Last September 22 the presentation ceremony of the Health Campus University of Barcelona (HUBc) was held, chaired by the vice-chancellor of the university, Dr. Dídac Ramírez, who showed his support to the Minister for Innovation, Universities and Enterprise, Josep Huguet. The minister pointed out “the accumulation of forces that has been done in this project, which he hopes can be used to improve the resource efficiency of the sector in times of crisis.”

In the first phase of selection last July the HUBc turned out to be the most appreciated project by the technical committee of the Campus of International Excellence. In the second phase, on October 19, Dídac Ramírez is going to present the draft to the Ministry of Education so that it can be an eligible candidate for campus of international excellence.

This event was also attended by representatives of the nearly thirty organizations in private and public sectors which are attached to this project.

Health University of Barcelona Campus (HUBc)

The HUBc comprises four educational centres and six hospitals, with a total of about 12,000 health professionals including researchers, teachers, health personnel and 8,000 students of different qualifications (degrees, postgraduate and masters) that are emerging in this sector. Receiving great support from public and private institutions, the new campus is considered to be a conversion project towards international excellence which, in short, has the aim of consolidating a drive of sustainable economic development, moving on in terms of regional transformation and, finally, promoting a model committed to the social situation. The last one also includes making a wage for innovation and knowledge in the field of health as mainstays to improve people’s health by facing the challenges that the new global needs pose. This strategic alliance with the productive sector encourages the potential of both internationalization and excellence. In this line, the HUBc’s main power is the high degree of specialization in Health, which will also provide the ability to attract talent.

Therefore, HUBc is an initiative of training, research and knowledge transfer that takes account of all health sciences disciplines. This aggregation intends to coordinate, stimulate and promote biomedicine, biotechnology and medical technologies with the objective of improving population’s quality of life. The programme that has been presented includes, among other proposals, building a research park (BioPol Research Institutes), creating a centre that will offer a wide range of Masters and PhD in health sciences (Health High School) and a health sciences demonstration centre (Health Meeting Point). Likewise, as regards the field of territorial transformation, a proposal has been raised to incorporate health vocational training to this campus.

The environment of the HUBc is a space where the capacities and abilities of two cities (Barcelona and Hospitalet de Llobregat) will join to work on the basis of three main areas: Bellvitge Health Sciences Campus, Biopol in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Biopol'H) and Campus of August Pi i Sunyer (Clínic), together with Sant Joan de Déu Hospital and lastly Zona Franca. The campus offers more than thirty qualifications possible including degrees, postgraduate and masters and, for the time being, around 500 clinical trials and an average of 120 doctoral theses every year are being carried out. These are some outstanding data that explain the fortitude of a campus like this.