Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain.
As of 2005, it consists of 50 departments in the experimental, life, social and human sciences, spread among 11 faculties and three university schools. All these centers together award a total of 77 qualifications in the form of first degrees, diplomas, and engineering degrees. Moreover, almost 90 doctoral programs and more than 100 other postgraduate programs are offered. UAB has more than 50,000 students and more than 3,000 academic and research staff.
The UAB is a pioneering institution in terms of fostering research. There are many research institutes in the campus, as well as other research centers, technical support services and service-providing laboratories. In 2010 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 173rd overall in the world. Its subject rankings were: 95th in Arts & Humanities, 231st in Engineering & IT, 218th in Life Sciences & Biomedicine, 71st in Natural Sciences, and 85th in Social Sciences.
History
The Autonomous University of Barcelona was officially created by legislative decree on June 6, 1968. Previously, during the Second Spanish Republic, there had been plans for constituting a second university in Barcelona, but the Civil War and the following years of poverty under the early dictatorship did not allow these plans to become a reality until that year.
On July 27, a disposition to the decree was added, starting the creation of the Faculty of Letters, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Science, and the Faculty of Economical Sciences. Around ten weeks later, on October 6, the first course of the Faculty of Letters was inaugurated at Sant Cugat del Vallès Monastery. During the same month, the Faculty of Medicine was created at the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona.
In 1969, an agreement was signed for the acquisition of the land where the university campus is currently located. During that year, the Faculty of Sciences and the Faculty of Economical Sciences started running. During the following three years, several faculties and professional schools were created, and the construction works on the campus land took place. At the end of this period, most existing Faculties and Schools are settled in the campus.
At the end of the dictatorship in 1976, the University introduced a plan to create a model of a democratic, independent university, described in a document known as Bellaterra Manifesto, which included a declaration of principles. Two years later, after the approval of the Catalan Statute, the University Council agreed to recourse to the Generalitat de Catalunya.
During the period between 1985 and 1992, the University underwent several faculty reforms and the creation of several new faculties. In 1993, the Universitary Ville was inaugurated as a student residence integrated inside the Campus complex.
Faculties and UAB schools
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Philosophy and Arts
Faculty of Political Science and Sociology
Faculty of Psychology
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Translation and Interpreting
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
School of Engineering
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ranked:
173rd in the 2010 QS World University Rankings
194th in the 2011 QS World University Rankings
