The J. H. Newman Doctoral School of eUniv held its annual sessions of the 2025 Doctoral Research Seminar on July 9 and 10.
The sessions took place in the Rector Noguero Room at the eUniv headquarters in Sant Julià de Lòria.
Guest researchers included Dr. Laura Bujalance from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid and Dr. Joan Solsona from Lleida. Dr. Bujalance specializes in the study of the university as an institution from historical and philosophical perspectives, while Dr. Solsona focuses on pedagogical and sociological approaches.
On July 9, discussions centered around the institutionalist theoretical framework applied to research on university centers and programs. On July 10, methodological proposals for empirical research were presented and discussed by Dr. Jesús M. Prujà and Dr. Jordi Sauret.
The doctoral candidates attending the seminar were involved in ongoing research lines related to university education, communication, and university history.
The Academic Board of eUniv, meeting in a regular session on Friday, July 11, 2025, agreed to terminate the continuation of the academic cooperation agreements with the Spanish educational group UNIVERSAE. These agreements included collaboration with the higher education institutions of this group in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Ecuador, as well as cooperative relationships with centers in Murcia, Madrid, and Catalonia dedicated to Higher Vocational Education and Training programs.
The termination of the agreements has been formally accepted by UNIVERSAE, which has immediately removed all references to its relationship with eUniv from its communication platforms.
This decision is part of the process initiated by eUniv’s Vice-Rectorate for International Relations to establish its own network of direct partnerships with Latin American higher education institutions.
Andorra la Vella, 12 July 2025 – The European University of the Principality of Andorra (eUniv) celebrated this Saturday its first official academic graduation ceremony, a historic milestone that marks a turning point in the institution’s journey. The event took place at the Congress Centre of Andorra la Vella at 6:30 p.m. and welcomed over 300 attendees, including graduates, family members, faculty and authorities.
The ceremony was presided over by Dr. Antoni Noguero, Rector of the university, and Dr. Jesús M. Prujà, Chancellor of eUniv. It also featured speeches by the patron of the class, Mr. Ramon Camp, Secretary of the High Council of Justice of Andorra, and the representative of the graduating class, Ms. Francisca V. Hernández.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Jesús M. Prujà reflected on the historical origins of the university and the significance of graduation as a foundational rite:
“Eight centuries later, we remain faithful to a tradition that has been adopted across the world. That is why, in events like today’s, it is important to offer some reflection and recall that academic recognition must also be accompanied by the professional rights it entails,” the Chancellor stated.
Mr. Ramon Camp emphasized the symbolic and collective value of the ceremony:
“Universities want graduations to be known and recognized. They want their graduates to experience a moment of solemnity, through a centuries-old rite that makes them aware of the step they are taking”
“The true counterpart of the degree earned is the social responsibility that you take on from today.”
Ms. Francisca V. Hernández, Humanities graduate, spoke on behalf of the first graduating class of eUniv, a remarkable milestone for the institution:
“There is something that will forever unite today’s graduates: we are the first graduating class in the history of the European University of the Principality of Andorra.”
“An institution with a novel educational model, designed for people who wished to pursue higher education while balancing family, work, and social responsibilities.”
The closing speech was delivered by Rector Dr. Antoni Noguero, who highlighted hope as a driver of academic success:
“Hope is the source of motivation. It is the cement with which we build our life’s foundation.”
“Always keep in mind that university graduation, from its origins, implies a special and unavoidable social responsibility.”
The event, marked by solemnity and emotion, included the conferral of stoles and medals to graduates and doctoral students, along with performances of the traditional academic hymns “Non nobis, Domine” and “Gaudeamus igitur”. The ceremony concluded with an institutional reception, where attendees enjoyed a dinner and exchanged experiences.
With this celebration, eUniv reaffirms its commitment to quality, academic tradition, and educational innovation, offering a higher education model that responds to the realities of the 21st century.
The family of Dr. Josep Olives reports that this morning he passed away at his residence in Sant Lluís, on the island of Menorca, where he was originally from, at the age of 82.
