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Barcelona/Vic, Wednesday June 12th, 2013.- The Dean of Universitat de Vic (UVic), Jordi Montaña, and the President of the Board of Trustees of Fundació Privada Universitària EADA, David Parcerisas, put their seal and signature to an annex to the agreement ascribing the business school to UVic, which was signed three years ago. The signing took place yesterday afternoon in the Board Room of the Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca and was presided over by Lluís Jofre, general director of Universities, with the participation of Josep Arimany, on behalf of the Board of Trustees of Fundació Universitària Balmes and in the presence of the main directors of both academic institutions and of the Fundació Universitària del Bages.

Until now EADA’s adscription as a Centre of Education to UVic mainly had to do with the recognition of its Masters courses within the framework of the European Space of Higher Education (ESHE). Now, in the light of this consolidation and broadening of the mutual strategic agreement, which enters into effect as of today, the way has been paved for new growth possibilities for both institutions such as the joint design of new courses; the integration of their respective research groups; the drawing up of continuous training programmes; doctorate programme options for EADA post graduates; the rotation of faculty and internationalisation initiatives.

One of the first projects that is in the pipeline is to commercialise joint Degree + MsC EADA (optional) packages, offering UVic undergraduate students (especially on Business Management and Administration, Marketing and Engineering programmes), the option of directly going on to take a Master in Management at EADA Barcelona. This will then tie in with providing easier access to doctorate programmes for EADA postgraduate students (recognising semi-presential credits for access to PhDs or Doctorates in Business Administration). Basically this entails setting up the strategic circuit: UVic Graduate Degrees -> EADA Masters -> UVic Doctorate.

This new framework also entails the joint design of new courses, especially in the areas of Business, Technology and Design, of postgraduate and masters courses in business management and company creation for research professionals, as well as management training for SMB’s.

The new agreement will further promote the research environment by integrating the research groups of both institutions in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation. This integration will involve drawing up an organisational proposal, defining research priorities plus a joint agenda with the aim of applying as an Emerging Group to the Generalitat de Catalunya for Support to Research Groups (SGR) funding.

Another of the agreement’s intrinsic benefits is the chance to rotate faculty. This will enable EADA professors to teach specific subjects in business management at Universitat de Vic, and UVic faculty to teach on EADA programmes. It will also facilitate the mutual use of EADA’s and UVic’s installations for training programmes taught in Barcelona and/or in Vic.

During the talks at the Secretaria General d’Universitats i Recerca, David Parcerisas, president of the Board of Trustees of Fundació Universitària EADA pointed out that “EADA approached UVic three years ago because of its size, proximity and agility”. Parcerisas stressed that “this agreement will only work if the UVic and EADA realise that the market is the world and if both work towards maintaining rigorous quality standards in order to be on the cutting edge, create value and attract people from all over”. On the other hand, the Dean of UVic, Jordi Montaña, stated that “this strategic agreement opens up new possibilities for growth for both institutions such as that of designing joint courses and promoting research in entrepreneurship and innovation by setting up integrated teams”. Josep Arimany, on behalf of Vic City Council and the Board of Trustees of Fundació Universitària Balmes, highlighted the fact that “one of the advantages of the agreement is the UVic’s location in the interior of Catalonia, an environment conducive to study and concentration, and EADA’s location in the centre of Barcelona, in a very favourable setting for entrepreneurship”. Finally, Lluís Jofre, the general director of Universities, closed the meeting by calling for “commitment and support on the part of the institutions present here today as key players in the university system as well as in training in three important areas, internationalisation, youth employability and the transfer of knowledge”.