Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) is known for its excellence in research and quality in teaching, and is a reference centre in Europe. The UAB is located only 25 minutes in public transport from Barcelona’s city centre, a cosmopolitan metropolis lying on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The main campus is located in Bellaterra, in the heart of one of the main industrial and technological poles of Mediterranean Europe. The university is located in an area of outstanding natural beauty: 263 Hectares of campus surface area with 70% covered in woodlands and green areas.

The UAB caters to all aspects of university life. The campus is organised as a true city with almost 50,000 inhabitants: students (of which 8,000 are postgraduate and 4,000 are PhD students), lecturers, researchers and administration staff. It contains all the necessary services for the university community: residence halls (2,600 places), specialised libraries, language learning centre, sport facilities (with a gym, pools, football pitch, etc.), healthcare centre, restaurants, stores and cafés.

The UAB offers top-level graduate programmes in almost all areas of knowledge:

• 316 Master’s Degrees, whose aim is to provide students with an advanced-level, specialised, multidisciplinary education oriented towards both professional specialisation and research initiation.
• 78 PhD programmes, providing advanced training in research techniques, culminating in a doctoral thesis (618 PhD theses in 2013-2014). They involve preparing and defending a thesis and usually last three years, with the aim of producing top-level academic and professionals. A total of 27 of the UAB’s PhD programmes have received an Excellence Award. The European Doctoral Research Component includes stays in different European countries and the participation of lecturers from foreign universities.

The international dimension of the UAB can be seen by the number of students enrolled from abroad, especially in master's degrees with 2,281 international students (40%), and PhD programmes with 1,464 international students (36%). There are over 45 master's degrees taught 100% in English. 

The UAB campus includes 226 research groups, 57 departments and 45 research institutes and centres, many of which were created in collaboration with important scientific institutions, and all of which conduct a large amount of research activities (3,102 articles published in indexed journals according to WOK-ISI).

The UAB promotes innovation, employability and entrepreneurship. It strives to foster research and transfer in all areas of knowledge and works closely together with the surrounding business and industrial community, as well as with scientific centres such as the Alba Synchrotron Light Facility, located five minutes away from campus. 

The UAB is a sustainable university. It strives to improve the health of the university community, promote healthy environments and lifestyles and, moreover, is committed to responsible consumption and has pioneered the implementation of sustainable actions.

Figures from 2014-2015 unless otherwise stated