Pompeu Fabra University and the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland, USA) signed last 11 ^th of March a memorandum of understanding aimed at establishing a public policy centre of this prestigious American university at the UPF Ciutadella campus.

This centre, which will be located in the new building of social sciences research currently under construction, will offer academic programmes - mainly in collaboration with UPF - and online programmes with a face-to-face part to be held in Barcelona; will develop joint research projects, and will host international events.

The agreement was signed in Baltimore by Josep Joan Moreso, rector of UPF, and Jonathan A. Bagger, provost of the Johns Hopkins University, accompanied by the UPF vice-rector for International Relations, Josep Ferrer; the interim director of the Institute for Policy Studies at the Johns Hopkins, Donald Steinwachs; professors Ellen McKenzie and Thomas Burke, of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at the same institution, and professor Vicenç Navarro, member of both signing universities and main promoter of the project.

The agreement is particularly relevant for the UPF Department of Political and Social Sciences, because it wiil be part of the project to establish an international centre on public policies and management, within which the Hopkins Center will be hosted, and is an important step forward in the long and fruitful relationship between both universities, which already cooperate in the organization of the Hopkins Fall Institute, held annually in Barcelona, and in the UPF master's degree programme in Public and Social Policies, two indisputable reference academic initiatives in Europe.