In her speech, Pilar López talked about artificial intelligence being key to the digital transformation of organisations and its role in education. López stressed that artificial intelligence has to boost human intelligence, not replace it. She also revealed that only 20% of the technology workforce are women and that “this bias must be removed”. At the end of her speech, she was emphatic that a new ethical framework must be created for the development of artificial intelligence. “Companies like Microsoft have a huge responsibility, but it is also a shared responsibility”. 

The general secretary of the university, Belén Castro, presented the 2017-2018 academic report (available on the website) and she recapped the main activities, prizes and projects emerging from the University in the previous academic year. Castro also gave a few words of thanks to the administrative and teaching staff at the university who have retired over the past year and thanked volunteers as well. 

Josep Pallarès, director-general of Universities in the Government of Catalonia, also said a few words at the ceremony and stated that “the Catalan university system is one of the most compact in the world, competitive on a global scale and positions Catalonia as a scientific benchmark in Southern Europe”. The ceremony was also attended by academic and civil authorities, along with representatives from companies and institutions. 

The rector, Dr Xavier Gil, closed the session with a speech touching on the main achievements of the past academic year and the projects in the pipeline for the coming academic year. “The future is ours because we know the path we have to take to achieve our mission: to educate highly skilled and academically talented individuals who will stand out because of their competence, rigour, honesty and sincerity in the workplace”, he said. 

The ceremony came to a close with the traditional hymn Gaudeamus Igitur.

>> 2017-2018 academic report