I am very pleased with the high turnout, especially by teaching staff and administrative and service staff. I am also very happy with and grateful for the results, as more than 80% of the permanent teaching staff voted for me. More than 60% of the administrative and service staff and students who voted also supported our project. Given how challenging the current context is, and that there was only one candidate, that high level of engagement is cause for optimism. In the last few months, I have been able to speak with more than 300 people from our community and I have seen for myself that one of our greatest assets is the strong emotional bond they all feel with UPF. To borrow a sport metaphor, one of our main assets is the large number of students, workers, alumni and members of civil society who feel like part of the UPF team, who feel a real love for our colours.

To borrow a sport metaphor, one of our main assets is the large number of students, workers, alumni and members of civil society who feel like part of the UPF team, who feel a real love for our colours.

So as not simply to recite the 136 actions from our proposed action plan, I might sum it up as follows. With regard to the teaching staff, we will work to bring in new young talent; we will provide job stability for everyone who passes the departmental promotion processes; we will improve the conditions of our relationship with adjunct lecturers, who fulfil an essential role at UPF; and we will reduce the administrative burdens associated with research and teaching. As for the administrative and service staff, we will likewise work to bring in young talent; we will foster career paths and promote internally before seeking external talent; we will take advantage of the possibilities of working from home, guaranteeing user services; and we will restore the forms of financial aid they had access to until 2008. For students, we will work to enable more streamlined schedules and to boost the presence of Catalan and English. We will also enhance our services for alumni – who are likewise key to ensuring the strength of our academic and social network – and we will increase the level of financial aid so that no one is left behind due to economic hardship or for any other reason.

Throughout its more than thirty years of history, UPF has been characterized by its unwavering commitment to issues such as recruiting the top international teaching staff, research excellence, having its own teaching model, and internationalization. We have also had excellent rectors. In recent years, Rector Casals defined additional strategic lines, such as planetary wellbeing and the inclusion of culture and the humanities in all activities. Our action plan will continue to follow all these lines, whilst also adding increased societal outreach and a greater effort to ensure that the knowledge we generate (with research) is transferred to society and the classroom (through teaching).

I would like this four-year term to be viewed as a driver of knowledge transfer, enhanced internal management, and the new teaching model. When someone decides to pursue a career in academia, it is usually because they want to generate and transmit a certain knowledge and see how their students make it grow. Based on this premise, UPF has always led the way with its education model, adapting it to the new needs that have emerged over the last thirty years. But now, the Industrial Revolution 4.0, with its myriad technological innovations, has changed everything. Students no longer learn the same way they did five years go: they have different needs and motivations. Universities are falling behind, because the world is changing more and more quickly. So, three years ago, UPF launched a highly participatory process of reflection and analysis that allowed it to propose a new education model: EDvolution. This model, which continues to consider face-to-face learning essential, leverages new technologies and teaching methods to make teaching more student-centred and focused on students’ ability to create knowledge, as well as on the skills they need to become good professionals, good citizens, and good people.

My main goal, professionally, is to create knowledge and disseminate it through teaching, as well as through the results and impacts of research. I have been doing it since I was 22. So, now, albeit with less intensity, I will continue to do it for several reasons. First, it is my vocation. Second, I do not want to lose touch with students and the people who benefit from the fruits of research. For example, it will let me see how the adoption of the new EDvolution teaching model is going. So, I would like to continue being a teacher and researcher who will spend a few years as rector.

My main goal, professionally, is to create knowledge and disseminate it through teaching, as well as through the results and impacts of research.

We have to make sure that the good research we do reaches society more. It needs to help make the country more competitive and enhance people’s wellbeing. We will thus place a lot of importance on knowledge transfer. Our country is very strong in terms of knowledge production; our scientific output is ten times the global average. However, the data on the impact of all this knowledge on society are weak. We have to ensure that this knowledge reaches society and businesses.

UPF is a public university and, as such, at the service of society. We have to help make sure that the knowledge we generate redounds in a more competitive country with a greater capacity to generate wellbeing for the population. That’s why we will intensify our relations with the public and private sectors (including both companies and the social economy, i.e. cooperatives, associations and foundations), as well as encourage more public-private partnerships. The countries that generate the greatest wellbeing undeniably make more use of public-private partnerships. In our country, many people do not like the private sector and many others dislike the public sector. Personally, I think we would do much better with a bigger public sector (albeit one that is more efficient), a bigger private sector (albeit one with greater regulation and in which the social economy accounts for a larger share) and more public-private partnerships.

