Dr Xavier Gil Mur recently took on his post as the new rector of the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona) as part of the inauguration of the academic year, which was held in the Aula Magna room. Political and academic authorities such as Ministers Andreu Mas-Colell, Boi Ruiz and Santi Vila attended the event, as well as the former minister Carme Chacón, President of the CRUE Juan Julià, and other rectors from various other universities. 

The event, which was presided over by Minister Andreu Mas-Colell and the President of the Catalan Family Foundation Josep Maria Pujol, began with a session involving the investiture of the new rector. The outgoing rector, Dr Pere Alavedra, dressed the new rector Dr Xavier Gil in the traditional hat, white gloves and medal, and also handed over the rector's cane. 

Dr Xavier Gil was conferred the role by Dr Pere Alavedra, who had been rector at UIC Barcelona for the last five years.  In his speech, Dr Gil thanked people for the trust placed in him in his new role, and underlined the commitment of UIC Barcelona to society.  And, while addressing himself to the whole of the university community, he said "I have not come to take on a post but instead to serve (the entire university community)".  

Dr Pere Alavedra gave a speech thanking the institution and he especially highlighted the support he was given by the university community, professors and students and he also shared some of his most significant memories from the past five years. 

After the investiture, the inauguration of the academic year began. The inauguration started with an overview of the previous academic year read by the general secretary of UIC Barcelona, Ms Belén Castro. After this came an inaugural lecture from Mr Josep M. Serra Farré, president of the Grupo Catalana Occidente company, and the inauguration ended with a speech from the Minister for Economy and Knowledge Mr Andreu Mas-Colell. In his speech, the Minister stated that internationalisation is one of the main cornerstones of the Catalan university system. 

Xavier Gil (Barcelona, 1962) is a Professor from BarcelonaTech (the UPC) where until recently he was the Director of the Technical School of Industrial Engineering of Barcelona.  In the same university, he also held the position of Vice-Rector for Research, and later for Scientific Policy. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of (R+D by sector) as the representative of all of the Vice-Rectors for Research in Catalan universities and was also a commissioner for the Catalan Government as part of a project to develop the Diagonal-Besòs campus.