catalan universities

Seven Nobel Prize winners participated in Universitat Rovira i Virgili’s chemistry days

July 5, 2012 01:04 AM | CNA

From Sunday to Wednesday, the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), located in Tarragona, hosted a chemistry conference in order to discuss the latest discoveries in this discipline. Six chemistry Nobel Prize winners participated in the ‘Southern Catalonia Nobel Campus’, as well as Finn Kydland, who won the Nobel Prize of Economics in 2004. Kydland gave the opening speech. The chemistry days took place at the PortAventura conference centre, located next to the Costa Daurada amusement park.

Manuel Castells awarded the Holberg Prize, considered Sociology’s Nobel

June 7, 2012 11:46 PM | CNA

The Barcelona-raised sociologist Manuel Castells has received the 2012 Holberg International Memorial Prize in Bergen, Norway. This award is considered to be the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in the field of sociology. The jury considered his book ‘Communication Power’ to be “essential for a new understanding of politics”. Castells holds the Wallis Annenberg Chair at the University of Southern California, he is Research Professor at Catalonia’s distance-learning university (UOC) and Professor Emeritus at the University of California (Berkeley).

‘Study in Catalonia’ presented at an international education fair in Houston

May 30, 2012 12:02 AM | CNA

Catalan universities are present at the Annual Conference and Expo of the Association of International Educators (NAFSA), which is the world’s largest event of its kind. The conference is organised in the United States and this year’s edition is being held in Houston (Texas) until Friday June 1st. The website www.studyincatalonia.com has been presented and aims to promote the studies offered by Catalan public and private universities worldwide. The presence of foreign students in postgraduate and master courses at Catalan universities increased by 34% in the last school year (2010-2011).

Magnetic field invisibility discovered by Barcelona-based researchers, a first step towards the invisibility of light

March 23, 2012 10:32 PM | CNA

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in collaboration with a team from Slovakia’s Science Academy, have developed a cylinder that is invisible to magnetic fields and any object put inside cannot be detected. No one had ever achieved such results in such a simple manner, with much precision in the theoretical calculations and conclusive results in the laboratory. They believe this scientific discovery might be a first step towards light’s invisibility. Their research has been published in the prestigious journal ‘Science’.

Violent protests in downtown Barcelona during Catalonia’s university strike against budget cuts

February 29, 2012 10:53 PM | CNA / María Belmez / Gaspar Pericay Coll

Catalan university staff and students protested against the budget cuts, temporary worker lay offs and an increase in university fees. Peaceful demonstrations with thousands of participants were organised in Barcelona, Tarragona, Girona, and Lleida. However, the Barcelona demonstration did not stick to the schedule and split into different protests. A group of students became violent and broke the glass at a bank branch, threw eggs at the stock exchange, burned three containers and one vehicle, and occupied the rectorate at Barcelona University. 500 students concentrated in front of the Mobile World Congress, which is taking place in Barcelona, and police prevented them from breaking in.

Strike against university budget cuts has uneven support in Catalonia

November 18, 2011 06:27 PM | CNA / Sara Gómez

Students have protested against the Catalan Government’s measures intended to adjust university budgets. Protesters have criticised “privatisation”, with budget cuts and university tax increases. However, the Catalan Government denied these claims and said it had no intention of laying off 4,000 lecturers and researchers. As with other strikes, the figures presented by both sides are contradictory. Organisers talk about a “success” and stress that in some faculties classes were completely suspended. Nevertheless, official information states the uneven support of students for the strike action, ranging from 25% to 40% depending on the faculty.

University fees to be raised 7.6% next September in Catalonia

June 22, 2011 12:57 AM | CNA / María Belmez

Public university undergraduate students will have to pay between 64 and 100 euros more per year. Those repeating once will pay the same amount, but those taking a course for the third time will pay 60% more. The measure would bring in 20 million euros in one year. 25% of the revenues from the fee increase will be reinvested via scholarships, the first that will be aimed at university students managed by the Catalan Government.

20 years since the creation of Catalonia’s first private university, the Universitat Ramon Llull

May 12, 2011 03:57 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The Universitat Ramon Llull (URL) was created 20 years ago and brought together several prestigious educational institutions, such as ESADE, IQS and Blanquerna. Over the last 20 years, the university has gained recognition and is now on the European Association of Universities’ board. Banco Santander’s President Emilio Botín, the Spanish Minister for Education and the Catalan political class gathered for the 20th anniversary celebration.

Andreu Mas-Colell, an internationally recognised economist leading Catalan economy’s recovery

December 28, 2010 11:43 PM | CNA

Mas-Colell was a professor at Berkeley and Harvard universities. Most recently, he chaired the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and was a professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. He is a specialist in microeconomics and some of his publications are world-renowned references on the subject. Mas-Colell had already been Minister of the Catalan Government between 1999 and 2003, in charge of universities. Now he will be Minister for the Economy, Budget and Universities, stressing the importance of innovation and research.