Rovira i Virgili University

University education in the Tarragona area goes back to the 16th century when Cardinal Gaspar Cervantes de Gatea founded a university in the city of Tarragona to teach Grammar, the Arts and Theology. This Universitas Tarraconensis was practically wiped out by the reprisals of Philip V after the War of Succession. One school did remain, however: the Estudi Literari, which depended on the new University of Cervera until the middle of the 19th century when university education was discontinued. Only the Escola de Mestres (the Teacher Training School), which had been founded shortly before, was to survive and it continued to provide non-university education until it became a part of the University in 1972.

We provide you with the institutional and positioning indicators that give a quick and exhaustive vision of the URV’s evolution and current situation. The information is divided into four separate sections: courses, students, research and innovation, and University resources. These sections have been grouped in two large blocks: one contains the information on courses and students, separating the undergraduate from the postgraduate studies, while the other describes research, transfer and scientific production, and the resources that the URV devotes to these activities.

We would also like this website to transmit an image of our university as a modern higher education public institution that is at the service of a dynamic region, the southern regions of Catalonia. We firmly believe in the harmonious development of society by generating knowledge and training professionals and citizens who defend the values of humanism, public-spiritedness and respect for the environment, and at the same time we are committed to the process of convergence towards the European Areas of Higher Education and Research.The construction of the European Higher Education Area and the increasing competition at both the national and international level are obliging the URV to consider drafting a Strategic Internationalization Plan. This plan should provide a framework for all the actions that are currently being implemented and establish a common strategy.

Bringing about a change in the internal culture of our institution so that we are more open to the outside world is no longer a luxury: it is a necessity. The time has come to submit the internationalization of our university to debate so that we can plan how to grow. If we decide to wait, we may risk being too late.

By analyzing our current situation and respecting our history, we can all contribute to the international future of our University. What is more, the PEI is not an isolated element. It will take into account other plans (Teaching, Research, 3rd Mission) and, with them, help construct the future vision of URV 2019, which aims to make the Rovira i Virgili the university that we all want it to be.