The Osona School of Teachers celebrates its fortieth anniversary

During the 2017-2018 academic year, the Faculty of Education, Translation and Human Sciences will be commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the establishment of the School of Teachers that constituted the beginning of this Faculty, as well as of the University. The main event in the commemoration will take place on the 18 May in the Atlàntida theatre in Vic, with an interactive show that will highlight the history of the School and the values of education.
Officially named the Jaume Balmes University School of Teachers, the centre was opened on 4 October 1977 with the aim of "contributing to lifelong education, education integrated in the world and integrating that world, and education as the heritage of everyone," in the words of the first director of the School, Salvador Reguant, during the opening ceremony in the first academic year in the Column Room in Vic City Hall. The school began with 150 students, who were divided into three groups - two in the morning and one in the afternoon, and 17 lecturers.

In 1997, when the University of Vic received recognition from the Parliament of Catalonia, the centre became the Faculty of Education, and later it became the Faculty of Education, Translation and Human Sciences, as it is known today. Its directors have included Salvador Reguant, Ricard Torrents, Josep Tió, Antoni Tort, Assumpta Fargas, Francesc Codina, Pere Pujolàs, Joan Soler and the current dean, Eduard Ramírez. Around 5,000 graduates and about 250 lecturers have passed through its classrooms.
The Faculty of Education, Translation and Human Sciences is now the faculty that accounts for the most students in the University as a whole. There are a total of 1,570 students registered on 7 bachelor's degree programmes, which is 36% of the total number of students at the UVic. The Faculty offers degree courses in Pre-School Teaching, Primary School Teaching, a double bachelor's degree in Pre-School Teaching and Primary School Teaching with a mention in English; Physical Activity and Sports Sciences; Social Education and Psychology. It also offers Translation, Interpreting and Applied Languages, with the Open University of Catalonia, in addition to 7 official master's degrees.

A year full of celebrations

Various events have taken place throughout the academic year to commemorate the past 40 years. The first took place on 4 October, with the lecture by Ricard Torrents on "The university option (in Vic): between reality and utopia." A Wikimarathon was organised on 10 October in order to update the content of the Faculty on the Internet, while in late November the retirement lessons of ex-dean and former rector Assumpta Fargas, and Ramon Sitjà took place. Other activities have included the exhibitions "L’art de jugar" [The art of play], which exhibited the work done by the students on the subject "Art and play" and "Guerra, èxode i exili a la literatura infantil" [War, exodus and exile in children's literature], curated by the lecturers M. Carme Bernal and Carme Rubio.

This year, the presentation of the book on the Fourth Catalan Teaching Symposium is scheduled for 14 February and the central event in the commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the School of Teachers will take place on 18 May at the Atlàntida Theatre, concluding the celebrations. An interactive geolocation map has just been launched to obtain an image of where teaching professionals who trained in Vic are working, in order to see the impact that the School has had on the country.

The arrival of the Teaching course in the city of Vic in 1977, affiliated to the University of Barcelona, represented the restoration of the city's university tradition, which dates back to the tenth century with the Cathedral School and subsequently, to the General Study or Literary University, which was open until 1717. The Nursing School was incorporated into the university in 1981, followed five years later by the Osona University School of Business Studies, forming the University Studies of Vic, which would incorporate the Polytechnic University School of Osona in 1989.