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.
During the current 2024–25 academic year, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Government of Spain has officially granted a favourable resolution for the recognition of equivalency between the eUniv’s bachelor’s degrees issued by the Government of Andorra and the Spanish university undergraduate degree (Grado).
The first equivalency declarations issued by the Spanish ministry, earlier this academic year, were for the Bachelor’s Degrees in Business Administration (ADE) and Law. The most recent ones include the Bachelor’s Degrees in Humanities and in Catalan Language.
As a result, all bachelor’s programmes already fully implemented at the F. Layret University College of eUniv now have official academic recognition in Spain. The Bachelor’s Degrees in Communication and Psychology will be eligible to apply for recognition starting next academic year, once the first class has graduated, while those in Political Science, Classical Languages, and Marketing will be eligible the following year.
According to Article 2.c) of Royal Decree 889/2022, of October 18, the declaration of equivalence constitutes the official recognition of academic training completed to obtain a non-Spanish university degree and its alignment with one of the three academic levels of the Spanish university system — in this case, the Grado. Furthermore, Article 5.2 establishes that such a declaration will have, throughout Spanish territory and from the date of its issuance, the academic and administrative effects corresponding to the university level to which equivalence is granted.
Graduates of eUniv’s bachelor’s degrees already had the academic right to access master’s programmes in any member state of the European Higher Education Area. This declaration of equivalency now extends their rights to the professional sphere.
In the session held on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, the Council of Ministers approved the curriculum for the Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing at the European University IMF, which was published on April 30, 2025, in the BOPA.
This programme will be launched in the 2025–26 academic year at the F. Layret University College of eUniv, in virtual mode. The degree corresponds to Level 6A of the Andorran Qualifications Framework (AQF) and is accessible from secondary education and other complementary entry routes.
The programme lasts three academic years full-time — amounting to 180 ECTS credits — and is divided into six semesters. However, it can also be completed on a part-time basis with an adjusted duration.
According to the decree establishing this state-recognised degree, graduates will have the professional competencies to work as technicians in various fields, including marketing, advertising and sales departments of companies, institutions, and organisations, as well as in marketing and communication agencies. They may work in areas such as market research, advertising, marketing, online marketing, consultancy, public relations, media relations, and client management, among others.
“The Secret to Business Success: How to Prepare to Succeed Tomorrow” was the title of the masterclass attended by second-year students of Administration and Finance and of Marketing and Advertising at Joan XXIII School in Tarragona. The session focused on the key elements needed to stand out in an increasingly competitive and ever-changing market.
Led by Jordi Sauret, Vice-Rector and Coordinator of Business Administration Studies, the lecture explored fundamental concepts such as unique brand identity, strategic adaptation, and the ability to respond to competitive transformation. One of the session’s highlights was the analysis of the Nokiacase — a company that began as a paper manufacturer and, thanks to its adaptability, successfully reinvented itself in the telecommunications and electronics sectors. However, the session also addressed how the lack of response to the rise of smartphones and the speed of innovation from competitors led to its decline. Sauret emphasized that diversificationand strategic repositioning within emerging markets are key to maintaining business relevance and reclaiming leadership.
After the masterclass, Joaquim Vallés, Director of the University Institute of Applied Technology, gave a talk on the educational offerings of the European University of Andorra and the possibilities for credit transfers into university studies at UEA for those holding a higher vocational training qualification.
