UOC – Fundació per a la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain

https://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/index.html

Since its creation in 1994 as a state-of-the art technological university with a highly innovative learning model, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya is one of the world’s premier online Higher Education universities, now engaging more than 70,000 students. UOC’s core goal is to be the university of the knowledge society, promoting innovative education, personalized learning, technological leadership, R&D work on the information society and eLearning. The UOC’s research, innovation and transfer activity is organised into the Doctoral School and 48 R&I groups conducted within the University’s faculties and at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), the UOC research institute specializing in research on the network society. The UOC has two other centres for R&I collaborations: the eLearn Center (eLC) and the eHealth Center (eHC).

With internationalization at the core of its mission, UOC continuously works to bolster its international profile through initiatives that increase its research partnerships around the world and the number of its international mobilities and students. Over the last five years, UOC has participated in more than 250 R&D projects and around 50 European initiatives, including 9 in the 7th Framework Programmes in Marie Curie, ICT, and Science in Society; 17 projects in the Lifelong Learning Programme, 25 Erasmus+ projects (4 as leader), 3 COST Actions, 1 DG Growth initiative, and leadership so far in 5 Horizon 2020 projects, as well as participation in 16 more as partners. Further information on its research, projects and transfer to society can be found here.

Also, UOC activates over 150 international agreements for joint research, mobility initiatives and training, including an ever-growing number of qualified EHEA Master Degree Programmes. The UOC works to promote knowledge transfer and has more than 1,000 agreements to this end. Member of 35 international networks, including the European University Association (EUA), the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) and the IMS Global Learning Consortium.

UOC infrastructure and technical equipment comprises the main statistical software package and online survey tools, including a fully equipped data lab. In addition, it is worth mentioning UOC’s Virtual Library support for managing documentation and access to over 14000 Anglo-Saxon journals for collecting relevant empirical materials.