With its close historical ties to Barcelona and to Catalonia, the University of Barcelona recently celebrated 555 years of its own history and the academic service to the community that has made it Catalonia?s most important public university. In all Catalonia, the UB is the university that caters to the greatest number of students and offers the broadest and most comprehensive series of higher education qualifications in its first- and second-cycle degrees and the widest range of UB-endorsed programs and studies in postgraduate degrees , master?s programs and doctorates. The University is also the principle academic institution promoting university research at a national level in Spain and has become one of the finest research institutions in Europe, in terms of both the number and quality of its research programs.

By virtue of its importance as an academic institution, the University of Barcelona has also made a decisive contribution to the democratization of knowledge for many generations of citizens in Catalonia and the rest of Spain. Our campuses play host to a large number of students from around the world who have chosen to complete their studies at the UB at a time in history when learning has become one of the most trans-national of all activities. And finally, we are proud to be able to say that the UB?s numerous alumni constitute a broad crossection of Catalan society today.

In todays knowledge society, the mission undertaken by centres of higher education such as ours must be to educate people for professional practice in the community, to prepare and train the human capital that advanced democratic society so needs. This, I can say with absolute conviction, is what we who form the academic community strive for most at the University of Barcelona, a university combining historical tradition with its place in the twenty-first century.

Student programs

Each year the University of Barcelona welcomes a large number of students from other Spanish universities and from abroad, who wish to undertake part of their degree studies in Barcelona.

Temporary visiting students can enrol at the UB for a maximum of two semesters in any one academic year following acceptance on a national exchange program (SICUE or DRAC), an international exchange program (LLP Erasmus, bilateral agreements or others) or by making an individual application.

General information for visiting students planning to study at the UB can be found here.