UPF Fact Sheet
COMMUNICATION
Teaching
The three undergraduate programmes offered by the Faculty of Communication (Advertising and Public Relations, Journalism, and Audiovisual Communication) have traditionally required the highest admission marks in the Spanish university system and registered excellent rates of academic success. Currently, the ratio of applicants to places for these programmes is one of the highest in the university system as a whole and also at UPF, with 4.7 applicants per place in Advertising and Public Relations, 3.16 in Audiovisual Communication, and 3.13 in Journalism (20172018 academic year). The Faculty also offers a PhD programme in Communication and four master’s degrees: Contemporary Film and Audiovisual Studies; International Studies on Media, Power and Difference; Social Communication; and Strategic Communication & Public Relations (jointly offered with the University of Stirling). All Master’s Degrees have international students and two of them are entirely taught in English.
Key figures —— —— —— ——
54% of official master’s students are international (2018-2019) 38% of doctoral students are international (2018-2019) 33% of graduates have studied abroad (2017-2018) Internship agreements with more than 210 companies, such as Ogilvy, The Mood Project, The Social Coin, Ulabox, InboundCycle, Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (Catalan Media Corporation), RTVE (Spanish Radio and Television Corporation), Mediapro, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), El Periódico, El País and Europa Press
The UPF Department of Communication ranks among the most outstanding departments in this area in Spain in terms of both scientific output and its capacity to secure funding (see “Key figures” below).
Research
The teaching and research activities take place at the Poblenou campus, which was built in 2009 and offers state-of-the-art facilities. The campus is located in Barcelona’s 22@ district, the largest urban, economic and social transformation project the city has promoted in recent years. The district is home to modern technology areas and offices, as well as research, innovation and university education facilities, media business incubators, and residential areas for entrepreneurs, students and lecturers involved in the communications sector.
Key figures —— Horizon 2020:[1] €2.75 million / 2 projects, including: —— 1 Horizon 2020 project (2015-2018): Transmedia Literacy. Exploiting transmedia skills and informal learning strategies to improve formal education (TRANSLITERACY) —— 1 ERC Advanced Grant (2018-2022): Transnational Gangs as Agents of Mediation: Experiences of conflict resolution in youth street organizations in Southern Europe, North Africa and the Americas (TRASNSGANG). —— Spanish R&D and Innovation Plan:[2] €773,069 / 15 projects —— Research groups:[3] €126,624 / 1 research group recognized, and 5 research groups recognized and funded by the Catalan Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) —— International teaching staff:[4] 4% —— Theses defended in English: 15% (2017-2018) —— 3 industrial PhD projects funded by the catalan government (20132018)
Data refer to the 2014-2018 period only. They include individual and consortia projects. [2] Data refer to the 2014-2017 period only. [3] Data refers to the results of the SGR2017 Call. [4] Data as of January 2017. [1]
Research groups —— The Communication, Advertising and Society Research Group (CAS) focuses on topics at the intersection of two areas: communication and advertising, and the individual and society. The group studies communication phenomena not only from a communication perspective but also as an integrated system combining psychology, sociology, social psychology and discourse analysis. —— The main goal of the Center for Aesthetic Research on Audiovisual Media (CINEMA) is to serve as a venue for researchers from different fields to analyse both the history of cinema and contemporary manifestations of filmic events. —— Critical Communication (CRITICC). Drawing on a critical approach to communication and media studies, CRITICC’s researchers analyse the processes of communication ranging from interpersonal communication to hegemonic narratives in society, from a historical and structural approach. —— The Digital Documentation and Interactive Communication Research Group (DIGIDOC) is linked to two main lines of research: digital documentation and interactive communication. Each line is responsible for the maintenance of a related laboratory that pursues relevant projects such as “Analysis, design and conception of multimedia and interactive productions” or “Analysis of the quality and characteristics of digital publications.” —— The Scientific Communication Research Group (GRECC), which includes the Observatory of Scientific Communication, is interested in all communication processes that make it possible for specialized scientific knowledge to reach the general public. —— The Journalism Research Group (GRP) studies and analyses the behaviour of historical and current media and is made up of lecturers and doctoral students conducting research in the field of journalism. —— The main aim of the Research Group on Youth, Society and Communication (JOVIS.com) is to analyse contemporary youth from an interdisciplinary and transnational point of view. Its researchers are interested in gender, digital communication, identity, new technologies, social movements, political participation, youth policies, education, media literacy and social work. —— MEDIUM analyses popular media culture (video games, celebrities, television series, YouTube, fandom), both in terms of social discourse that popular culture conveys and for its potential for media education and transmedia literacy. Likewise, MEDIUM’s researchers are interested in the evolution of the media ecosystem, media archaeology and mediation processes. —— The main objective of the Research Group on Political Communication, Media and Democracy (POLCOM) is the interdisciplinary study of the interrelationships between the political system, the media system and citizenship, and how these interactions affect the democratic culture of society. —— The Research Unit in Audiovisual Communication (UNICA) specializes in the field of audiovisual communication and culture. It applies multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary methodologies of study and analysis with a focus on social sciences and humanities.
