History of the Faculty

The faculty of Arts and Humanities was founded under the decree D1774/1968, dated July the 27th, 1968 (BOE 30/7/1968). It was part of the initial nucleus of centres belonging to the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, together with the Faculties of Medicine, Sciences and Economic Sciences. Lectures began in November 1968 in Sant Cugat del Vallès, in the cloister of the Monastery and in the Casa de Cultura, with l Dr. Frederic Udina Martorell as its first dean. During the academic year 1972-1973, the Faculty of Arts moved to Bellaterra, occupying the northern part of Building B, where it is still located today. 

The departments of Psychology and Pedagogy, which initially were part of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, became independent faculties 1990 and 1992 respectively, when both the Pedagogy department and the Teaching College in St. Cugat were incorporated into the Faculty of Educational Sciences. Once the faculty had moved to Bellaterra, the degree studies available then were Art, English & German Studies, Catalan Studies, Classical Studies, Spanish Studies, French and Romance Studies, Geography and History. All of these courses are still provided, despite some name changes. More recently, Anthropology and Musicology have been added to the list of degrees available.

In accordance with its founding principles, the UAB has been campus based, multi-disciplinary and scientific, which distinguishes it from its closest rivals. The Faculty of Arts and Humanities has played a key role in the UAB’s status as a centre of excellence in teaching and research. The Faculty , despite general tendencies, has wanted to preserve its historic and generic denomination as a faculty for ‘Arts and Humanities’, even though nowadays it includes such social sciences as Anthropology, Archaeology and Geography.

During the 2015-2016 academic year, the centre offered 23 bachelor’s degrees, some of which are inter-university, and 21 master’s degrees, of which 9 are inter-university. 

The following doctors have served as dean in the Faculty: Frederic Udina Martorell, Joan Reglà Campistol, Eduard Ripoll Perelló, Joaquim Molas Batllori, Eusebio García Manrique, José Manuel Blecua Perdices, Ignacio Burriel de Orueta, Càndid Genovard Rosselló, Josep Fontana Lázaro, Ricardo García Cárcel, Nazario González González, Jordi Cors Meya, José Martínez Gázquez, Josep Ma. Brucart Marraco, Helena Estadella Boadella, Joan Gómez Pallarès, Pere Ysàs Solanes, Carlos Sánchez Lancis and Teresa Cabré Monné. The current dean is Joan Carbonell Manils.

See the gallery of deans of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.