Dr. Olives had a long and fruitful academic and intellectual activity. He graduated and received his doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Barcelona, and specialized in sociology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. After several stays in the United States of America, he returned to Catalonia, where he was a professor at the Ramon Llull, Pompeu Fabra and Internacional de Catalunya universities, of which he was professor and dean of the Faculty of Humanities between 1997 and 2008.
After his retirement, he participated in several university projects of the Layret Foundation, assuming its academic leadership. He actively collaborated in the eUniv project, and last December he was part of a doctoral thesis committee.
The University will offer a memorial mass in the church of Sant Julià de Lòria.
Albert Pijuan’s latest novel La Gran Substitució (Angle Editorial) has been the winner of the 54th Joan Creixells Prize for Narrative, the oldest in Catalan literature, awarded by the Ateneu Barcelonès since 1928.
The jury for the 2025 edition was formed by Anna Ballbona, Andreu Gomila, Eva Piquer, Francesco Ardolino and Valèria Gallart, who have assessed Pijuan’s work as “a bold and contemporary novel, which plays with the fantastic, psychoanalysis, the inferiority complex, conspiracy theories and everything that marks our time“, arising from a long obsession with the universe of Nicolas Cage, which the author has ended up pouring into this very cinephile text.
Pijoan has a degree in Political Science and Philosophy, and has been responsible for the development of teaching materials for various subjects in the curriculum of the Bachelor in Humanities at eUniv. He is also a professor in the Master in Literary Creation at the School of Writing and Communication Laboratorio de Lletres.
Within the framework of the general agreement between eUniv and the University of the Pacific of Ecuador, which provides for specific cooperation in the doctoral field, the J. H. Newman Doctoral School of eUniv has proposed the establishment of an addendum that allows for effective collaboration in academic and scientific processes. The new agreement, approved by the School’s Doctoral Commission, provides for the establishment of a specific line of doctoral research for candidates from the Ecuadorian university, focused on the field of educational sciences and coordinated by Dr. Jesús M. Prujà, Chancellor of eUniv.
This new and particular line of doctoral research will be the first of the J. H. Newman Doctoral School of eUniv to be governed by the new decree of the Government of Andorra that regulates doctoral studies, approved on May 21 of this year.
The Management of the J. H. Newman Doctoral School at eUniv has approved the proposal to incorporate two visiting researchers at the center for the next academic year 2025-26. The Faculty of Arts and Humanities proposed Dr. Laura Bujalance, from the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, a specialist in philosophy and history of science, who will collaborate in the line of doctoral research in the history of universities. For its part, the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences proposed Dr. Maria Pupysheva, from the Moscow Linguistic University, specialized in comparative politics, who has already collaborated with several initiatives promoted by eUniv. Both researchers will be attached to the Alma Mater University Institute during their stay at the University.
These two new additions join the precedents of the University of Valladolid, Complutense of Madrid, Abat Oliba and Internacional de Catalunya of Barcelona, Miguel Hernández of Elche and Santa Croce of Rome.
The European University (eUniv) will actively participate in the 4th Andorran Researchers’ Meeting, which will take place on 24 May at the Aixovall Vocational Training Centre, in Sant Julià de Lòria.
This event, organised by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education of the Government of Andorra, has become a key gathering for the scientific and academic community of the country. Its aim is to share projects, foster synergies, and give visibility to the research carried out in Andorra.
Representatives of the Doctoral School as well as the different institutes will present various contributions in the field ofapplied research in digital learning environments, as well as initiatives for knowledge transfer in the context of online higher education. Researchers from the university will share recent project results and take part in multidisciplinary discussion spaces.
With this participation, eUniv reaffirms its commitment to high-quality research, educational innovation, and collaboration with institutions in the Andorran university system.
INTERVIEW WITH MARC B. ESCOLÀ. The academic protonotary of the European University of Andorra (eUniv) explains the measures the institution has taken to respond to the rise of artificial intelligence in the academic field.