The Faculty of Communication has an extensive network of international contacts to invite visiting professors and increase the mobility opportunities for its students.
International agreements
At the undergraduate level, exchange agreements with 52 universities in 25 countries provide opportunities to study abroad and to internationalize the UPF’s own community at home. Some of the Faculty of Communication’s partner universities for these programmes include: —— Freie Berlin, Bauhaus-Weimar and Stuttgart Media universities (Germany) —— Queen Mary London and Stirling universities (UK) —— Sorbonne Nouvelle and Grenoble universities (France) —— Aarhus and Roskilde universities and the Denmark School of Journalism (Denmark) —— Tilburg, Radboud and Groningen universities (the Netherlands) —— Tampere University (Finland) —— University College Cork (Ireland) —— Università Roma Tre (Italy) —— IDC Herzliya University (Israel) —— Sogang University (South Korea) —— Several universities in Latin America Indeed, the UPF Faculty of Communication has an excellent reputation in Latin America and attracts PhD students from throughout region. Europe is the other region in which the Faculty has strong and longstanding partnerships: —— Joint master’s degree in Strategic Communication and Public Relations with the University of Stirling (UK) —— International master’s degree in Audiovisual and Cinema Studies via an exchange network consisting of Paris Sorbonne Nouvelle, Udine, Sacro Coure Milan, Nanterre, Liège, Goethe and Bochum universities and Birkbeck College London.
UPF appears on some of the most influential global rankings:
Global rankings and results by subject
—— 1st Spanish university, 135th worldwide and 58th in Europe (Times Higher Education ranking, 2019) —— 11th university worldwide among universities aged 50 and under (Times Higher Education Young Universities Ranking, 2018) —— 2nd university in Spain and among the top 250 universities in the world (Shanghai ranking, 2018) The University also ranks high in communication: —— Among the top 150 universities in the world in communication and media studies (QS, 2019) —— Among the top 150 universities in the world in communication (Shanghai ranking, 2019)
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The bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Communication offers general, plural, interdisciplinary education on the different realities involved in the creation of content for cinema, television, radio and interactive media. Combining theory and practice, it is geared towards students who wish to develop both their analytical skills and their creativity.
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The bachelor’s degree in Journalism aims to produce journalists capable of working in any medium. That entails preparing future graduates to adapt to the changes liable to take place in the communication arena in terms of both social uses and technology.
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The objective of the bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations is to produce highly rigorous and creative professionals capable of effectively meeting the needs of an ever-growing, dynamic sector characterized by constant innovation.
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Simultaneous Studies Programme: Humanities degree/Journalism degree. This is a special degree programme covering two areas of study that allows students to earn two degrees (in Humanities and in Journalism) in a period of five years.
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The master’s degree in Contemporary Film and Audiovisual Studies aims to help students acquire the solid, critically proven knowledge and skills they need to begin to conduct research in the field of film studies with an emphasis on contemporary audiovisuals.
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The master’s degree in International Studies on Media, Power and Difference offers an opportunity to study and research the media’s role in the construction, representation and recognition of difference and diversity on the basis of the groups deemed most vulnerable.
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The master’s degree in Social Communication aims to help students develop the skills they need to conduct scientific and, especially, doctoral research. The programme likewise aims to provide students with the necessary expertise to advise institutions and companies on matters related to communication research.
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The master’s degree in Strategic Communication & Public Relations is offered jointly with the University of Stirling. The programme is designed to provide students with a solid international perspective on strategic communication, and allows them to study in Stirling, UK, and Barcelona, Spain. The programme is taught entirely in English, and, upon completion, students are awarded a joint degree from both institutions.
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PhD programme in Communication.
April 2019
www.upf.edu/web/comunicacio