In total, about 120 students took part in the eighth edition of the competition, which the UIC organizes every year. They presented projects covering a wide range of knowledge areas.

On Friday, 30 March 2012, the grand final of the Pre-University Competition took place. Eighteen finalists participated but only three won prizes.

First prize was awarded to Òscar Ferrer, a student at FERT Secondary School. The objective of his research project, which was highly praised by the jury, was to find out whether the cultural and social factors of Barcelona in 1930 were correlated and whether the movements that took place at the time influenced each other and subsequent movements.

Anna Farrés, a student at Vedruna Ripoll School, took second prize for her project on sharing touristic experiences. Finally, third prize was awarded to Baldo López from Viaró School, for his research project "The Water Calculator".

The jury, which was made up of UIC academics and chaired by María Fernández Capo, the Vice Rector for Academic Organization and Teaching, awarded the three prizes based on the relevance and interest of the projects. Other aspects, including oral expression, the ability to structure content, capacity for analysis and resolution of the initial hypothesis, were also taken into account.

Sergi Bea, the manager of the Sarrià branch of Banc Sabadell's Business Banking Division was present at the prize-giving ceremony as a representative of Banc Sabadell, the sponsor of the Pre-University Competition.

The students who finished in the top 10 won a scholarship covering 100% of the enrolment fee to study any degree at the UIC in the 2012-2013 academic year and those who finished in the top three won a laptop computer. The tutors of the winning students received a PDA.