Barcelona creates an assessment council for universities

Barcelona's new Consell Assessor Municipal d'Universitats, formed by well-known members of the higher education scene, was created with the aim of consolidating the city as a leader in knowledge economy. The Secretary of Universities and Research of the Catalan Government and the Barcelona City Council have signed an agreement to create a new municipal unit made up of renowned members of the higher education and research spheres, and in which the universities of the Barcelona metropolitan area will be directly involved.

The new assessment council has been created to offer a place in which different agents and actors of the university system can interact and participate. It aims to be one of the city council's leading advisory units in academic and scientific issues and one of its objectives is to offer to disseminate all higher education, university and research activities among the population.

According to several international rankings, Barcelona is the second city in number of young universities (under 50, as is the case of the UAB) included in the top 50 universities worldwide, the tenth top university city and the second city with the largest number of UNESCO chairs. The new organisation aims to advance in the consolidation of Barcelona as one of Europe's leading knowledge economy capitals.

The presentation of the Consell Assessor Municipal d'Universitats included the presence of Manel Sabés, Vice Rector for Institutional Relations and Environment; Antoni Castellà, Secretary of Universities and Research of the Government of Catalonia; Xavier Trias, Mayor of Barcelona; and representatives of the universities UB, UPC, UPF, URL, UOC, UIC, UAO and UVic-UCC.