Youths from El Raval are getting graduated in the UAB with the support of the Prometeus programme

07/12/2021

This programme started in the 2016-2017 school year in El Raval neighbourhood thanks to the support of the Integral Education Association of Raval (AEIRaval) and El Raval newspaper. This year, the first class of university students graduated thanks to this programme. The graduation was held on November 8 in the Saló de Cent of Barcelona’s City Hall with fifteen graduates, all of them young people from El Raval. Ada Colau, Barcelona’s mayor, led this event and recognized the youths as role models of self-improvement and tenacity. 

This project is oriented to guarantee academic equality of opportunities and to get the maximum amount of youths from El Raval to access to higher education and finish them successfully. And, by doing this, the aim is to turn them into an inspiration for the new generations of the neighbourhood. Economic reasons, language skills, or educational expectations are some of the causes that make it harder for these youths to access and stay in university. Some of the aims of the programme are: on the one hand, an increase on the number of students from El Raval that start university degrees and, on the other hand, that the graduates join this collective help and support the high schools in the neighbourhood. Moreover, Prometeus programme has truned into a project that is appreciated by the school community and the families of the area. 

Two of the students that graduated are Iuliana Constantin and Chaimaa El Mchriqy. They both have graduated this academic year in the Chemistry Degree at the UAB and have explained to us their experience and how it was the university life. Iuliana arrived at Catalonia from Romania when she was 16, without knowing Spanish nor Catalan. In one year full of efforts, she learnt the language. Chaimaa, from Morocco, went firstly to Andalusia and then to Catalonia. For her, the language was also the main challenge. Anyway, their will to be able to communicate and express themselves were the reasons that drove them to continue their studies. 

Although I am shy, I am a very talkative and it was being hard for me to communicate with people. I had a lot of things to express and say, and people were not understanding me.   Iuliana Constantin

Since they were little, they both knew for sure that they wanted to study at university and keep building their education. Iuliana is the first one in her family that reaches university and ,thanks to the support of the Prometeus programme, she has finished her degree. Now Iuliana and Chaimaa go back to their high schools in El Raval every month to explain their experience and encourage young people to continue their studies and start higher education. 

Since I was little I always knew I wanted to hold a university diploma. I didn’t know which one, as I often change my opinion, but I was sure that I wanted to go to the university.   Chaimaa El Mchriqy

The project is now five years old and has succeeded in reaching beyond El Raval. Nowadays, youths from other neighbourhoods of Barcelona have been able to get this support. Some of these areas are the Besòs, the Maresme, the Verneda i la Pau and the Zona Nord. The Prometeus Programme counts now with the participation of 159 young people, and carries out the task of encouraging young people from the most vulnerable neighbourhoods of Barcelona to continue their studies, and ensure an academic future.