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"Catalanophobia exists" and "Catalonia has to communicate its ideals if it is to be understood by the rest of Spain" says the socialist candidate to the next Spanish general elections
The private school will follow the British curriculum so, that when the students finish high school, they will be able to attend any public or private university either in Spain or in the United Kingdom. It is the latest addition to a series of international schools in Catalonia, which infuse an international and intercultural perspective into their teaching programmes, or they directly follow a curriculum from another country.
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.
The Catalan Government will be able to keep the number of new teacher positions this year, after the Spanish Government withdrew its complaint. However, the Spokesperson for the Catalan Government insisted that the Spanish Executive continues with “its offensive against Catalonia”, as among other issues it still refuses to pay 1.45 billion euros from the Competitiveness Fund. In addition, only 0.8% of the Spanish Government’s approved public works in 2011 are in Catalonia.
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.
The first creation factory, called ‘La central del circ’ (Circus HQ), is now open to the public in the city’s Parc del Fòrum, next to the Sant Adrià sports port.
The project, sponsored by three Catalan universities, focuses on the academic community but it can be used by everyone. The initiative is unprecedented in Europe, especially as regards self-learning systems.
With the aim of fostering vocational training in Catalonia, the Catalan Government approved a decree to modify it today. All students will have to learn foreign languages. Combining studies and a job will be easier. Programmes’ curriculum will be adapted to sector needs and student requirements.
The Catalan Minister for Education said that not all the 40,000 students that were meant to start the laptop programme at the next academic course will be able to do so. Although the main reason is due to the economic cutbacks, the Minister said that the are also pending teaching evaluations regarding the use of laptops.
The new Catalan Minister for Education was the CiU’s manager of this portfolio for seven years, while the party was not in power. She has experience, both as a primary school and university teacher. Over the last 30 years, she has held several positions in politics, mainly working on education issues, with the exception of the period in which she was the Catalan Minister for Social Welfare and Family (1999-2003).
Secondary school pupils in Catalonia are doing better in reading, math and science. Catalonia ranks 15th in reading skills, at the same level as Sweden and the United States
The university will be located in the historic Hospital de Sant Pau area, an Art-Nouveau gem and a hospital until two years ago. The United Nations University will centre on research in education, migration, youth and the role of media.
233,538 students in 954 programmes throughout Catalonia will begin the 2010/2011 school year in the new European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The EHEA is an objective of the Bologna Process to create a common and compatible university system throughout Europe.
Catalan students are back to the books, or in some cases, laptops. The 2010-2011 school year began this morning with over 1,200,000 students and 88,467 teachers back in the classroom.
The future is here. Digitalisation in school classrooms is now a reality. This summer, a large step has been taken in order to provide Catalan high-school students with laptops and digital books. Catalan Minister for Education Ernest Maragall says it is “an extraordinary step in changing our educational system”.