University Senate debates the deployment of statute and governance actions for 2025

Among the information that Rector Lafuente offered to the senate members about the current situation of the institution and its projects, he explained that the University's budgets are expected to be set next February, given that the Government of Catalonia has also extended its own, and he was pleased with the position of the UAB in the university system, reflected in the results achieved in the latest rankings of Times Higher Education and QS regarding the quality of research and sustainability policies.

Regarding information affecting the university community, the rector emphasised the objectives of “consolidating a more solid and participatory quality community” and “improving the welfare of the community”, by remarking on aspects such as strengthening student participation. Among other issues, he indicated that an alumni advisory council will be created, reaffirmed the commitment to strengthen the administrative staff over the next six years, announced a plan to simplify the administrative processes of the UAB and, as for the teaching staff, said that “we must establish a new model of academic dedication” that adapts to the current regulations according to the Organic Law of the University System (LOSU). REctor Lafuente also explained that work will be done to fit micro-credentials into the educational system, which “are destined to play a fundamental role”, and set the goal of having a “more effective deployment of the ECIU University” throughout the University.

In the field of research and innovation, among other issues, the rector announced the creation, in collaboration with the ALBA Synchrotron, of a one health research centre that will position the UAB as “a leading centre at European level, uniting in a single place the fields of human health, animal health and the environment”. He also mentioned his commitment to promoting outreach initiatives, such as the Science Wagon or the Research Night. And next year's government action will include a new space policy on campus, as well as a participatory process for the remodeling of the Plaça Cívica and the design of the Mobility Plan 2026-2031.

In the debates, in which members of the Senate took part, the need to strengthen the teaching and administrative staff was once again emphasised, and other topics were discussed, such as the process of the past elections for rector and the challenges facing teaching in the coming years, such as the evolution of artificial intelligence and the planning of a new building that will house the Faculty of Psychology and the Institut de Neurociències.

New senate elections

UAB Secreatry General Esther Zapater was in charge of presenting two items on the agenda. Regarding the deployment of the new UAB Statutes, she explained that the text is now in the hands of the Government of Catalonia, which congratulated the University on the outcome of the process and transferred the statutes to all the ministries to complete their revision. The Secretary General Zapater presented a proposed timetable for adapting the different University regulations that depend on the statutes with the aim of adjusting, among others, the electoral regulations, so that the renewal of the Senate can proceed with elections before the end of the 2024/25 academic year.

She also presented the annual report of the Institutional Integrity System, which includes the activities carried out in the field of university ethics. Zapater referred to the Ethics Channel (which received 18 communications in 2024), the work of the Anti-Fraud Commission and the three conflict of interest files opened during the year, as well as the contents available on the institutional website and the training activities carried out in the field of ethics and integrity. She also announced that a risk map will be drawn up over the course of 2025.

The Senate included a point on the composition of the Monitoring Committee of the Senate Declaration on the Situation in Gaza, and Vice Rector for International Relations Oscar Jané recalled the commitments made through this text and explained how the composition of this committee was completed, incorporating faculty members sponsored by Senate members and, as observers, two representatives of the Action for Palestine group. Finally, the floor was opened and Professor Enric Marín bid farewell as moderator of the Senate, thanking all the members for their work and vindicating the spirit of the Bellaterra Manifesto, which will soon be fifty years old. Finally, Rector Lafuente wished the attendees a happy new year and for 2025 to bring an improvement in the “financing of the public university system” in Catalonia.