The former rector of Ramon Llull University, Josep Maria Garrell, will chair the European University Association (USA) for the forthcoming four years

The General Assembly of the European University Association (EUA), held in Gdańsk (Poland), has elected on Thursday, April 20, CRUE's candidate, Josep Maria Garrell, as the next new President for the upcoming four-year period (2023-2027). Garrell, who was standing for these elections together with Britain's Janet Beer (University of Liverpool) and Serbia's Ivanka Popović (University of Belgrade), obtained more than 70% of the votes.

From 2012 to 2022, Dr. Garrell served as rector of Ramon Llull University in Barcelona. Previously, he held several leadership roles at the university, which included Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Secretary General and Vice Chancellor for University Policy. He was also Vice President of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE).

Joan Subirats, Spain's Universities Minister, shared the news in a Twitter post. He also praised the "extensive" experience that Dr. Garrell has as the rector of Ramon Llull University and highlighted that this position will be "very useful" for the current moment of "special significance and transcendence for European universities".

Furthermore, for the Catalan Minister of Research and Universities, Joaquim Nadal i Farreras, this election " strengthens the prestige of the Catalan university system and is an acknowledgement of its quality", and he congratulated the new president for this "major success".

He will assume the presidency on July 1, 2023, after the end of Michael Murphy's term of office. The term of office will be for four years and he will chair the State Board, which is responsible for preparing and implementing the Association's policy and planning its activities.