The University of Girona is a public institution that is integrated into the Catalan public university system, excels in teaching and research, and participates in the progress and development of society through the creation, transmission, dissemination, and criticism of science, the technique, the humanities, the social and health sciences, and the arts. It is the economic and cultural engine of its environment and expresses the vocation of universality and openness to all the traditions, advances, and cultures of the world.
The General Study, the historical antecedent of the University of Girona, was created in 1446 by King Alfonso the Magnanimous, who granted Girona the privilege of granting degrees in grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and theology, law, and medicine. The teaching initiative was led by the municipal trustees and the church, but classes did not officially begin until 1572, in the surroundings of what is now known as the Les Àligues building, built expressly to be the university headquarters. University studies were extended with considerable prestige until 1717. Then, the University was closed because of the Nueva Planta Decree and the loss of political identity in Catalonia.
Throughout the 19th century, and as a result of the liberal revolution, the City Council promoted the so-called Universitat Lliure de Girona (Free University of Girona), which offered studies in law and pharmacy until 1874.
The recent history of the University of Girona has as references the Normal School of Teachers and, in a special way, the initiatives that were carried out in the sixties of the twentieth century in order to re-establish university studies in Girona. The Girona University College and the Higher Polytechnic School were created, which depended, respectively, on the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Polytechnic University of Catalunya. Later the General Study was recovered, which housed studies in the humanities, business, science, and social sciences. Finally, on December 12, 1991, the Parliament of Catalonia approved Law 35/1991, which created the new University of Girona, with contributions from the various university cultures that make Girona a multidisciplinary point of reference.
These 25 years of history mean a reinforcement of the academic offer, an increase in the number of students (from 7,000 students in 1992 to 14,000 in 2016), an intensification of research and international and territorial presence, and an expansion of the campus, now located in the city center, in Montilivi and Barri Vell.
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