Vives Network of Universities pays tribute to Maria del Mar Bonet and Alícia Casals

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Rector Daniel Crespo gave a commendatory dedicated to Alícia Casals, in which he highlighted both her talent as an engineer and her commitment to the university system. Rector Crespo spoke of Casals' work "as an international reference in teaching, research and technological innovation", and listed the projects and prototypes of automated systems aiding disabled people and in surgical interventions. "There is no doubt that Casals is an engineer who puts technology at the service of people, and she is a leader and model for many women", ended the speech by Rector Crespo from the UPC, a university in which Casals has spent most of her professional career. In her acceptance speech, Casals stressed the fact that her field of study, robotics, has "evolved very rapidly and this demands a large amount of effort", but at the same time she valued the fact that "it is so nice to see that it has a more and more social aspect".

Following that, the Medal of Honour was awarded to Maria del Mar Bonet. In this occasion, the commendatory was given by University of Alacant Rector Amparo Navarro, who went over Bonet's trajectory and highlighted "the love and respect she has for her own traditions and culture, and her social commitment in fighting for a better world". Rector Navarro paid tribute to Maria del Mar Bonet with verses from Valencian poet Vicent Andrés Estellés: "you took on the voice of a people, which is the voice of our people". According to Rector Navarro, "in the voice of Maria del Mar Bonet nest all the blues and all the whites of the Mediterranean Sea". The singer, upon accepting the medal, was very emotional and stated the fact that this award makes her feel "very close to the universities", which have been "very generous" with her, while she mentioned the honorary doctorates she has received from the University of Lleida and the University of the Balearic Islands.

To end, Rector Lafuente thanked both Casals and Bonet for accepting the award in name of all 22 universities making up the Vives Network, and spoke briefly on the "success" of having completed another academic year despite the pandemic and international economic crisis. At the same time, he pointed out that some of the future challenges awaiting the university system, such as reaching greater levels of gender equality: "we need more grants and financial aid", as well as more "flexibility" to incorporate less conventional curricular tracks. He also spoke about new projects such as the Vives Network of Universities' new exchange programme, or the government's supprot programme for Catalan at universities, which "aknowledges the tasks conducted for many years by the language services" of higher education institutions.

The Medal of Honour of the Vives Network of Universities is the highest award granted jointly by the 22 universities belonging to the network, in recognition of the person's professional trajectory and commitment to science, culture and society. The event this year also served to award the 4th Jesús Tuson Language Diversity Award, as well as the 4th Joan Lluís Vives University Press Award.