Philosophy and values

Welcome to the project of your life. UIC Barcelona is the ideal place for carrying it out. Since 1997, we have been developing people based on academic rigour, university life and enriching life experiences.

Christian humanism inspires us to search for truth and to fully develop each individual project. We provide the opportunity to study in one of the world's most vibrant cities, which is part of our identity. 

Our university has around 8.000 students. Gain access to 16 degree programmes, 8 double degrees, around thirty double international degrees and a wide range of master’s and postgraduate degrees and continuing education courses in the field of knowledge you seek. 

We place each student at the centre and turn them into the key players at UIC Barcelona. That is our commitment to them. To you. We respond by providing individual attention, small class sizes, a close relationship with the teaching body, support services and everything you need to maximise your skills. 

Each university is different, and the way we do things is what sets us apart: personal attention, a comprehensive approach to each student, continuous links to the professional world and innovative teaching and research methods. We have signed agreements with over 50 companies and institutions, which trust in the centres, chairs and institutes at UIC Barcelona.

We are connected to society and to companies. Our teaching is practical in nature. It is imparted by teachers who are also active professionals and is complemented by a work placement programme that will help give you your first work experience. As a result, UIC Barcelona has the best graduate employment rate in the Catalan university system year after year.

In addition to knowledge, research and knowledge transfer, we invest time and effort in learning so that we might change the world. You will see this ambition in the people and activities at UIC Barcelona. It is part of our DNA.

The Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona) was founded and is guided by the autonomous and responsible citizenship of representatives of Catalan society, many of whom are parents, who, without seeking profit and inspired by a strong Christian faith, seek to provide a university of the highest prestige that is open to the whole world. As such, UIC Barcelona’s core values are: a job well done, a commitment to your environment and being receptive to the world around you, a sense of civic responsibility, placing people at the core of your mission, a love of the truth, a respect for freedom and the fostering of coexistence, the open teaching of the Christian faith to new generations and a deep appreciation for the family.

UIC Barcelona therefore aims to serve society, both locally and internationally, by generating, transferring and disseminating knowledge. It pursues its purpose through research and teaching and in close collaboration with the organisations linked to the institution.

The University has the autonomy to govern itself in accordance with its organisational and operational rules and regulations. In fulfilling their responsibilities, the University’s governing bodies abide by the principle of collegiality and promote the effective and responsible participation of the members of the university community through the channels established in the statutes and regulations.

Research activities

The University’s teaching staff and the staff working at the research centres are responsible for engaging in intense research that seeks to expand the frontiers of knowledge in their respective fields of specialisation. The University requires them to undertake first-rate research, the results of which are published in leading scientific journals in their field and presented at their respective scientific conferences.

The University also promotes:

• a) Participation —and, where appropriate, leadership— in projects and lines of research shared with researchers from other national and international institutions;
• b) That the research undertaken serves people in the best possible way by addressing and prioritising both the most pressing needs of society and the profound dignity of the human being and their destiny;
• c) Interdisciplinary research so that, by drawing on different fields of knowledge, progress can better meet people’s needs and provide a global understanding of men and women in both their material and spiritual dimensions.

Teaching and knowledge transfer

The University fulfils its mission of transferring knowledge through the education it provides, which includes bachelor’s, master’s and postgraduate degrees and continued education.

The University demands high quality teaching from its lecturers and professors and that the content of their classes be constantly updated.

The University will offer ongoing training to all teaching staff, and specifically for teachers in the different areas of each faculty, to help them improve their teaching practice. In addition to this training, teaching staff will be encouraged and helped to interact with each other, both within the same faculty and with other faculties at the University.

Teaching staff shall also endeavour to disseminate and transfer their knowledge to society in general, work closely with areas of society related to their field of specialisation and help find solutions to the most pressing global concerns by contributing, for example, verbally and in writing to public forums.

Other aspects of the University’s work

UIC Barcelona’s mission is to generate and disseminate knowledge in order to meet human needs. The University’s understanding of these needs is based on Christian ideology. Therefore, all teaching and research carried out at the University will not only respect this Christian understanding of human beings but will also be inspired and guided by it. It is for this reason that both teaching and research should not be limited to the strictly technical aspects of their field of knowledge but should also be seen in the context of human needs in every respect.

Given that a Christian vision of human beings is at the very heart of the University’s mission, and to ensure that it inspires everything it does, the methods and results of the research undertaken must be in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Similarly, all teaching must reflect, to the extent appropriate to the subject matter, this same Christian outlook on the human experience.

Along with the love of the truth, the principles of Christian humanism that must permeate the entire University also include respect for the freedom of conscience. This encompasses academic freedom, the promotion of critical thinking — among both teaching staff and students— and freedom of belief among all members of the university community, given that many faiths share the same basic principles and values as Christianity. The University not only respects these fundamental freedoms but encourages the same degree of respect among all members of the university community.

The University aims to offer its students a comprehensive and personalised education. First of all, it ensures that all subjects include a humanistic component beyond the field’s strict technical knowledge, and that all degree programmes include some specifically humanistic studies. Secondly, teaching staff shall endeavour to provide their students with personalised guidance by taking advantage of the daily interaction they have with students and opportunities for individual counselling.

The University offers training on the Christian faith and lifestyle to all members of the university community who wish to attend and provides religious services such as the University Chaplaincy Service, which is entrusted to priests of the Prelature of Opus Dei.

The University maintains close contact with its former students through the Alumni Group, with the aim of making this relationship mutually beneficial.

The University’s commitment to society is also evidenced through the charitable, development and cooperation activities it organises, both locally and further afield.

All members of the UIC Barcelona community (students, teaching staff and other employees) are expected to assume this ideology and to uphold the aims of the University for which it provides.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 23 May 2023