Mainstreamed priorities

We must deepen our internationalization both inside and outside the university in order to consolidate UPF’s position as a globally renowned Catalan university. To achieve this goal, we must be a fully multilingual university, capable of attracting talent from around the world, with a strong international reputation for the quality of our research, the prestige of our teachers, researchers, and all other staff, the satisfaction of our people, and our alumni’s successful careers. We must combine the promotion of multilingualism with the defence of Catalan, as the university’s own language, to boost its use, ensure its presence in all areas of the university, and enhance its prestige. We must also promote and nurture international mobility, collaboration with scientific institutions from around the world, and work in the context of top-tier international networks and initiatives. UPF must be selective in choosing which cooperation frameworks to participate in and must play a proactive role in them when it does, helping to drive improvements in the field of higher education and build a more cohesive, equitable, and just society. 

In other words, we must cultivate an international university culture, including top-quality services, highly relevant activities, and a prestigious teaching staff, that permeates the university’s structure and overall operation. 

We must continue to be an approachable, medium-sized university, sensitive to our surroundings and socially responsible in our relationships with multiple cultural, social, and economic stakeholders, that provides solutions to the needs of the country and world. We aim to embrace a comprehensive and transformative social responsibility model that encompasses all areas of the university and aspires to excellence.

We must collectively promote and guarantee the multiple dimensions of the university’s responsibility – environmental sustainability, ethical awareness, promoting the Catalan language, the gender perspective, solidarity and cooperation, volunteering, promoting healthy lifestyles, and services for individuals with disabilities – as essential components of a responsible university and be committed to doing so. Conceiving of the university as a space for critical reflection that is accessible and open to society is a prerequisite to ensure that many groups, such as older people, secondary school students, or local residents, feel welcome. In the coming years, UPF must further intensify its scientific and institutional efforts to tackle the challenges inherent to societal well-being.

We must continue to develop the collaborative capabilities of the university’s various groups, units, and services in order to work in a more personalized, flexible, and integrated way, both internally and externally. 

We must forge stronger ties with the organizations and institutions in our environment, at all levels, around those issues we consider priorities, adding value to them and taking every opportunity to learn from these exchanges to improve our teaching, research, innovation, knowledge-transfer, and management activities. The diversity of Pompeu Fabra University’s ecosystem makes it stronger and helps it get the most out of its specialization. 

We must multiply and deepen the university’s relationships with its partners in the professional, social, industrial, and cultural worlds and make unique, distinctive, largely inimitable contributions to them that bolster our reputation.

To promote this priority, as well as the others, we must make the most of the opportunities offered by technological advances and, especially, those linked to generative artificial intelligence. 

We must reaffirm our rigorous commitment to research and knowledge transfer, teaching innovation, and continuous improvement. Excellence is only possible if the university acts based on evidence, if its decisions are driven by reliable data, evaluation results, and critical analysis of institutional processes. We must further foster an organizational culture that values transparency, reflection, and informed decision-making, always ensuring that all areas of the university – from management to teaching, research, and knowledge transfer – pursue excellence and continuous improvement. Systematic self-assessment must be a key element of this process, enabling us to recognize what we do well, identify our strengths and areas for improvement, drive innovation, and adapt to changes in the academic and social context. To this end, self-assessment should be understood as an expression of a deep commitment to the desire to improve, not a mere exercise in auditing. This drive for excellence must be accompanied by an unwavering commitment to quality and responsibility, as measured by the most stringent national and international standards. The university must also become more open to society, actively collaborating with its various stakeholders and positioning itself as a leader in the creation of relevant knowledge. Self-assessment must not be used only for internal improvement, but also to bear public witness to our track record and results, to boost the confidence of students, alumni, technical, management, and administrative and service staff, teaching staff, researchers, and society at large. This will enable the university to become a touchstone institution, open, critical, and committed to quality and continuous improvement.