The Board of Trustees appoints Josep-Eladi Baños as new rector of the UVic-UCC

The Board of Trustees of the Balmes University Foundation (FUB) today approved the appointment of Josep-Eladi Baños as the new rector of the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) after the Senate validated his candidacy with the support of 79.4% of the votes on 11 Tuesday December. At the meeting that took place this afternoon, the trustees voted unanimously to accept the proposal that the selection committee presented to the executive of the Board of Trustees after receiving 13 candidatures and initially selecting three of them.

At the press conference that took place after the meeting ended, the President of the FUB and mayor of Vic, Anna Erra, explained that this election marks "the beginning of a new era to continue positioning the UVic-UCC as a territorial benchmark." Baños will take up his post for the next four years on 7 January, after the acting rector, Joan Masnou, was entrusted with the task of leading the institution academically after Oriol Amat's resignation for personal reasons last June.

In his first speech after his appointment, Baños explained that the support of the community "fills me with gratitude and a great responsibility" to carry out a task that involves "positioning the UVic-UCC as a national and international benchmark on how to teach in the twenty-first century." He also revealed that he applied for the position of rector of the UVic-UCC because "it is an interesting challenge to carry out projects that cannot easily be done at public universities." His predecessor, the acting rector Joan Masnou, thanked those present for the trust placed in him, and said he felt "privileged to have been able to make a small contribution" to the growth of the institution.

Meanwhile, the president of the selection committee and trustee of the FUB Josep Arimany expressed his satisfaction that the candidate presented by the commission was supported by almost 80% of the University Senate, and declared that today was "the end of a process that should make us feel satisfied for Osona and Bages." The councillor of Manresa and trustee of the FUB Mercè Rosich asked Baños to make the university federation his own, and to lead it "in order to consolidate it", because according to her, "it has been a historic agreement that has enabled us to combine our efforts and plans." Finally, the general secretary of Universities and Research of the Government of Catalonia, Francesc Xavier Grau, emphasised that "Baños and the Catalan university system know each other very well." He also maintained that the process of selecting the rector "has been interesting as a model of governance" and explained that "it is an example to be taken into account when renewing the public governance system of the university system."

Revenue from the 2017-2018 budget increased by 3.75% despite the decrease in the contribution by the Government of Catalonia

The Board of Trustees approved the audited settlement of last year's budget which closed at -186.413 €, but it remains positive in cumulative terms, at 176,988 €, after applying the provisions and surpluses accumulated during the previous financial years. During the 2017-2018 academic year, the FUB increased its revenue by 1.4 million Euros, which is an increase of 3.75% compared to the accounts for 2016-2017, in spite of the temporary decline in the contribution objectives of the Government of Catalonia. Expenditure increased, basically as a result of the increase in salaries of 2.05% agreed with the staff committee. 

As regards investments, 307.4 thousand Euros were allocated to improvements in the ICT area and the new Wi-Fi network, among other areas, and about 800 thousand Euros to improvements in teaching infrastructures and classrooms. 1.6 million Euros were also invested in work to adapt the Can Baumann building to host the Faculty of Medicine, which was funded through endowments and donations.

The year's last meeting of the Board of Trustees year did not discuss the planned budget for the 2018-2019 academic year, since the negotiations with the Government of Catalonia to close the programme agreement for the coming years are still ongoing. The agreement that was in force expired last year, and due to the political situation in recent months, the University and the Catalan government are currently engaged in negotiations to start a new programme agreement that will enable the budget for this 2018-2019 academic year to be defined.

Appointments of new trustees

Two new trustees were appointed at this plenary session, replacing the mayor of Figueres, Marta Felip, and the mayor of Berga, Montse Venturós. The former will be replaced by Jordi Masquef, who will take over as mayor, and the latter will be replaced by Oriol Camps, who is holding the post on a temporary basis due to the mayor's disqualification from office for six months.

Núria Simó's position as a representative of the teaching and research staff (PDI) on the FUB Board of Trustees was also renewed after a proposal by the Faculty of the UVic-UCC on 24 October.