About Universitat Pompeu Fabra
UPF is a public, international and research-intensive university that, in just twenty-five years, has earned a place for itself among the best universities in Europe. Awarded with a CEI label (International Excellence Campus) by the Spanish Ministry of Education, the University also figures in some of the most influential rankings.Founded in 1990, it is named after the Catalan philologist Pompeu Fabra. According to Times Higher Education it is one of the 7 fastest-rising young universities in the world.
UPF offers its studies around three areas of knowledge: the social sciences and humanities, the health and life sciences, and the ITC and communication sciences.
Teaching is organized in seven colleges: Humanities, Health and Life Sciences, Economics, Political and Social Sciences, Communication, Law, Translation and Interpretation as well as one polytechnic school focused on engineering and ICT.
Research is organized in eight departments: Economics and Business, Law, Political and Social Sciences, Humanities, Experimental Sciences and Health, ICT, Communication and Translation & Language Sciences.
The University also has four affiliated centers (International Trade Business School -ESCI-, Elisava School of Design, Tecnocampus and Mar University School of Nursing -ESIM) and three interuniversity postgraduate platforms (Barcelona School of Management -BSM-, Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals -IBEI- and Barcelona Graduate School of Economics -Barcelona GSE-).
In order to promote research and transfer activities undertaken by university researchers and provide them with greater international visibility, the University is developing the UPF Research Park in the fields of social sciences, humanities, communication and information technologies. The UPF Research Park, which develops its activity at Ciutadella and Poblenou campuses, coordinates its activities in the fields of health and life sciences with the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), located at Mar campus.
UPF has also been participating in a set of institutions and centers specializing in teaching, research and transfer that have their own legal personality and which comprise the UPF Group, and which often exist in collaboration with other institutions and universities. Thus, in the field of research and transfer, plus the three science parks include the Municipal Institute of Medical Research (IMIM) - Hospital del Mar, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE) (CSIC-UPF), the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) or the Research Centre for International Economics (CREI).
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Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
The Faculty of Health and Life Sciences began work in 1998, when it launched the Biology Degree, which was focused on the biomedical field and based on an innovative and collaborative project.
During the 2008-2009 academic year, the Biology Degree was adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), and became the Human Biology Degree in collaboration with the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Since 2011, the FHLS has also offered a Biomedical Engineering Degree, jointly taught by the Polytechnic School which coordinates it.
THE FCLS is located in a biomedical environment, in the Mar Health Park, and it shares a teaching building with other two university institutions: an educational unit of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Mar Health Park Nursery School.
All the academic staff are members of the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (CEXS), located in the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB).
The FHLS is based on a collaborative educational project that is supervised by a technical committee in the Dean's Office. The Coordination and Evaluation Office (OCAA) is responsible for the design, coordination and evaluation of its studies.
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Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences
Our study programmes are spearheading the implementation of the Catalan university system's modernization and internationalization policies. They are in high demand, as the university entrance exam results obtained by the academic year 2015-2016's 670 new students show. As one of the Faculty's 2,680 students, you will have the chance to be among the 350 who study abroad through international exchanges, as well as to interact with the same number of foreign students spending time with us. You will also get the opportunity to undertake a paid internship in companies of many kinds, chiefly in the technology, consumer goods, financial, consultancy and auditing sectors. The Faculty established 867 internship agreements in the academic year 2014-2015.
Our teaching staff come from more than 20 different countries and have been hand-picked in highly demanding recruitment processes. The Faculty consequently boasts academics at the cutting edge of international research and affiliated to standard-setting European institutions, such as UPF's Department of Economics and Business, the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (ranked eighteenth in the world and third in Europe in terms of economic research) and the Barcelona School of Management. We also have adjunct lecturers who are highly renowned in their respective fields of professional activity, whose practical knowledge will enhance your training.
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Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
Our community consists of nearly one hundred researchers in all, including permanent and visiting teaching staff, pre and postdoctoral researchers, and other collaborators. Today, it is a well-established unit at the university, offering the ideal setting and infrastructure to promote top-quality research and education.
The unit is organized into two scientific sections: Political Sciences and Sociology. The former includes the subsections of Social Psychology and Social Science Methodology. The department’s two scientific sections are organized into ten main lines of research, each associated with a different research group.