I think we would do much better with a bigger public sector (albeit one that is more efficient), a bigger private sector (albeit one with greater regulation and in which the social economy accounts for a larger share) and more public-private partnerships.

UPF is and must remain a university that stands out for the excellence of its research. The impetus and consolidation of the Ciutadella del Coneixement (Citadel of Knowledge) project and, more specifically, of the set of actions planned for the grounds of the former fish market will be key in the coming years to defining and leading a benchmark research and innovation ecosystem in Southern Europe, able to attract national and international institutions. Such institutions also have an interest in citizen participation, collective intelligence, and the interrelationship between art and science.

We will continue with all of Rector Casals’ major strategic initiatives, as they are good for UPF and for the country. The Planetary Wellbeing initiative is also something he proposed, and, in the last few years, UPF has become an active player in the commitment not only to the planet’s health, but also its wellbeing. This cross-cutting initiative by the university means we need to intervene quite tenaciously in the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Amongst the various areas in which we need to make substantial progress, one might highlight gender policies, in order to achieve effective equality, and aspects related to social justice and the acceptance of diversity and multiculturalism. These are areas in which universities have considerable leadership capacity and broad influence, and we must not shy away from what society is demanding of us.

Amongst the various areas in which we need to make substantial progress, one might highlight gender policies, in order to achieve effective equality, and aspects related to social justice and the acceptance of diversity and multiculturalism.

The cultural dimension has always been present in Pompeu Fabra's strategic proposal. The intensification of the cultural commitment has accelerated in recent years. And now, we want to go even deeper, even naming one of the vice-rectorates for culture. We want culture to reach all the subjects, all the programs, all the teachings, all the activities that the University does. We believe that this is one of the differentiating factors that UPF can have.

It goes without saying that our university system needs more resources. That is clear when you look at the funding we receive per student or teaching and research staff member, which is two to five times less than at other similarly positioned universities in the university rankings. However, in addition to more resources, we need greater management autonomy, as we currently have our hands tied. Let me give you two examples. Since 2008, we have not been able to increase our spending on salaries beyond annual inflation. In other words, even if we have resources, we cannot raise salaries. Nor can we hire more people or offer them permanent contracts, except to fill vacancies left by people who retire. That leads to a lot of precariousness and an emergency situation due to the failure to bring in young talent to the teaching and research and administrative and service staffs. That is very worrying and urgently needs to change. It is an issue on which we will work shoulder to shoulder with the other universities to convince the Catalan and Spanish governments to improve the current regulations. Another very important issue is that teachers do many activities that are not recognized in any way. This makes it difficult to improve in areas such as teaching or knowledge transfer to society. We need to value their work holistically and recognize that all the work they do is useful and complementary.

UPF’s international positioning will greatly depend on whether we can improve university funding and regulation. The best universities unquestionably have more funding. UPF will thus be hard-pressed to maintain its current prestigious rankings in the future if we do not settle certain issues that depend on the Catalan and Spanish governments.

We need to complete the digital transformation in order to reduce the administrative burden for both administrative and service staff and teaching and research staff. We need to harness the potential of new technologies and see how we can further improve through participatory open-innovation processes. One of the first steps we will take will be to launch a process of rapid transformation that, in a few months, will identify issues in need of improvement and creative solutions to help achieve it. We will invite everyone to participate in this process: students, administrative and service staff, teaching and research staff, the Board of Trustees, alumni, etc.

I don’t like to talk about myself, but if I had to say something I would say that I put in a lot of hours, because I am passionate about what I do. Other hallmark traits might be a positive outlook and an indefatigable quest for broad consensuses that take the entire community into account. That means encouraging everyone to participate and listening a lot. People also tell me that I’m very approachable. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do try.

It is a very diverse team, with a good balance in terms of gender, age and fields of knowledge. I am very thankful to everyone who agreed to be part of it. When I have to select people to work with, the first thing I look for are three qualities: that they have positive and proven experience in the field they have to manage; that they are good people; and that they have a capacity to lead by consensus.

In this case, I would also underscore the enormous enthusiasm and eagerness this team has to ensure that UPF continues to be a leading university and a source of pride for our country. All of the team members are proud to belong to the UPF community and excited to make a better university for everyone.

When I have to select people to work with, the first thing I look for are three qualities: that they have positive and proven experience in the field they have to manage; that they are good people; and that they have a capacity to lead by consensus.