A joint project has already been submitted to the La Caixa Foundation within the framework of the agreement. The project involves providing training in public speaking skills to secondary-school students and Faculty of Humanities students at the UIC, as well as setting up a university volunteer programme using the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a point of reference. The MDGs, agreed by 189 countries in the year 2000, are a pledge to significantly reduce poverty and improve the situation of the most disadvantaged by the target date of 2015.