Q. The European University has decided to strengthen the weight of exams in the evaluation process. What led you to adopt this measure? A. Yes, we have made the strategic decision that all courses must include exams or tests with a weighting of over 50%. The reason is simple: nowadays, the use of artificial intelligence in academic work is an undeniable reality. If evaluation relied solely on assignments, there would be a high risk of fraud. That would undermine the credibility of our degrees. And as a responsible institution, we cannot allow that.
Q. Have you discussed this issue with other universities? A. Yes, over the past few years, we’ve had many discussions with other higher education institutions. The general consensus is that we must demonstrate to society that university degrees are the result of rigorous evaluation. And the clearest way to do this is to return to the oral exam, especially to verify whether students actually understand the work they have submitted.
Q. Are you against students using AI? A. Not at all. We are not against students using AI. In fact, it’s like consulting an encyclopedia or using other sources. What we do require is that they be able to demonstrate they understand the content of the work they’ve submitted. The tool is valid; what we want to avoid is AI use being limited to copy and paste.
“EXAMS ACCOUNT FOR OVER 50% OF THE GRADE IN ALL COURSES”
Q. How will this oral defense of assignments work? A. Starting next academic year, once a student submits an assignment, they will have to defend it using specific software. There’s no need to convene a panel—it can be done at any time, and the student has full flexibility. The oral defense will last about 15 minutes, or 30 minutes for final degree projects.
Q. What will be assessed during the defense? A. There will be ten predefined items that students will know in advance. We’ll assess aspects such as language quality, structure of the argument, use of references, and clarity of presentation. The European University’s proprietary AI, named RAY, listens to the presentation and asks questions based on what is said, not on what is written in the paper.
Q. Will the RAY program act as an assessment tool? A. No, it will only produce a guidance report for the instructor. This report will indicate the level reached in each evaluated item but won’t replace the teacher’s judgment, which remains the only formal assessment authority. Additionally, RAY generates a second report on the credibility of the work. This second report is highly subjective and not used for grading, but it can serve as a warning for the instructor.
“THE STUDENT MUST ORALLY DEFEND THEIR ASSIGNMENTS USING SOFTWARE”
Q. Does this system help detect AI-generated work? A. Yes, in fact, RAY can detect words and structures typical of AI-generated texts, which often don’t match a student’s usual communication pattern. This is very helpful in raising doubts about authorship, but again, it’s only for guidance—it’s not definitive proof.
Q. Are exams conducted online or in person? A. Exams are conducted online, but with a dual control system: facial recognition and keystroke dynamics. These two methods are used simultaneously because individually they could be vulnerable. Also, the entire exam is recorded, and if there’s any suspicion of cheating, it can be reviewed. Only if a student refuses both control methods do they have to take the exam in person.
Q. Has the rise of AI forced eUniv to reject students from other universities? A. Yes, we’ve decided not to accept students from universities that don’t require exams, out of institutional responsibility and to protect the university system. We’ve received many transcript transfer requests, but we can’t validate courses if we can’t be sure they were properly passed. What students can do is start over with us.
Q. Do you think other institutions will respond similarly? A. Absolutely. Many universities—in the Anglosphere, in Europe, and in Asia—are already studying similar measures. If we don’t respond to AI, we risk university degrees becoming worthless pieces of paper.
On Tuesday, April 15, 2025, the Official Gazette of the Government of Catalonia published Order PLG/58/2025, dated April 9, regarding the certificates, diplomas, and degrees that are valid for certifying general Catalan language proficiency before public administrations, outside the framework of compulsory and post-compulsory non-university education.
This new Catalan regulation includes, for the first time, the Bachelor’s Degree in Catalan Language from eUniv (section 2.2 of the Annex) in its list of officially recognized university qualifications that certify the corresponding C2 level, the sixth level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) of the Council of Europe. Until 2014, this certificate was known as the Advanced Level Certificate in Catalan (D level), and its accreditation is required for individuals performing complex linguistic tasks and activities in professional or academic settings, both in spoken and written communication, who need to demonstrate a very high level of Catalan proficiency.
