professional development of researchers into account, as well as the progress of their projects."

Recognition of the long-standing partnership with AMPANS

The UVic-UCC Institutional Medal was presented during the ceremony. The Governing Council of the UVic-UCC proposed awarding this year's medal to the AMPANS Foundation, and it was collected by the Foundation's president Sebastià Catllà. The award was in recognition of the long history of partnership between the Foundation and the University, through initiatives that highlight shared objectives for working towards people's human, social and professional development, regardless of their initial capabilities.

The initiatives include the UniversiMÉS programme, which was established in 2016 with the goal of making the University more accessible to people with intellectual disabilities, providing them with a space to foster their critical spirit and access to content that increases and improves their opportunities so that they can enjoy a fuller life with richer experiences. The launch of this programme has contributed to creating of a more inclusive university environment, in which diversity enriches the interactions between the various members of the university community. The Medal is also an acknowledgement of the relationship of trust built over up time, which is based on a shared sensitivity and commitment to the community's needs. It also represents recognition of the proactive attitude of both the AMPANS Foundation and the University when undertaking viable and transformational projects for social and human progress.

The video reportage of the previous academic year was also shown during the event. The event concluded with the presentation of insignia to people who retired during the last academic year (Josep Turet Capellas, Carme Raurell Costa, Rosa M. Guitard Aced, Miquel Caballeria Suriñach, Miquel Tuneu Vila, Anton Granero Martínez and Miguel Pérez Silva), the presentation of the Extraordinary Prizes and the Prizes for the best academic records, and a brief musical performance by the cellist Anna Soler Comas.

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