the University THE UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA MAGAZINE spring 2008 www.ub.edu Building the University of Europe Malaria: a vaccine is close at hand Barcelona: behind the seen Beijing 2008: China Comes into Play EDITORIAL 3 Editorial Barcelona, Capital of the European University Community The magazine you are holding in expand that aim to reach everyone in the European university commu- your hands, the English version of nity, a community which we are trying to build together. The UB is home La Universitat, has been timed to to a third of the students in the entire Catalan university system and it coincide with the spring confe- stands at the forefront of the university rankings. We want to share with rence of the European University you the UB’s innovation in teaching and research and our commitment Association (EUA) taking place on to the UB’s third mission, the transfer of knowledge, together with our 26-29 March in the University of high sense of social and institutional responsibility. To achieve these Barcelona’s Paranymph Hall. The aims, we are working at the local level in close partnership with the city conference marks the first gathe- of Barcelona and, more generally, our efforts seek to uphold the univer- ring of the EUA in Spain since the sity’s character as a strong force for social and democratic advance- association was founded in ment. In addition, the UB has a stated commitment to the economic Salamanca in 2001 and its focus transformation of Catalonia through knowledge transfer, technological this year will be on the gover- progress and active participation in the regional system of innovation that nance of European universities is embodied, in part, by the Barcelona Science Park. from 2010 onwards. Gathered together in these pages, you will also find the activities we La Universitat, a quarterly have instigated to rethink the university in the current context of globalisa- publication of the University of tion as well as the addition of new functions to help us better tackle the Barcelona (UB), came into exist- social and economic challenges of the country. In this respect, I highlight ence over ten years ago with the our internal initiative the Framework Plan UB Horizon 2020 and the outsi- aim of sharing the university’s life de assessment conducted by a committee of international experts under and activities with the rest of the aegis of the EUA. With these tools, our mission is to guide the UB more Catalan society. Now with its effectively and more efficiently, while maintaining and improving the uni- English version, we wish to versity’s premier position in the international context. Màrius Rubiralta Rector Barcelona, March 2008 Editorial Board: Màrius Rubiralta, Rector; Jordi Matas, Vice-Rector of Students and Language Policy; la Universitat Ernest Trias, Head of Communication. Published by the Press Office. Editor-in-Chief: Ester Colominas; Assistant Editor: Núria Quintana; Staff Writers: Jordi Homs, Rosa Martínez, Patrícia Lainz, Marta Casellas and Bibiana Bonmatí. Translation and language expertise: ER ECOLÒ P GI A C the UB Language Services; Lucille Banham; Joel Graham. Administrative support: Montserrat Cenzano. P Printed on Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 585, 08007 Barcelona. Tel.: 934 035 544. Fax: 934 035 357. Contact: environmentally- [email protected] friendly paper Prepared in collaboration with: Communication Services at the Barcelona Science Park, the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, the Institute for LifeLong Learning (IL3-UB) and Fundació Clínic / IDIBAPS. Photography contributed by M. Rué. Design, printing and advertising: Primer Segona Communication Services. Tel.: 933 436 060. Edition: 2,500 copies. Distribution: Interpàs, Associació Ginesta. National Book Catalogue Number: B-19682-97. Online version: www2.ub.edu/comunicacions/revista_launiversitat Cover photograph: The Historical Building in its urban setting (photograph: the University of Barcelona Audiovisuals Unit) 4 HIGHLIGHTS Highlights 6 The Profile: Barcelona: university and city 10 The Analysis: Building the University of Europe 14 News: Postgraduate courses with an international scope 16 Science Notes: Malaria: a vaccine is close at hand 20 The Report: Barcelona: behind the seen 28 The Debate: Beijing 2008: China Comes into Play 32 News: Barcelona Science Park, an Engine for Innovation 34 Chronicle: 75° North: The UB sets sail for the Arctic Ocean 38 Publications People you could have met at the UB Santiago Ramón fessor of the University during a y Cajal productive period of his research into the mechanisms governing Medical students at the Univer- the structure and connection sity of Barcelona who studied of neurons. In Barcelona, he Histology and Pathological sought the means to continue Anatomy between 1887 and this research. In memory of his 1892 were