The University of Andorra (UdA) inaugurated the 2023-2024 academic year on October 3rd, the 35^th anniversary of higher education in the country, with an event held at the auditorium of the Conference Center in Andorra la Vella chaired by the Head of Government, Xavier Espot, together with the University President, Miquel Nicolau. The keynote speech was given by a Doctor in Computer Science, Ana Freire, expert in artificial intelligence, information retrieval, and social media analysis. Under the title “The Good Side of Artificial Intelligence”, Freire addressed the use of data analytics and artificial intelligence to characterize mental health disorders in social networks.

During the ceremony, the University Rector highlighted the number of students enrolled in accredited programmes at the University of Andorra this year, which consolidates the growth of recent years. In particular, the academic year has started with 675 students, a figure very similar to that of last year, which amounted to 674. In addition, Nicolau positively assessed the creation of a new state degree, the Master’s Degree in Health, which will be launched in September next year and which will mean that all the courses at the University of Andorra can now culminate in a Master’s Degree. The Head of Government, for his part, referred to the future expansion of the University of Andorra’s campus, with a new building and a university residence, and defended the virtues of the association agreement with the European Union which is being negotiated.

The novelty of the 2023-2024 academic year is the new Master’s Degree in Data Analytics, which has been launched to train students to professionally practice in one of the most important emerging professions. In addition, the study programmes of the Bachelor’s Degrees in Business Administration and Nursing have been adapted to the new educational model of the University of Andorra based on competencies, and the study programme of the Bachelor’s Degree in Law incorporates more credits with Andorran content.

The inaugural event ended with the graduation of the 108 graduates who completed their DPA, Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctorate studies during the 2022-2023 academic year, which correspond to the 33^rd graduating class of the University of Andorra, the most numerous so far. The graduates received their state title from the Minister of Institutional Relations, Education, and Universities, Ladislau Baró, who was accompanied by the Minister of Health, Helena Mas, and the Rector of the University of Andorra.

During the event, the recapitulation of activities was also shared, along with the main objectives achieved by the university in the previous academic year 2022-2023. It should be noted that during the past academic year, counting the 674 students in the official programmes of the University of Andorra and the 1,110 lifelong learning students, a total of 1,784 students was reached.

Date: 4 October 2023