About
130 students from eight Catalan universities (the UIC, the Universitat de Barcelona, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the Universitat Autònoma de
Barcelona, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Universitat Ramon Llull, the Universitat de Girona and Universitat Abat Oliba), as well as some
secondary schools, took part in a debate on the power of beauty, which was the
theme of this year's event. The participants, who were students in disciplines
such as Nursing, Education, Economics, Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Humanities,
Fine Art and Architecture, gave presentations that dealt with beauty from
different perspectives. The topics covered included the golden ratio in the
beauty of disability, identity in social networks, the legal limits of artistic
creation and the ideal of beauty in advertising. Some participated through
poster sessions, which were presented throughout the day.

The
presentations were held in seven themed classrooms (Beauty and Art, Beauty and
Science, Beauty and People, Beauty and Politics, Beauty and Communication,
Education and Philosophy, and the Power of Beauty). A UIC professor acted as
judge and a space for debate was opened up at the end of each presentation to
allow the participants to enter into inter-university and interdisciplinary
dialogue.

Before
UIC Rector Dr. Pere Alavedra held the closing
ceremony of the event, UIC Humanities professor Dr. Magdalena Bosch gave a speech in which she explained why beauty makes us
more human. Dr. Bosch has just published
a book called El Poder de la Belleza (The
Power of Beauty).