The story
The origin of the current university is in the CDES Abat Oliba, an institution created by Fundación San Pablo-CEU in 1973 in Barcelona. The center started its activities in January 1974 through an affiliation agreement with the University of Barcelona. In 1995 it became known as the Center for Higher Education Abat Oliba and offered degrees in Law, Business Administration and Management, and Economy. In 2003, the Parliament of Catalonia recognized Abat Oliba CEU University as a new university.
In 1992 he acquired the complex built by the modernist architect Bernardí Martorell at the behest of the benefactor Francesca Balart, to convert it into its current headquarters, which opened in 1995. That same year, coinciding with the refurbishment by the architect Miquel Àngel Armengou, it was renamed the Abat Oliba Higher Education Centre, incorporating university studies in Law, Business Administration and Management and the first cycle of Economics.
Eight years later, in 2003, the Abat Oliba CEU University is recognised by Law 20/2003, of 4 July 2003, of the Parliament of Catalonia. It thus becomes one of the three Spanish universities belonging to the CEU educational group.
The spring of 2007 saw the birth of the Goliad UAO CEU Awards, prizes given annually by the advertising and communication students of the Abat Oliba CEU University. In 2012 the institution started an annual conferenced titled UAO CEU International Journalism Week, lasting an entire week (Monday to Friday), and hosting presentations by professionals and scholars of Journalism. Also in 2012, the Abat Oliba CEU University and the totality of the Catalan universities pledged to defend the Catalan linguistic immersion model and proposed a coordinated access to the Catalan university system.
The university's rectors since then have been: Juan Corona Ramón (2003–2004) José María Alsina Roca (2004–2009); Carlos Pérez del Valle (2009–2017), Eva Perea (2017-2018), Rafael Rodriguez-Ponga y Salamanca (2019-2024) and Arcadi Gual Sala (since 2024).
From Wikipedia’s article on Abat Oliba CEU University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4