On Tuesday 29 September, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC) officially opened the 2026-2027 academic year with a formal ceremony held in the Aula Magna on the Barcelona Campus. The event, hosted by journalist and member of the University’s Advisory Board Ramon Pellicer, represented more than just the start of a new academic year: in 2027, the institution will celebrate its 30th anniversary and 20 years since the launch of its medical studies. Two milestones that reaffirm our guiding mission: to humanise the transformation of society.

The ceremony was attended by the minister for Research and Universities, the Honourable Núria Montserrat, along with other academic leaders and institutional representatives. The secretary general, Ms Belén Castro, opened the event by presenting the academic report for the 2025-2026 academic year, which highlighted UIC’s growing international visibility: its entry into the QS World University Rankings, its position among the world’s top 40 universities for dentistry, its sixth-place ranking nationally in the CYD Ranking and its presence in the Forbes List.

As part of its strategic commitment to health, the report noted the launch of the UIC Health seal – which connects seven disciplines – and the tenth anniversary of the Comprehensive Centre for Advanced Simulation (CISA), a pioneering 1,000-square-metre facility dedicated to experience-based learning.

The ceremony also provided an opportunity to recognise commitment. Mr Miguel Ángel Cazcarra, president of the Board of Trustees, paid tribute to three outgoing board members, María José Font, Joan de Dou and Mercedes Blasi, thanking them for their years of dedication.

AI, ethics and critical thinking

Following an introduction by Dr Toni Mora, dean of the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, the lecture was delivered by Dr Núria Oliver, director of the European ELLIS Alicante network and holder of a PhD from MIT. Under the title “Towards Socially Sustainable Artificial Intelligence”, Oliver explored the ethical and social challenges of this technology, calling for its development to be guided towards having a positive and direct impact on people.

The event also included a musical interlude by Aleix Carreras, Faculty of Communication Sciences alum and academic coordinator, who performed two pieces on the piano.

In his speech, UIC Rector Dr Alfonso Méndiz centred his message on the need to strike a balance between humanism and innovation: “Innovation drives us towards the future and opens up new possibilities. Humanism invites us to reflect on what we want to use them for and the impact they may have on people and society. They are two complementary dimensions that converge with one another.”

Dr Méndiz referred to the latest PISA report findings and made a compelling call not to sacrifice depth for digital speed: “We want a university capable of guiding this technology and grounding it in humanism.” For the Rector, what is currently hindering critical thinking “is not a lack of information but a lack of time to understand it”. For this reason, the university must be a setting that preserves “that which digital acceleration does not always foster: depth of thought”.

“Humanising transformation means educating excellent professionals, innovating with a clear sense of purpose and understanding how innovation can enrich and improve people’s lives. It means putting artificial intelligence at the service of human intelligence,” concluded the Rector.

For her part, Minister Núria Montserrat brought the speeches to a close by emphasising the role of the classroom in “teaching us to think, assess different perspectives, ask questions and develop sound judgement”. Montserrat highlighted as a defining feature of UIC its “ability to place people, knowledge and social commitment at the heart of its mission”, noting that, in the face of the rapid advance of AI, “our responsibility is not to stop this change but to have the knowledge to navigate it, the judgement to choose our course and the values needed to put it at the service of human and social progress.”

The ceremony concluded with the traditional singing of Gaudeamus Igitur.