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Ana Pastor, President of the Congress of Deputies, patron of Faculty of Dentistry graduates
Our Sant Cugat Healthcare campus recently hosted a graduation ceremony in the gardens on 20 July for Bachelor’s degree in dentistry students, and for students taking various master’s and postgraduate degrees in different areas of dentistry. There was also an investiture ceremony for those who had just been awarded a PhD. The person acting as patron for 2017 graduates was Ms Ana Pastor, President of the Congress of Deputies, who underlined the quality and excellence of the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona), which has been recognised as one of the best universities in Europe.
Dr Lluís Giner, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, Dr José Nart, Vice-Dean for Research, and Dr Sandra Fernández, Institutional Vice-Dean, all attended this graduation ceremony. After a few words of welcome, the Dean addressed the new graduates and doctors and encouraged them to “work in teams and never stop learning, since in a profession like this one knowledge progresses quickly and you must progress with it so you can treat patients on a multidisciplinary basis”.
He then proceeded to hand out diplomas and carry out the investiture of the new doctors. Afterwards, class representatives from the degree, master’s and postgraduate degree programmes and the new doctors gave some speeches.
Ms Ana Pastor, who is a doctor as well as President of the Congress of Deputies, gave the closing speech. In her speech, Ana Pastor congratulated the new dentists for the new stage in life they are about to begin and “all the professors and lecturers who make this university a role model within the academic community due to the quality and excellence they achieve”.
Based on her personal and political experience both as a doctor and as a former Minister for Health, she reminded the new graduates that they now belong to the most educated generation and that they will join a Spanish healthcare system that is currently celebrating its fortieth anniversary. Four decades in which great milestones have been achieved in the fields of health and welfare, and she particularly underlined “an increase in the concern for and care for oral and dental health among the Spanish population”.
Dentistry is a healthcare specialisation that is highly valued in which professionals who undertake it have to have excellent education and training and important ethical principles. In the words of the patron for 2017 graduates “values such as respect, exactitude, dialogue, exemplariness and tolerance are fundamental in order to adapt to the constant changes our society is undergoing”.
The event ended with attendees singing our traditional university song "Gaudeamus Igitur”.