taught by the first— time at the UB, two halls have and to date the only—UB pro- been given his name, one in the fessor awarded the Nobel Prize Sciences Patio in the Historic in Medicine (1896): Santiago Building, and the other in the Ramón y Cajal. He was a pro- Faculty of Medicine. Antoni Gaudí From 1869 to 1873, prior to stud- ying architecture, Antoni Gaudí attended classes in the lecture the entrance to the Finca Güell tion is retained, black holes can- halls of the University of Barcelo- estate. Two of the gates to Finca not be used to travel to other na’s Faculty of Sciences. Nobody Güell were also designed by universes.” could have imagined that a cen- Gaudí. Both the pavilions and the So spoke the theoretical tury and a half later, his work gates were proclaimed historic- physicist, Stephen Hawking would be a world benchmark in artistic monuments of national when, on 5 July 2005, he ad­ the history of architecture and interest in 1969. dressed over 400 lecturers and that some of his designs would students in Lecture room 105 of form an important part of the the UB’s Faculty of Physics. With University of Barcelona’s herit- Stephen Hawking his laptop and voice synthesis- age. In the Diagonal Campus (the er, Hawking opened the semi- Portal del Coneixement) are the “I’m sorry to disappoint followers nar “Information lost in black two Gaudí pavilions that stood at of science fiction, but if informa- holes”, before an expectant HIGHLIGHTS 5 Highlights 6 The Profile: Barcelona: university and city 10 The Analysis: Building the University of Europe 14 News: Postgraduate courses with an international scope 16 Science Notes: Malaria: a vaccine is close at hand 20 The Report: Barcelona: behind the seen 28 The Debate: Beijing 2008: China Comes into Play 32 News: Barcelona Science Park, an Engine for Innovation 34 Chronicle: 75° North: The UB sets sail for the Arctic Ocean 38 Publications People you could have met at the UB A Glance from the Past: UB Welcomes Rectors Back audience. The session was through the corridors of the UB coordinated by Jaume Garriga, during his visit to the University professor of Fundamental Phys- rector on Monday 26 February. ics and a former student of Einstein clearly admired Profes- Hawking. Hawking—winner of sor Terradas. During a conver- the Prince of Asturias Award for sation between Terradas and Concord in 1989 and one of the Einstein on relativity, the 1921 most prestigious theoretical winner of the Nobel Prize of physicists in the world—dis- Physics suddenly interrupted the cussed the global spacetime Catalan scientist, saying: “You structure and the physical laws see, Mr. Terradas, you know of black holes. more than I do”. Albert Einstein When the scientist Albert Ein- stein arrived in Barcelona in February 1923, a small group of Catalan scientists had already opened up the way for the new conceptual territory of relativistic mechanics. The German scien- tist was invited by the Man- This March, the UB will host a conference of the European University comunitat de Catalunya via the Association (EUA). Back in 1993, the UB hosted a meeting of the Conference of European Rectors, one of the organisations that later merged scientist Esteve Terradas, pro- to form the EUA. At that time, the gathering focused on the emergence fessor of Acoustics and Optics of new categories of students and the challenges that they posed for in the UB’s Physics Department teaching methods and the management of universities. Fifteen years and one of the people who intro- on, the upcoming event will address the current challenges being faced in the “Bologna area”, under the rubric of The Governance of European duced relativist ideas in Spain. Universities Post 2010 (II): Enhancing Institutional Mission and Profiles. Terradas accompanied Einstein 6 THE PROFILE: BARCELONA: UNIVERSITY AND CITY Barcelona: university and city Barcelona has grown into a large city, despite being after this city. The shared history of the university encircled—even constrained—by geographic fea- institute and the city goes back over 557 years. It tures: the Collserola mountain range to the west, the began with the classes of the Estudis Generals (the sea to the east, the river Llobregat to the south and term given to universities at the time), held in differ- the river Besòs to the north. The development and ent places in the medieval city, and continues today expansion of Barcelona, which has had to overcome as the UB undertakes projects in emerging neigh- these geographic barriers and the historic obstacles bourhoods of Barcelona and moves some of its cen- faced by the entire region, has been paralleled by tres beyond the boundaries of the city, into other the growth of the UB; the university that is named towns in the modern metropolitan area. The University of Barcelona in the metropolitan area 5 14 18 9 16 1 17 15 6 3 10 4 2 7 8 11 12 13 7.