Joan Masnou: "This year must be a turning point in the University's financing"

The University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) officially inaugurated the 2018-2019 academic year this afternoon, with a ceremony in the Aula Magna of the UVic Campus. The inauguration ceremony was chaired by the rector of the University, Joan Masnou, and those attending included the Secretary for Universities and Research, Francesc Xavier Grau, and the president of the FUBalmes and mayor of Vic, Anna Erra.

In his speech, the rector of the UVic-UCC said that this academic year "must be a turning point in terms of the University's financing, and needs to give us the necessary economic stability." Masnou recalled that a new programme agreement needs to be negotiated with the Government of Catalonia, and asked those present not to base their work on "a provisional mentality" because "it does not help - it weakens and impoverishes." He also asked the Government of Catalonia to make the new National Plan for the Knowledge Society "place the universities in the Catalan university system, and the UVic-UCC in particular, in the position that we appear to have earned."

Masnou also announced that the time has come to begin the debate on the future of university qualifications, by means of "a wide-ranging discussion between the academic, research and professional worlds in order to anticipate the needs involved in society's demands for new profiles," and to review the third cycle training, which will involve the creation of a Postgraduate School at the UVic-UCC. He also said that the University must make "definitive progress" in terms of quality, which will be increasingly cross-disciplinary and self-reliant.

On the same subject, Francesc Xavier Grau called for an emphasis on the quality of qualifications to ensure the prestige of the university system. The general secretary for Universities described the UVic-UCC as a benchmark in specialisation, teaching quality, internationalisation and decentralised management of innovation in central Catalonia, and assured the audience that it is a good example of what can be achieved "when a region and University work together to create strategies."

The president of the FUBalmes and mayor of Vic, Anna Erra, said that since its inception, "the University's commitment has been to decentralisation and making knowledge available to society to enrich and expand the region." Erra also thanked this year's patrons of the university project for their contributions.

A posthumous institutional medal for Maria Victoria Modolell

The ceremony began with the screening of the video record of the 2017-2018 academic year, introduced by the general secretary of the UVic-UCC, Maria Àngels Crusellas. The lecturer of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology (FCT) and coordinator of the Quantitative Biolmaging research group, Dr. Carlo Manzo, gave the inaugural lecture entitled "Long live the resolution! Visualising cellular structures on a nanometric scale”. Manzo took the audience on a journey through the history of technical and scientific progress in the field of microscopy, from its origins in the fifteenth century to the development of today's super-resolution techniques.

The rector then awarded the institutional medal of the UVic-UCC posthumously to Maria Victoria Modolell, in a ceremony expressing acknowledgement and gratitude for her gesture of leaving part of her legacy to the UVic, as well as Càritas Diocesana. According to Masnou, "it is a gesture that gives our work a great deal of value, and helps to achieve one of the main challenges of the UVic-UCC: promoting equal opportunities in higher education." According to the specifications in Ms Modolell's will, her legacy will be used for scholarships for young people who have difficulties accessing higher education due to financial problems. The executor of the estate, Ramon Vilarrúbia, collected the medal and on behalf of the Modolell Calderó family, thanked the University for the honour.

During the academic year's opening ceremony, University insignia were also presented to the four people who retired last academic year. At the same time, extraordinary prizes and diplomas were presented for the best academic records on each bachelor's degree and master's degree course at the University. The event was attended by the four ex-rectors of the University - Ricard Torrents, David Serrat, Assumpta Fargas and Jordi Montaña.