UIC Barcelona held today the Grants Ceremony for the 2021-2022 academic year, an event that aimed to spotlight students’ talent and merit, recognise their academic excellence and guarantee equal opportunities.

This academic year, 756 students have been awarded a grant, thanks to a number of companies and individuals who have helped strengthen the University’s grants and financial aid programme. Due to the current situation sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, 150 students were able to physically attend the event to receive their award.

The event was led by the vice rector for the University Community, Esther Jiménez, who congratulated the student grantholders, thanked the representatives of the donors for attending, as well as highlighting the generosity and unconditional support of many companies and institutions that were unable to attend the event, but who have also contributed to this project. The deans of the faculties at which the grantholders are studying also attended the event.

During the Ceremony, Júlia Viza, current final-year student of the Bachelor’s Degree in Audiovisual Communication, thanked the donors on behalf of all the students. Viza thanked “the university and all the companies, institutions and individuals for this great opportunity”, and emphasised that receiving a grant “is not just financial aid, it also offers you the chance to study at an institution like UIC Barcelona”.

The event also featured a testimonial by Ignacio Isern, a UIC Barcelona alumnus who graduated in Business Administration and Management in 2015. Representing former students, Isern congratulated the grantholders and encouraged them to continue studying and striving to reach new goals as, above all, “good people”, he stressed. “Consider yourselves lucky and celebrate your successes: securing a grant is no easy feat. You have to possess qualities such as strength, motivation and determination”. On the day of the patron saint of universities, Isern also mentioned Saint Thomas to remind us that education is an instrument we must value.

In holding this Grant Ceremony, UIC Barcelona publicly congratulates all the students to receive a grant thanks to the companies and individuals who have shown commitment and generosity to the institution by supporting the grants and financial aid programme, as part of the annual campaign #NoTalentWithoutAFuture. The grants and financial aid programme represents an annual investment of €5.7 million.

The celebration was held in person on the Feast Day of Saint Thomas Aquinas, patron saint of universities, in the UIC Barcelona Aula Magna lecture theatre, respecting the maximum seating capacity allowed and all established health and safety measures.

UIC Barcelona would like to thank the 61 individual donors and the following companies and institutions for their collaboration with the grants programme:

ACV Inversoras, Auxiliar Metalgráfica Aragonesa, Banco Santander, Barraquer Ophthalmology Centre, DisolBCN, DiverInvest, María Pou Foundation – Lunet, Mediolanum, Mullor, Omni Comercial, RACC, Techedge, Torrella Consulting and West Lemorann.