The Senate supports the designation of Oriol Amat as a candadate for Rector of the UVic-UCC

78% of those attending with the right to vote at the meeting of the Senate of the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) supported the government plan that the Professor of Economics and Accounting of Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the candidate for the UVic-UCC Vice Chancellor, Oriol Amat, presented at an extraordinary meeting that took place at noon last Thursday in the UVic's Aula Magna.   

At the extraordinary meeting, which was attended by 315 senators of the 600 who were convened, the representatives of the community explained the selection process for the candidate in which they participated through the selection committee. They agreed it was a "transparent process in which the best candidate from those possible ones was selected". As stipulated in the University's Organisational and Operational Regulations, the Senate meeting was chaired  by the president of the FUB Board of Trustees and mayor of Vic, Anna Erra, who thanked the rector Montaña for his work over the last 8 years. She also announced that "a new era is beginning which we hope will be full of success, with the help of everyone."   

Action plan for excellence and internationalisation

Afterwards, Amat discussed his project for 45 minutes and called for the support of the community to carry out "an exciting project through a peaceful change." The candidate, who requested the participation of everyone, made it clear that the position of the Senate is "binding" on him, and concluded that "I will only come if what we are doing today works out well."
The candidate focused his action plan on four main objectives: "fostering the maximum enthusiasm and cohesion among the members of the university community," "placing people at the centre to contribute to a better world", "guaranteeing excellence in all the activities that the University carries out" and "maximising its scientific, economic and social impact."
According to the candidate for rector, "the strategy that the University has adopted in recent years has taken it in the right direction," and in his opinion, with its strengths and "its unique good government, it is the Catalan university that is best placed make a great qualitative leap in the coming years." To achieve this, the economist set out seven strategic lines that "can help fulfil the institution's mission." According to Amat, these are "training with impact: singular and involving excellence", "the search for excellence with impact and knowledge transfer," "people's enthusiasm," "impact on the region," "internationalisation," "sustainable financing" and "excellence in governance and management."

Next steps

Amat maintained that once appointed rector, he will implement a 90-day plan in which he will talk with everyone to carry out a diagnosis and identify the situation, identify measures to take and assess their impact. He also announced the drafting of a new strategic plan for 2019-2022. With this decision by the Senate, the FUB Board of Trustees will appoint Oriol Amat fifth vice-chancellor of the UVic-UCC at its plenary session of 28 June. On 19 April, an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Trustees designated Amat as a candidate for rector. Amat was selected from among the 13 nominations that were submitted to lead the institution. The selection committee was chaired by the first deputy mayor of Vic, Dr. Josep Arimany. The other members were the Councillor for Education and Universities of Manresa City Council, Dr. Mercè Rosich, on behalf of the FUBages; Dr Arcadi Navarro, on behalf of the Government of Catalonia; Joan Font on behalf of civil society, and a trustee representing the Senate, who was the lecturer and researcher Dr. Núria Simó. The committee also included three external academics, the UAB professor and former president of the College of Doctors, Dr. Miquel Vilardell; the former Secretary General of the Inter-University Board of Catalonia, Dr. Claudi Alsina, and the director of ICREA, Dr. Antoni Huerta, who assessed the candidates based on their academic and research merits.