The UAB Archaeology and Palaeontology Campus: ten years of successly connecting teaching, research and surroundings
The UAB celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Archaeology and Palaeontology Campus with a conference on the history and future challenges of this network, made up of archaeological sites, municipal facilities, museums and archaeological parks in which the University carries out part of its teaching and research in both disciplines. The campus is a strategic project of the UAB that represents an essential improvement in the training of archaeologists and palaeontologists in Catalonia, with the introduction of compulsory practices in archaeology and paleontology as a distinctive feature.
The event, entitled "Ten Years of Shared History", included an institutional welcome by UAB Vice-Rector for Research Assumpció Malgosa, and Faculty of Arts & Humanities Dean Margarita Freixas.
Assumpció Malgosa thanked the efforts of all the people who, over the past ten years, have contributed to making the UAB Archaeology and Palaeontology Campus “a very valuable asset, which positions us in teaching and research and connects us in a very firm and committed way to the country, while also converting the campus' headquarters into spaces of knowledge and enjoyment for citizens”. Margarita Freixas expressed the satisfaction of students who participate in the campus and expressed her desire that “in the future more students from other degrees and academic studies at the faculty can be incorporated”.
The presentation of the first ten years of the UAB Archaeology and Palaeontology Campus was made by Oriol Vicente, coordinator of the UAB's CORE in Cultural Heritage, who highlighted the magnificent experience of this decade of work, with a triple impact: in teaching, in research and in social impact. "We must show our pride, because we have achieved an exceptional project. There is no other university that has something similar", he highlighted, and expressed the desire to "continue working in connection with others", expanding the collaboration network to other areas of Catalonia and to teaching and research staff interested in joining.
The presentation indicated that the University currently has 25 agreements in force with the different headquarters that are part of the campus. In addition to the teaching practices and research carried out, the campus has developed several outreach projects, such as the Campus Jove, within the Argó programme and in collaboration with the University's Institute of Education Sciences (ICE), and the Investiga.edu programme, with primary and secondary school students studying near the campuses headquarters. Looking ahead to the near future, work is being done on the El Tren del Temps project to raise awareness of the sites located in the municipalities near the route between Lleida and Pobla de Segur. This is the route traced by the Tren del Llacs and a site in which the UAB excavates.
The day also included the presentation of several sites by their managers and was completed with a work session focused on reviewing current lines, defining future lines, and a visit to the UAB laboratories and the "InterMedit" exhibition.
A tool for research, teaching and knowledge transfer
The UAB Archaeology and Palaeontology Campus is a teaching experience that takes advantage of the know-how of the archaeological and palaeontological research projects of the UAB departments and integrates it into the practical teaching of the degree in Archaeology and in the initiation to research of master's and PhD students.
The creation of the campus in the 2013/14 academic year formalised and institutionalised a teaching framework that had already begun with the regulated practical fieldwork in the 2009/10 academic year. This innovative model represents an essential improvement in the training of archaeologists and palaeontologists in Catalonia, as it introduces mandatory internships as a distinctive feature.
The campus is structured around a network of archaeological sites, municipal facilities, museums and archaeological parks where the UAB carries out part of its teaching and research. It has a very wide range of work placements that cover practically all the chronologies and typologies of sites, spanning a history that goes from the Cretaceous to the modern and contemporary eras. The different sites (currently more than a dozen) are spread across Catalonia and include large Mediterranean sites.
National impact and recognition
The campus is an element that enriches the heritage of the towns and their surroundings. Its work responds to the need to improve knowledge of the history of the land and to make the transfer of knowledge between the university and society effective.
This collaboration model actively involves the actors of the so-called “quadruple helix”: local and supralocal governments, research, the heritage industry, and users. Working together strengthens social cohesion and identity, as the heritage resource is activated and continuously renewed through research and innovation. Many of the sites are also archaeological or palaeontological parks linked to museums and interpretation centres, which also train students in the areas of heritage management, teaching and dissemination.
The excellence of this teaching initiative has also received official recognition: the UAB's Archaeology and Palaeontology Campus received the Jaume Vicens Vives distinction from the Government of Catalonia for university teaching quality in 2018.