Since 2005, CRUE has been awarding the Medal of Honour to outstanding individuals and institutions for their services to universities, academic careers or contributions to education.

Secretary María Teresa Lozano said that CRUE wanted to recognise the Vives Network for "its work and commitment to the cohesion of the university community in the Pyrenees/Mediterranean area and its outreach and impact in society".

In his acknowledgement speech, Xavier Gil said that the network "forms part of the academy, which helps to encourage scientific debate and means activism is given a wide berth". He also said that "collaboration is the best future strategy for universities" and that "the Vives Network will always support the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities based on the conviction that the university is the custodian of higher values".

The ceremony ended with a few words from CRUE's vice-president, Pilar Aranda, who read the speech of CRUE's president, Roberto Fernández. Aranda hailed the Vives Network of Universities as "a paradigm of academic collaboration for promoting and disseminating the Catalan language and all accompanying scientific expressions". Aranda said that CRUE and the ONCE Foundation shared the fundamental social principle of "guaranteeing equality of opportunity for all citizens" and that "regardless of the strides we make in breaking down the barriers faced by people with disability, there will always be work left to do".

CRUE's vice-president concluded by saying that the purpose of awarding the Medal of Honour was to enable Spanish universities to "give grateful recognition to those that, like them, are fighting for a better world".

Also present were the Secretary of State for Universities, Research and Development, Ángeles Heras; the Secretary of State for Education and Vocational Training, Alejandro Tiana; and the director of Casa de América, Antonio Pérez-Hernández.