Foreword

Dear members of the UPF university community, 

Throughout our history, Pompeu Fabra University has demonstrated that ambition and rigour are an indispensable part of civic commitment and the will to effect change. Today, with this new 2026–2037 Strategy, we continue to advance with the same determination that has guided our steps from the start: to build a university that holds itself to the highest standards, is rooted in the country yet open to the world, and is capable of anticipating and leading change.

The period ahead is a crucial one. We are living in a time of profound uncertainties and rapid technological, social, environmental, and geopolitical transformations that directly challenge the role of public universities. In this context, we want to reaffirm our mission, namely, to train individuals to think critically and use their own judgement, create knowledge with real societal impact, and actively contribute to a fairer, freer, and more sustainable society. And we do so with the conviction that defending academic rigour, scientific evidence, and plural debate is more necessary today than ever. 

The next twelve years will also be decisive for our university. 

The next twelve years will also be decisive for our university. The people who founded Pompeu Fabra University and spent their academic and professional careers here will retire, and new generations of teaching and research staff and technical, management, and administrative and service staff will take up the mantle of institutional leadership. Furthermore, nearly 30,000 new students will pass through our classrooms over the period, and, in all likelihood, a significant part of everything we do today will be done very differently. 

This Strategy is not just a roadmap; it is also a collective invitation. An invitation to solidify our status as a leading European research university, promote a distinctive and personalized educational model, strengthen a plural and cohesive community, and bolster the image we project from Barcelona and Catalonia to the world. It is also an invitation to network, to be socially responsible, and to make evaluation and a culture of evidence the foundations of our excellence. 

None of this, however, will be possible without the talent, generosity, and commitment of all the people who are part of our community: students, teaching and research staff, technical, management, and administrative and service staff, and alumni. Nor can we do it without the involvement of all our partner institutions and organizations. I invite you all, then, to join us in this collective effort. This Strategy is the result of a participatory process shared by numerous members of our university community; it will only become a reality if we all make it our own.

We want to be an even more relevant, open, and courageous university, a university capable of not only adapting to the future, but also decisively helping to build it.

So let us look to 2037 with ambition and confidence. We want to be an even more relevant, open, and courageous university, a university capable of not only adapting to the future, but also decisively helping to build it. 

Laia de Nadal
Rector
Pompeu Fabra University