Nearly 150 UPF bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree graduates residing in more than 30 countries around the world participated in the Worldwide Alumni UPF - Christmas Meetup. The gathering, held on the Ciutadella campus, took place on 20 December coinciding with their return home for the Christmas holidays.

It is the first edition of this event, which was conceived to be held annually and is another step towards building the UPF international community, which has already taken shape through the UPF Alumni Chapters project. The Chapters are groups of former UPF students in different parts of the world (currently eight have been set up).

The idea behind the Worldwide Alumni UPF - Christmas Meetup is to raise awareness among alumni residing around the world that they can return to their University to generate new links and connections with other people who studied at UPF and have undertaken international careers in multiple fields and professional sectors.

The first edition of this event was hosted by Mireia Dilmé, a program manager at Google with an extensive international career in California and Ireland and an alumni of the bachelor’s degree in Business Sciences-Management  (2016); and Albert Martínez, strategy & planning manager at AILEY (New York) and an alumni of the bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations (2017).

One of the highlights of the event was the conversation held between some of the students attending the event, from different countries and disciplines. Their testimonies and the personal stories they shared served to showcase how UPF talent puts itself at the service of different professional projects around the world. Below, you can learn about the participants of this round table by areas of knowledge.

• Economics:
  • Roger Aldomà, vice-president of FIG Investment Banking at Bank of America (New York, USA) and an alumni of the bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Administration (2015).
• Political and Social Sciences:
  • Júlia Codina Sariols, global campaign & advocacy coordinator of the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi (Kenya) and an alumni of the bachelor’s degree in Political and Social Sciences (2017).
  • Anna Pons Vilaseca, project lead of the OECD Schools + Network (Paris, France), member of the board of directors of the UPF Alumni Chapter in Paris and an alumni of the bachelor’s degree in Political and Administration Sciences (2008) and the bachelor’s degree in Economics (2009).
• Innovation and technology:
  • Ari Font Llitjós, co-founder and CEO of Alinia AI (New York, USA) and an alumni of the bachelor’s degree in Translation and Interpreting (1996).
• Science:
  • Teresa Puig Pijuan, a postdoctoral researcher at the Instituto d’Or de Pesquisa e Ensino (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and an alumni of the bachelor’s degree in Human Biology (2014).
• Humanities and Communication:
  • Laia Puig i Espar, exhibitions & displays officer of the National Museums Scotland (Edinburgh, Scotland) and an alumni of the bachelor’s degree in Journalism (2018) and the bachelor’s degree in Humanities (2019)

In all their interventions, the alumni highlighted their excellent academic preparation at UPF to tackle their professional challenges and they especially valued the fact that the University works to facilitate essential relational networks to achieve valuable social capital, generating useful connections and opportunities.

In this regard, the UPF vice-rector for Internationalization, Helena Ramalhinho, underscored UPF’s high international student mobility rate of 40%, which is among the highest of any university in Spain. The vice-rector, who spoke at the closing of the event, also thanked and praised the initiatives undertaken by the UPF Alumni Programme to make the international UPF community a reality.

During the meeting, attendees also had the chance to listen and talk to some of the leaders of several UPF Alumni Chapters. Specifically, Cora Atala Cubells and Maria Becquey of the Paris Chapter; Mireia Naharro and Maria Torrent of the New York Chapter; and Belén López and Laura Rodríguez of the London Chapter took part. All of them were highly satisfied with their involvement in the project and the relationships created in each of the regions.

In addition, Mireia Mata and Sònia Marzo, from the UPF Alumni Programme, presented the main strategic axes on which work is being carried out, as well as the current state and forthcoming developments of the UPF Alumni Chapters. They are currently located in Brussels, California, London, Madrid, New York, Paris, Washington and Chile. During 2025, new ones are expected to be formed in Berlin, Amsterdam, Zurich and Geneva.

All the alumni attending the event also gave a very positive appraisal of the first edition of the Christmas Meetup, as it allowed them to meet other students from the same city or country where they are residing and to extend their network of relations and contacts around the world. It is hoped that the event will be repeated again next year.