In October 2010, the CEI UPF - Icària project, coordinated by UPF, was awarded the distinction of Campus of International Excellence in a call promoted by the Spanish ministry of Education, Culture and Sport which sought to position a selection of Spanish universities among the best in Europe.

The preparation o f the project -made possible thanks to the participation of some twenty partners in the fields of training, research and knowledge transfer-  and, later, obtaining the CEI distinction, contributed to prioritizing a selection of actions in these three major fields for the future of the University.

At the same time, the awarded universities undertook to be held accountable for the development of the project through the design of a website, the preparation of an Annual follow-up report - open to the whole community and evaluated by an independent international committee - and a possible visit to the campus by a ministerial delegation which, in the case of UPF, took place in April 2013.

The ministry of Education has just published the results of the 2013 evaluation in which the project coordinated by UPF has again scored the highest mark, the same as was awarded in 2012 by a completely different committee. In general terms, the 2013 committee highlights the cutting-edge position of the campus in terms of teaching and research quality and innovation; the international reach and the high impact that the project can have in Catalonia and E urope. However, the committee also notes the excessive leadership by UPF and urges it to continue to give the same emphasis to maintaining the quality of the teaching and research. With this favorable evaluation, UPF will not have to submit any report until 2015, with the final report, when the definitive grade will be decided.

The 2013 International Committee, appointed by the ministry, consisted of six experts on higher education with a renowned international track record: Karl Dittrich, president of VSNU, the Association of Universities in the Netherlands; Eric Froment, president of the Register Committee of EQAR, the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education; John Goddard, professor of Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University; Raanan Rein, vice-president of Tel Aviv University; Robert Munn, ex-vice-president of Education and Learning at the University of Manchester; and Gerhard Riemer, director of the Education, Innovation and Research Division at the FAI, the Federation of Austrian Industries.

The committee was chaired by the Secretary General of Universities, Federico Morán and, on behalf of the ministry, the director general of University Policy, Jorge Sainz, as vice-president; and Luis Delgado, as secretary also participated.

All of the information concerning the make-up of the Committee and the follow up for 2013 of the progress of the Campus of International Excellence projects can be seen on the ministry of Education website.