The Political and Social Sciences Academic Coordination Unit stands out for:
- a highquality teaching model designed to support students,
- its excellent research,
- its international focus and composition,
- the quality of its programmes,
- its support for student mobility and exchanges, and
- its crossdisciplinary educational activities.
Our unit strives to promote a diverse and plural community, a multicultural environment, and the presence of women, minorities and people with disabilities in all areas.
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Faculty of Law
The Universitat Pompeu Fabra School of Law was established in 1990, the year in which the university itself was founded. Since the year 2000 it has been located on the Ciutadella Campus, together with the university's other Social Science centres. The School has offered a Degree in Law since its foundation, and from academic year 2009-10 it will run courses leading to the awarding of three new degrees which are adapted to the European Higher Education Area: the new Degree in Law, which replaces the original degree, the Degree in Labour Relations and the Degree in Criminology and Public Prevention Policies.
The courses taught in the School aim to equip students with solid intellectual training and values orientated to the future practice of the various legal professions. The high quality of the teaching, recognised by the students themselves, is one of the School's distinguishing features. The design of teaching activities, with seminar sessions running parallel to full-group lectures, encourages sustained effort, a spirit of criticism, interpersonal contact, leadership and the aptitudes associated with group work. The organising of teaching into terms requires students to be motivated and to commit themselves to intensive and continuous study.The School of Law attaches particular importance to the curriculum's international dimension and fosters the inclusion of interdisciplinary studies. Students can take English lessons and participate in an extensive exchange programme with prestigious European and American universities. The School of Law collaborates with other schools to offer joint degrees in Law and other Social Science areas. The degree course may be complemented with Masters and Doctorate programmes organised by the Law Department.
The existence of schemes for work placements in legal institutions and of labour market insertion agreements with professional environments facilitates entry into the job market and produces a very high graduate employment rate. The general and multi-purpose nature of the course enables graduates to orientate their professional lives towards private legal practice, corporate legal consultancy, government organisation legal departments, international organisations or any other legal field.
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Faculty of Communication
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Faculty of Humanities
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Faculty of Translation and Intepretation
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Polytechnic School
The activities of ETIC were initiated in 1999, with the start of the undergraduate studies in Computer Science at UPF. The first members involved in these studies formed its faculty. Since then, the Department has grown with the new programs in Telematics, Audiovisual Systems, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science and Data Science (coming soon). Several Masters and a Doctoral Program complement the current educational offer.
Our community includes 44 faculty members, either permanent or in tenure track, plus many part-time professors, post-doctoral researchers and other types of (research&teaching) collaborators. It is now a well-established university center with an ideal context and infrastructure to foster top-quality research and education.
The research interests of the faculty cover a broad range of topics in the field of Information and Communication Technologies. These can be grouped into four broad categories: Cognitive and Intelligent Systems;Audiovisual Technologies; Networks and Communications; and Computational Biology and Biomedical Systems. This broad spectrum of topics reflects the current interdisciplinary reality of cutting edge research in ICT.
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PhD School
History of UPF
On 18 June 1990, Catalan Parliament gave the go-ahead for the creation of a new public university in Catalonia, Pompeu Fabra University, inspired by the principles of freedom, democracy, justice, equality, independence and plurality. From its beginnings, this young academic institution set itself two main objectives: to train responsible professionals and citizens fully committed to civic values, and to contribute towards the development of outstanding research.
The first lectures at UPF were given on 8 October 1990 in Balmes building, once the site of the Fòrum Vergés. They were attended by around 300 students of the new degrees in Law and Economics and Business Sciences. Today, UPF offers its studies around three areas of knowledge focused on the human being: the social sciences and humanities, the health and life sciences, and the ITC and communication sciences. To develop its activity, the University has been structured into seven schools, a Polytechnic School, eight departments and three university institutes. Meanwhile, in recent years UPF has also been participating in a set of institutions and specialized centres focused on teaching, research and transfer activities, centres with legal personality and that constitute the UPF Group.
Moreover, in order to promote research and transfer activities undertaken by university researchers and provide them with greater international visibility, the University is developing the UPF Research Park in the fields of social sciences, humanities, communication and information technologies. The UPF Research Park, which develops its activity at Ciutadella and Poblenou campuses, coordinates its activities in the fields of health and life sciences with the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, located at Mar campus.
