The UAB inaugurates the 2025/26 academic year by championing diversity
The journalist from the international section of TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio and National Prize for Journalism and Media winner Txell Feixas delivered the inaugural lecture of the 2025/26 academic year, entitled "Without diversity there are no views, without views there is no journalism. The case of Gaza", on Wednesday 8 October. The event, which was chaired by Rector Javier Lafuente, marked the start of an academic year dedicated to diversity.
Txell Feixas: "It is the job of education and the media to remind society of the importance of diversity. These are two fundamental tools for building imagination and forming critical thinking."
UAB Secretary General Esther Zapater presented the video report for the 2024/25 academic year, "an act of responsibility and transparency that contributes to disseminating the fundamental work of the University in the creation, transmission and transfer of knowledge", she stated.
Following the video report, journalist Txell Feixas, a 2002 UAB alumni who has been working in journalism for over twenty years - the past decade as a Middle East correspondent for TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio - gave the inaugural lecture, in which she offered a strong and explicit claim for diversity. “Diversity is not debatable or negotiable. It simply exists, that is a fact”, were the words with which she began the lecture. And she stressed that, from the perspective of education and the media, it is time to remember its importance: “they are two fundamental tools with which to build imagination, form critical thinking, guide many voices and eyes that see in their own way, and that, all together, give meaning to the world we explain”.
Feixas emphasised "the alarming global democratic setback" and "the rise of the far right, which is leading to a reaction contrary to advances in civil and social rights, especially those related to racial, sexual, cultural, and gender minorities, and social classes."
In the final part of her speech, Feixas paid tribute to the Palestinian people, and especially to her fellow journalists, “perspectives that work tirelessly to explain the genocide to us”. For her, “these are diverse views, with different approaches that manage to do journalism despite risking their lives”. And she ended by asking one last question of the many that she posed throughout the entire inaugural lecture: “If now we are being informed of a very small percentage of what is really happening in the Gaza Strip, what will happen when there are no more information professionals left to explain it to us?”.
The rector then gave way to the institutional speeches. UAB Social Council President Tania Nadal explained that the motto “Unidiversity. Everyone is the UAB”, is a declaration of intent “of what we are and want to continue being”. The mayor of Cerdanyola del Vallès, Carlos Cordón, agreed with the suitability of the motto chosen in a “complicated moment like the one we are living now, which makes it necessary to put a stop to certain discourses”. At the same time, he pointed out that the Cerdanyola City Council wants to continue with the synergies it has with the UAB to work together.
The rector of the UAB, Javier Lafuente, began his speech by emphasising the work of journalism “which has the virtue of challenging us as individuals and as a society and, above all, explaining the complex reality to us from a critical perspective and with civic values”. For Rector Lafuente “journalism contributes to the formation of a truly critical and informed citizenry, especially sensitive to pluralism and diversity”.
He also highlighted that the UAB, which is dedicating this academic year to diversity, believes that equality and diversity policies “are a central element in the construction of an integrating and inclusive University that promotes the intellectual, professional and human development of all those forming part of it”. In this regard, he added that the preparation of the First Inclusion, Diversity and Non-Discrimination Plan of the UAB had begun, which will include the participation of the university community. And he recalled that the new Statutes of the UAB came into force this past March, a tool “that will allow us to move forward on the path towards a more modern, agile and diverse university”.
He also pointed out that although the collaboration with the Ministry for Research and Universities of the Government of Catalonia is positive, for many years “we have been demanding a university funding model that truly responds to the needs of the country, based on a contract programme between universities and the administration, with the corresponding obligation to be accountable, and at the same time, equipped with instruments that guarantee equity in access to higher education”. He added that “we are on the right track but we must continue to insist that the uniqueness of our university is clearly reflected in this future model”.
He concluded his speech by recalling that this year the UAB commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Bellaterra Manifesto and emphasised its validity. “It is a document that represents the desire for freedom and change of a University committed to the country and to democratic values”. For Rector Lafuente “these are the founding values of the UAB and on which we have built a leading University, which confirms its position among the 200 top academic institutions in the world”.
The event featured musical performances by the Moana Quartet, which performed four musical pieces, "Céphale et Procis, Overture", "Sicilienne", "Pink Breasted Robin" and "Drinking song", and the UAB Choir, which ended the opening ceremony by singing the hymn Gaudeamus igitur.
More information:
Inaugural event on the UAB YouTube channel