Balance of the 2024 – 2025 year: the BEST Foundation accelerates

The month of June arrives, and the school year is coming to an end. September 2024 already seems very far away. Currently, the fourth class of students of the Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Technologies and Economic Analysis (GTIAE) will graduate and we want to look back. It has been a year of intense work that you must know how to value.

Promotion of communication

The story begins much earlier in 2018, when GTIAE was launched the taught by UPF and UPC. Thus, the BEST Foundation worked on the gestation of the first degree that combines engineering and economics, now fully consolidated. However, at the beginning of the current academic year, which is now running out, it was decided to promote the Foundation’s communication policy. For what reasons?

• Firstly, because competition between training products in the professional qualification market is high. How many bachelor’s degrees bearing the keyword “engineering” can we find on the market? Many, dozens and dozens. Universities must take care of adequately disseminating the values represented by their training products.
• Secondly, because a touch of professionalism is needed in the task of communicating. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the website active, generate content, be aware of social networks by participating in the conversation and encourage new followers. Naturally, this is not easy and requires time and effort.
• Finally, because it is necessary to communicate and value the social work carried out by the BEST Foundation. In short, the Foundation promotes a model of higher education that differs in definition and value with respect to traditional degrees. The bridge between training and business is the commitment of the BEST Foundation. In recent years, a level of pedagogical and academic innovation has been generated in the GTIAE that is unparalleled in any other training product.

In short, the main reasons for promoting communication are to spread the message of the BEST Foundation further and with better quality. Therefore, we now have more channels, more personal cases, more information on day-to-day life and the successes achieved. Likewise, the information is more experiential and wants to generate greater interest.

Necessary collaborators

Logically, this task would not have been possible without the two universities that accompany the BEST Foundation in the adventure of the GTIAE. Thus, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and Pompeu Fabra University provide the academic training, and experiential framework. Therefore, it is here that the students of the GTIAE have grown and matured.

Therefore, let’s now make a non-exhaustive review of the anniversaries of this academic year that is already languishing:

• Graduation of the third class of the GTIAE (7 November 2024).
• Advance of the seventh class of the GTIAE, which will continue in September 2025 with the incorporation of the eighth cohort of future graduates of the GTIAE.
• Celebration of the seventh edition of the Enterprise Challenge with 8 participating companies (February and March 2025).
• In March 2025, the GTIAE Alumni Association was launched , in a presentation event that generated a lot of interest.
• The Europastry company has joined the Focus Days (17 February 2025).
• The fourth edition of the Focus Day with the company Repsol in Madrid (January 30, 2025).
• Event at UPF to present and debate the Draghi and Letta reports promoted by the European Commission (May 2025).
• During the spring of 2025, eight Open Days have been held. Specifically, the GTIAE has been presented, within the framework of the ETSEIB (UPC) and the Faculty of Economics and Business (UPF).
• The traditional visit to the Alba Synchrotron in Cerdanyola del Vallès has been maintained, with the aim of getting to know possible professional horizons (May 2025).

The task done

And on the part of the BEST Foundation, more specifically, it should be highlighted:

• The BEST Foundation website has been reformulated, with a new structure and new content to generate interest among companies, future students, and students’ families.
• Communication materials have been generated such as testimonial videos that provide versatility in the dissemination of content and that put a face to the BEST Foundation. Also noteworthy are the interviews with students to learn about their personal, academic and professional careers. Likewise, the experiences of the collaborating companies have been included, for example assessing their experience in the editions of the Enterprise Challenge.
• Profiles have been created on social networks, namely YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn.
• Four people have been awarded scholarships during the course, through the  BEST Foundation‘s scholarship and aid program.

And all this, without forgetting the academic demands and involvement in the study and student’s exams. Nor have they forgotten the tasks of the teaching staff, the participation of students in the Erasmus program or in the company internships. Finally, we must thank the work of coordinating the degree carried out by Professor Joaquim Minguella.

Future projects

The GTIAE is already a consolidated reality. Consequently, the main project for the future must be to maintain this solid positioning, as a meeting point between the Academy and the Business. However, there are some aspects that should be highlighted because they will be part of the roadmap for the next academic year.

Given the maturity of the work of the BEST Foundation, during the 2026 – 2027 academic year, the initiative on which it has worked most intensively will crystallize. Thus, the process of starting the two new degrees will culminate following the “BEST philosophy” in collaboration with the University of Barcelona. Specifically, the Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering and Management of Agri-Food Companies and the Bachelor’s Degree in Telecommunications Technologies and Business Management. At present, the work of defining the curricular contents is already quite advanced. In addition, they have the involvement of a group of leading companies in both areas.

In the same way, it will be necessary to work to maintain and improve the gender parity quotas achieved by the GTIAE. As is well known, there is no other degree linked to the field of engineering that has such a high and consolidated female participation. In this regard,  it will be committed to participation in the Empowering Women in Equity (European Investment Bank), in Luxembourg, between September and October 2025.

In addition, it will also be necessary to continue working so that more companies join the BEST Foundation. Logically, the aim is to offer a wider range of opportunities to students of the BEST Foundation’s bachelor’s degrees.

And, finally, the BEST Foundation also takes on the challenge of ensuring access to students from vulnerable social backgrounds. Therefore, it will be necessary to rethink the study aid policy followed so far with the aim of achieving greater impact.

Thanks to companies, faculty, academic managers and students for making it possible!

Good luck in the final exams and the PAU!

And we welcome the new batch of GTIAE graduates to the experience of a lifetime!