The university community
A responsible, committed, plural, and connected university community
UPF is a Catalan public university committed to excellence that combines a strong local identity with a clear global outlook and seeks to establish itself as an open and accessible institution, deeply committed to collaboration and cross-disciplinarity. This plural community – comprising students, teaching and research staff, technical, management, and administrative and service staff, and alumni – is characterized by proximity and dynamism and a growing international connection. UPF’s uniqueness also lies in its flexible, socially rooted model, which promotes comprehensive sustainability (social, economic, environmental, and human), collective well-being, knowledge transfer with a transformative impact, and academic freedom. It is essential to promote a stronger institutional commitment, use new tools to enhance internal communication, and facilitate support for projects with transformative potential. UPF must actively help shape a socially-committed citizenry whilst also promoting the use of the Catalan language in all its activities.
It is important to reinforce the corporate identity and sense of belonging to UPF through activities that promote cohesion, stimulate emotional bonds, and foster well-being for all, including those who have already left the university. The relationship with alumni must move beyond the traditional framework of service provision and fundraising to become a more determined offer of lifelong learning programmes open to the entire community. Additionally, new spaces should be created, likewise open to the entire community, where alumni and current students can share knowledge, experiences, and new projects. This unique offering will strengthen educational innovation, promote intergenerational cooperation, and help establish UPF as a benchmark for lifelong support for the members of its community.
Read morePromote the community’s well-being and holistic development
Creating flexible, healthful, multipurpose spaces suitable for new ways of working that facilitate interaction amongst all groups to ensure more equal and horizontal relationships. These spaces must be designed bearing in mind the different situations and needs of the various university community members, always striving to make them inclusive.
Promoting the creation of gathering places for students on the university’s different campuses, where they can work and socialize in safe, informal settings, in order to foster a student community with greater emotional well-being.
Ensuring the creation of the necessary new infrastructure to expand and supplement the university community’s activities across the university’s three campuses and in other settings.
Promoting policies that ensure talent retention and knowledge transfer amongst the different generations that make up the university community, in order to guarantee a generational turnover amongst groups that makes it possible to address the demographic changes, especially in relation to the technical, management, and administrative and service staff and the teaching and research staff.
Fostering cross-disciplinary work in the university community to strengthen the relationship between disciplines, units, and groups and enhance their sense of belonging.
Giving new impetus to staff training, in both the academic and management spheres, with a more innovative and intersectional approach that alternates different forms of participation and ensures knowledge of the latest technological innovations, such as artificial intelligence.
Promoting collaborative projects between teachers and students beyond the classroom, through think tanks, teaching innovation spaces, and mixed working groups on key issues for university life (such as sustainability, equality, well-being, or communication).
Offering more sport, social, and cultural activities to the entire university community that are of interest to everyone and serve as a means of prevention and of promoting mental health and that facilitate mutual support and community bonds
Strengthen a participatory and socially committed community
Positioning participation as one of the university’s hallmarks, thereby promoting commitment, dialogue, and ongoing debate within and outside the governing bodies as a means of making the best decisions. In this context, we must encourage social skills, participatory leadership, and democratic culture.
Offering activities that strengthen and better highlight UPF’s social commitment in order to cultivate a spirit of volunteering and provide university community members with opportunities to develop as citizens with democratic values.
Designing and implementing welcome, support, guidance, and continuous monitoring policies for members of the university’s various groups, whilst at the same time striving to maintain ties with everyone who has ever been associated with UPF. We must also establish new integration measures in the context of the university’s growing internationalization and the strong cultural diversification that this process entails, as well as in view of the growing social diversification of the groups accessing the university due to the changes of recent years.
Fostering support for the network of associations and student participation, promoting the initiatives, work, and visibility of student associations and, in particular, the activities of the UPF Student Council, as the student representative body.
Promoting measures to strengthen the university’s role as a driver of equity, exploring avenues and working with other institutions to facilitate access to the university for as many people as possible, regardless of their financial resources. We must also actively speak out on the importance of equity and progressively expand our own scholarship and financial aid programmes.
Expanding alumni’s role within the community. We must strengthen students’ sense of belonging, so that it endures even after they graduate, whilst also continuing to work to ensure that UPF remains a touchstone for them throughout their careers and lives. In this regard, we must devise and launch new learning formats, such as microcredentials, to help them pursue lifelong learning.
Actively build a plural, egalitarian, and inclusive community
Spearheading exemplary institutional outreach discourses and policies that strike a balance between the university’s youthful spirit and a well-established identity and that go beyond reporting on activities and outcomes to integrate and promote transparency, diversity, sustainability, equality, and inclusion as the university’s core values.
Implementing equality and inclusion policies with the aim of forging a welcoming, equitable, and socially responsible community that combats inequality and discrimination. We must actively work to ensure that access to education is merit-based and strengthen the university’s role as a tool for social equity. We must also continue working to make the university a place free from any form of discrimination or abuse, including those related to hate speech targeted at specific individuals or groups.
Fostering a university community that is committed to democratic values, the Catalan language, and the country’s social, political, economic, sporting, and cultural life.
Encouraging collective responsibility and public service within the university community through knowledge transfer, engagement in public debate, and the promotion of democratic values and social justice.
Taking on eco-social and climate emergency challenges and undertaking specific actions that permeate and guide the university community’s values, decision-making, and actions in this regard, as well as for the benefit of future generations.
Transferring to society the values and knowledge acquired in the university environment and making them a driver of critical thinking and social transformation.