UPC - BarcelonaTech

Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and with a population of about 1,620,000 citizens, the second largest city in Spain. Europe's largest metropolis on the Mediterranean coast is located between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola ridge. It is the main component of a union of adjacent cities and municipalities named the Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB).

To a greater extent than the rest of Catalonia, where Catalonia's native Catalan is more dominant, Barcelona is a bilingual city: Catalan and Spanish are both official languages and widely spoken. Since the arrival of democracy, the Catalan culture (very much repressed during the dictatorship of Franco) has been promoted, both by recovering works from the past and by stimulating the creation of new works.

Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona became the capital of the Counts of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, it became one of the most important cities of the Crown of Aragon. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination and has a rich cultural heritage. Particularly renowned are architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner that have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The city is well known in recent times for the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Barcelona has a very active cultural life. It is a city full of interesting museums, expositions, beautiful architecture, venues for music and theatre as well as sports events. Especially in summer, life takes place outside, where creativity has no limits. As Barcelona is surrounded by beaches and mountains, there are also many possibilities to spend some time outside the city and enjoy nature.

The UPC is specialized in the fields of architecture, engineering and science. It is recognised as one of the top engineering universities of Spain has been the first university in Spain to give an Engineering degree in Materials Science and Engineering. UPC has 29.500 undergraduate students, ca. 1.300 master students, ca. 3.000 doctorate students, 4.100 students in internships, and 2.200 in international exchange programmes. UPC is the Spanish university with the highest number of master and doctoral students from abroad and largest number of double degree programs (82).

Materials Science and Engineering has made an important contribution to make UPC Spain’s technical university with the highest scientific production, the highest citable output, the highest research competitiveness and the largest research income.