4/19/23 · Institutional

The president names her new executive team

UOC President Àngels Fitó has named her executive team at a ceremony at the UOC Campus today, Friday 14 April, the day after her inauguration. At the event, which was attended by members of the University Council, the new executive team formalized their appointments and received the university's silver insignia.

As of today, the new Executive Board, led by the President, will be made up of:

  • Teresa Guasch, Vice President for Teaching and Learning
  • Xavier Vilajosana, Vice President for Research, Transfer and Entrepreneurship
  • M. Jesús Martínez-Argüelles, Vice President for Governance and Academic Policy
  • Manel Jiménez-Morales, Vice President for Alliances, Community and Culture
  • Antoni Cahner, General Manager of the UOC and CEO of the FUOC
  • Pere Fabra, General Secretary of the UOC and General Secretary of the FUOC

Alongside these ex officio members, the Executive Board will also include the following permanent guests:

  • Josep M. Oliveras, Director of the Office of the President and Institutional Relations
  • Gemma Carrera, Deputy General Manager for Teaching
  • Ciro Llueca, Deputy General Manager for Research and Transfer
  • Emili Rubió, Deputy General Manager for Digital Transformation
  • Inés Teresa-Palacio, Deputy General Manager for Global Business Development

As a result of these changes, the university's Executive Board, a delegate body of the Governing Council, will now include the following four vice presidents:

  • Vice President for Teaching and LearningTeresa Guasch.
    Guasch has been dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences since 2014 and is a senior professor at the UOC. She has taught on a number of the faculty's programmes and co-coordinates the Feed2Learn research group. Her research and innovation activities focus on the study of teaching and learning processes in virtual environments from an educational psychology perspective.

    She has a PhD in Psychology from Ramon Llull University (URL, 2003) and a degree in Educational Psychology. She also has postgraduate qualifications in Educational Psychology for Diversity in Schools from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB, 1997) and Curricular Guidance for Teaching and Learning Strategies from the URL, UAB and UOC (1999). She has spent time at several universities abroad: University of Leeds (UK), University of Nebraska and University of Kentucky (USA), and University of Helsinki (Finland).
     
  • Vice President for Research, Transfer and EntrepreneurshipXavier Vilajosana.
    Vilajosana has a PhD in Computing from the UOC and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. He is a professor, and lead researcher in the Wireless Networks (WINE) research group at the IN3. He was recently awarded an ICREA Acadèmia grant. He has developed 32 patents, 26 of which are already in use at multinational corporations, and he has taken part in the creation of a number of start-ups.
     
  • Vice President for Governance and Academic PolicyM. Jesús Martínez-Argüelles.
    Martínez-Argüelles has been dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business since 2019. Before that, she had been a member of the faculty (2000 to 2019), associate professor of Business Organization (2008 to 2019), and associate dean for teaching (2016 to 2019).

    She has a PhD in Economics and Business from the University of Barcelona, and master's degrees in Industrial Quality from Spain's National Distance Education University, and in Economics from Pompeu Fabra University.
     
  • Vice President for Alliances, Community and CultureManel Jiménez-Morales.
    Jiménez-Morales has been a professor of Cinema and Television at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) since 2000. He has a PhD in Social Communication, alongside a master's degree in Advanced Studies in Social Communication and two degrees in Audiovisual Communication (UPF) and Comparative Literature from the University of Barcelona. He has been a visiting scholar in the Department of Literature at the University of Oxford, and the School of Theater, Film, and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a researcher at the British Film Institute in London. Until 2023, he had been Vice Rector for Educational Transformation, Culture and Communication at the UPF and a member of the European University Association's Learning & Teaching Steering Committee.

The new Executive Board will hold its first ordinary meeting on Monday 17 April.

What roles do the vice presidents play?

The president is aided by the vice presidents she appoints. Their appointment and roles are covered by the university's Organizational and Operational Regulations. They are relieved of their position by the president.

The vice presidents are full members of the Governing Council, the Executive Board and the Academic Committee, the university's main governing bodies.

What is the role of the Executive Board?

The Executive Board is the university's permanent administration and management body. Its mission is to direct the institution's day-to-day activity. To do so, it takes on all the functions delegated to it by the Governing Council, as established in the university's Organizational and Operational Regulations. Among other issues, it pays particular attention to ensure all of the UOC's activities are carried out in line with principles of optimization, budgetary balance and efficiency.

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