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Future challenges for the Barcelona Knowledge Campus

The Barcelona Knowledge Campus (BKC) is consolidating its management model five years after achieving International Campus of Excellence status and will strive to maintain its position as a major knowledge hub in southern Europe. The main achievements of the BKC and the challenges for the coming years will be presented at a ceremony on the North Campus on 19 February.

30/01/2015
The Barcelona Knowledge Campus (BKC) is a project promoted by the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), with the participation of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Barcelona City Council and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. The BKC covers the university area occupied by schools and faculties in Barcelona's Avinguda Diagonal. The project started in 2008, when the two universities created the Knowledge Portal with the support of the Barcelona City Council. The aim was to develop the South Diagonal Campus and to build and renovate the facilities of both universities in order to establish a new area of research and knowledge.

In 2009 the BKC achieved the highest rating in the International Campus of Excellence programme organised by the Spanish Ministry of Education. During the past five years it has developed its strategic plan in areas such as improving teaching and scientific work, internationalisation, knowledge transfer, and transformation of the area shared by the participating organisations. To carry this out, it has received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Economy (formerly the Ministry of Science and Technology).

Facing the future
The BKC is now designing a new strategic plan, in which efforts will focus on the international sphere, permeability with local citizens and the Campus's role as an engine of economic initiative. The rectors of the UPC and the UB and representatives of the BKC group presented the main achievements and future challenges of the BKC at a ceremony held on the North Campus on 19 February. The ceremony was also attended by representatives of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, the Ministry of Economy, the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona City Council.

In the coming years the BKC plans to boost international alliances in education and research, open up spaces that may be attractive to local citizens, and convert the Campus into a laboratory for implementing technological advances.

The aim is to continue to participate in joint projects with companies and in knowledge-based initiatives that promote job creation. Other aims of the BKC are to foster careers in science and technology among young people, to continue the removal of architectural barriers, and to improve information accessibility. Meeting all these challenges will improve the University's international position.

Five years of activity
The BKC received the highest rating in the assessment by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. In the last five years it has become a major hub for education and research, and a driver of science, social activity and business in Spain.

In the educational sphere it has strengthened alliances of the UPC and the UB with foreign universities in order to offer double degrees and has increased its participation in Erasmus Mundus programmes. It has developed the BKCnet network, with major branches in China and Brazil and a secondary branch in Florida, USA. The Sino-Spanish Campus created at Tongji University (SSC@TU) is the first Spanish university branch in China. The BKC opened an office there to promote teacher and student exchange and participation in research projects (related news).

In the scientific sphere, the BKC has increased its participation in projects of excellence through various European R&D programmes. Initiatives have been launched in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship, nanoscience and nanotechnology, space science and technology, geological storage, materials physics and chemistry, the food industry, mathematics, and biotechnology and bioinformatics. Research facilities such as the wave flume of the Maritime Engineering Laboratory (LIM) have been rehabilitated.

estudiants barcelona knowledge campusEfforts have also focused on improving the accessibility of the campuses, the participation of teaching staff in activities to foster the integration of students with disabilities and long-term illnesses, and the organisation of inclusive campuses aimed at secondary school students with disabilities. Sustainability has been reinforced through the monitoring of water and energy consumption in buildings thanks to the SIRENA information system.

The BKC has managed the adaptation of spaces and classrooms on the Campus to the requirements of the European Higher Education Area. It has also cooperated with secondary education and vocational training and implemented teaching innovation projects.

Both universities have implemented a technology innovation centre (CIT UPC and CITA UB) as a meeting point between research groups and companies for exchange of knowledge and technology. The UPC's K2M building is a new business incubator facility for university-industry start-ups. The presence of the universities in international fairs and activities has increased.

The BKC has also emphasised the promotion of interaction with the local area. Some areas have been improved, including the ETSEIB's Plaça de l'Enginy, and measures have been taken to encourage pedestrianisation, cycling and vehicle sharing on the Campus.

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