01.01 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

The creation of the UAB took place during one of the most critical periods for universities under the Franco regime. Between 1965 and 1969, a massive student movement mobilized at almost every university in Spain, culminating in the first nationwide university strike in Spanish history in early February 1967. Faced with a situation that had surpassed their control, academic and political authorities resorted exclusively to repressive measures.

A comprehensive reform of the entire education system, and particularly of the university sector, was then undertaken. One of the first measures was the creation, in June 1968, of three new universities on the outskirts of Barcelona, Bilbao, and Madrid. These institutions were conceived as “experimental” and autonomous universities.

On 27 July 1968, a new ministerial decree established the immediate creation of four faculties at the UAB: Medicine, Philosophy and Letters, Economics and Business Studies, and Science.

The UAB commenced its activities on the morning of 30 October 1968, when the academic year of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters was officially opened in the chapter house of the Monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès.