Australia's RMIT University opens its European campus in Barcelona

Barcelona (ACN).- The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, which is one of Australia’s main universities, unveiled its new campus in Barcelona. The RMIT University, which has three campuses in Melbourne and two in Vietnam, is now coming to Europe for the first time. From the Catalan capital the RMIT University will coordinate its European presence, since it has exchange and research agreements with more than 30 universities throughout the continent. In addition, in Barcelona the RMIT will have its own facilities in the Catalan capital and will offer Master and PhD programmes, starting with projects related to architecture. The Australian education institution will also cooperate with several Catalan universities, in particular the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and the Escola Superior de Disseny i Enginyeria de Barcelona ELISAVA.

The Catalan Minister for Economy and Knowledge, Andreu Mas-Colell, attended the opening ceremony in downtown Barcelona, near Diagonal Avenue. He underlined the fact that Australia’s higher education system is “the most internationalised in the world”. He also stated that the RMIT campus in Barcelona “is a bridge towards Europe, the Mediterranean Area and Latin America”. Besides the Catalan Minister, the Australian Ambassador to Spain, Jane Hardy, and the President of RMIT Europe, Colin Fudge, were also present.

Choosing Barcelona for how it ranked internationally in architecture, life quality, business and education

The Oceanic centre chose Barcelona for its international recognition in the fields of architecture and design. Another aspect taken into account was the Catalan capital’s strategic location and its position in international rankings regarding business, life quality and education.

The Catalan campus of the RMIT will be the university’s operations base in Europe. From Barcelona, the Australian institution will coordinate the activities it has with other European universities such as the University of the Arts in London, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and the Sports University of Cologne. In fact the RMIT has agreements with more than 30 universities in Europe.

Australian students will spend a term in Barcelona

In addition, it will also teach its own courses in Barcelona, on a small campus located in the lowest part of the Gràcia neighbourhood, just next to Diagonal Avenue and near the fancy Passeig de Gràcia Boulevard. One of the projects the university is working on is to make its Masters students in Australia spend a whole term in Barcelona.

A close relationship with Barcelona

However, the relationship between the Oceanic institution and the Catalan capital is not new since the RMIT School of Architecture participates in the construction tasks of the Sagrada Familia Basilica, which was designed by Antoni Gaudí. In addition, the Australian university aims to become a dynamic centre in Barcelona’s cultural and educational life, organising exhibitions, workshops and conferences open to the public along with other initiatives.