On 19 May the Aula Magna room at UIC Barcelona hosted a graduation ceremony for students from the Faculty of Law. During his speech, Rafael Navarro-Valls talked about legal ethics and teaching law.

After a few words of welcome from the Dean, María Fernández Arrojo, the Vice-Dean, Maria Mut, took the floor.  Mut talked to the students and insisted that the faculty will “always be at your side celebrating your successes which we fell are ours too”.

The patron talked about the tasks and responsibilities of university lecturers/professors.  “Showing students the greatness and beauty of what they don’t yet know requires us to study, to be capable of transmitting knowledge, search for examples, in a word: effort.  Something similar to what our old teachers used to tell us about the jurisprudence and doctrinal basis on which to interpret laws which involved ‘Knowing how to find the sculptures that are asleep and hidden inside the marble”, he said.  During his speech, Navarro-Valls talked with a certain degree of irony about various situations and the behaviour of professors and university students.  Specifically, he underlined the fact that as far as teaching law is concerned “it is important to be particularly aware of the fact that often true knowledge does not so much mean that you must make people learn a mountain of legal data but instead it means teaching people where they can find it”.

After the patron’s speech and the award of diplomas, student representatives from the degree and master’s degree programmes gave speeches which aimed to reflect their time at UIC Barcelona.

Finally, María Fernández Arrojo, Dean of the Faculty of Law, thanked the patron for participating in the event and congratulated the new graduates who are now beginning a new stage in life as professionals and new UIC Barcelona alumni members. 

The event ended by singing our traditional university song "Gaudeamus Igitur”.