The Andorran Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the owners of the old Fàbrica Reig building have signed a lease agreement for the property, located at number 40 on Avinguda Verge de Canòlic in Sant Julià de Lòria, which will be used by the University of Andorra (UdA). The agreement’s duration is 35 years, which may be extended. Work to renovate the old Fàbrica Reig factory will begin soon, probably in the autumn, once the plans are drawn up and the invitation to tender is complete. The General Council recently passed the Andorran Act on Urgent Action for Economic Development, Housing and Education, which sets aside six million euros to be spent on these new facilities.

The new space will provide the UdA with 2,870 additional square metres, which, as well as easing congestion in the university’s lecture halls, will respond to needs in the coming years, including the need to develop new education and research projects and to offer more services to students in order to promote student life across the board. The UdA and the Ministry of Territory and Housing are already holding technical meetings to present plans that fulfil the infrastructure’s needs, which include lecture halls, offices and multifunctional spaces.

This expansion follows another in 2020, when the Cub building, near Plaça Laurèdia, was sublet to the local council; the result is a real urban campus with three locations spread out over the centre of Sant Julià de Lòria. Plans for a future hall of residence could become the finishing touch on this leading student village in the sphere of higher education in the Pyrenees.

The lease agreement has been signed to a backdrop characterised by an increased number of students enrolled in official education at the UdA in recent years. The current academic year, 2022–23, began with 674 students enrolled in official studies: 7.2% more than last year, 2021–22, when there were 629. Combined with the 1,194 lifelong learning students, the university had a total of 1,823 students last year.

Date: 31 January 2023