The campaign for attracting students is aimed at highlighting Barcelona’s potential as a city not just with a strong, unified university system but also offering quality of life and opportunities for developing professional careers in technological, digital, scientific and research areas.

As for affordable housing, regulations have begun to be reformed to enable the creation of a pool of residential-housing places available at affordable prices that will cover the existing demand and contribute indirectly to a drop in private residence prices. In addition, a study is also being made to find a way to bring greater flexibility to offers more by allowing stays for periods that are shorter than an academic year.

An information and support space

The plan also provides for the launch of an office for assisting the university community and international research offering all available information and support services for foreign students. There will also be a welcoming event at the start of the year with workshops, exhibitions, science-related tours and discovery activities that will provide a richer and fuller view of the city. As for vocational training (VT), the initiative will boost activities from the BCN Formació Professional Foundation — a benchmark in managing the mobility initiatives from young people and VT teachers — and the VT Network Association of European Cities.

Barcelona had been one of the favourite destinations for university and VT students from a variety of countries prior to the pandemic, More specifically, every year saw close to thirty thousand university students and some thousand young European VT students complementing their studies here.