Thus, thanks to the development of these three campuses and science parks, the University has contributed to the regeneration of some areas in Barcelona as well as the promotion of new areas of creation and transfer of knowledge. Examples of this activity can be found, for example, in the rehabilitation of the Dipòsit de les Aigües, the current Library, or in the former army barracks in Wellington Street, nowadays occupied by the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and the Pasqual Maragall Foundation (Ciutadella campus). Also, through the opening to the sea in the nineties, with the Olympics and the regeneration of the Vila Olímpica (Mar campus) or the regeneration of Ca l'Aranyó, the old textile factory placed in 22@ (Poblenou campus). We should neither forget the building in plaça de la Mercè, headquarter of the Rector's office, in Ciutat Vella; the Born building, that hosts the UPF Foundation, or the Balmes building, main building of UPF Barcelona School School of Management, among others.
Finally, as regards the governance of UPF, Dr. Enric Argullol served as rector from its foundation until June 2001. At the end of his mandate, the University Senate elected Dr. M. Rosa Virós, who led the government of the University until May 2005. From then on, in accordance with prevailing legislation, the position of rector of the UPF would be elected by the university community through direct elections and universal suffrage, free and secret. The winner of the first elections held in May 2005, was Dr. Josep Joan Moreso, who would be re-elected in February 2009. The current rector since April 2013 is Dr. Jaume Casals.
Accreditation
- Institutional Accreditation or Recognition - Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, España
Rankings
- Times Higher Education ranking (2016): 15th highest ranked university in the world among those under 50 years of age
- Times Higher Education ranking (2015): 2nd Spanish university (position 164 worldwide and 79 in Europe)
- U-Multirank (2016): ranked 12th in Europe
- Shanghai university ranking (2015): among the 300 top universities in the world
- U-Ranking (BBVA Foundation & Ivie, 2016): the most productive university in Spain
- CyD Ranking (2016): the most efficient university in Spain
- Ranking 2013 in research production and productivity in the Spanish public university system, published by researchers from the Granada University (2014): 1st Spanish university in scientific productivity since 2009
- El Mundo ranking (2016): 10 of the 15 undergraduate courses evaluated are ranked among the Top 5
- Leiden ranking (2016): 1st Spanish university in percentage of articles published in the most influential scholarly journals , 1st Spanish university in percentage of papers produced in collaboration with national institutions and2nd Spanish university in percentage of papers produced in collaboration with foreign institutions
- Scimago ranking (2014): 1st Spanish university in quality output (excellence rate). It is also the 1st Spanish university in normalized impact, the 1st in percentage of papers produced in collaboration with foreign institutions and the 2ndSpanish university in percentage of articles published in the most influential scholarly journals of the world, those ranked in the first quartile (Q1)
Services of UPF
UPF is committed to its students beyond their academic life. The University promotes the active participation of students in student associations, on volunteer programmes and in sports and cultural activities. At the same time, it encourages student and graduate work placement, and promotes contact between them through the UPF Alumni programme.
University services
- Student card
- Insurance
- Housing and accommodation
- Support for people with special needs
- Support for performance athletes
- Psychological Counselling Service (SAP)
- Services for graduates
- Advantages
- UPF merchandising
- Bookshop and stationery
- Cafeteria and refectory
- Lost and found
Languages
- Languages UPF
- Catalan language Self-training Service (SALC)
- Language Volunteering (VL)
Social responsibility activities
- PACS, Social Commitment Activity Programme (PACS)
- Solidarity and volunteering
- Inclusion
- Equality
- Health promotion
- Sustainability
Why choose UPF?
A Top tier Public University
In less than 25 years, Pompeu Fabra University has risen to a position among the elite universities of the world, ranking 13th among the world's youngest universities (Times Higher Education 100 under 50, 2014) for the quality of its faculty, its innovative research and its international outlook.
In an Urban Setting with All Sorts of Conveniences
The UPF campuses are located in the heart of the city of Barcelona, from the Rambla Street in the very centre to the 22@ technological district. It is an urban university, meshed into the fabric of the city, which can be easily reached by public transport. It has modern facilities and services for learning and research, and offers a wide range of activities for experiencing the city and integrating into the university community that enrich students' time at the UPF even more.
Top-Quality, EU-Adapted Study Programmes
All degree programmes are adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). UPF was one of the first Spanish universities to offer 100% of their study programmes adapted to the EU.
Currency
EUR
GBP
KZT
INR
RUB