Antich promises better accesses to university

Francesc Antich, the Balearic government leader, promised improvements to the accesses to the University. He was speaking at the opening of the 2001-02 academic year. During his speech Antich also announced that conditions for tenders for drawing up the tram project linking the city with the campus would also be drawn up before the end of the year. Antich said that the chief concern in the new academic year was the draft bill on universities, drawn up by the ministry of education, which is now being debated in State parliament. “This debate is decisive for the future of our university,” he said, because as it stands it is not the law which the university needs as it limits autonomy and removes responsibility from the regional governments. The opening of the Academic year started at 12.30, with the reading of the report of the previous year, when the university had just under 14'000 pupils. There were 870 lecturers and three honorary degrees were awarded. Sixty-six new research projects were started and a further 150 continued. The opening lecture, Selectivity and Chemistry, was given by Dr Antoni Roig Muntaner, the Honorary Rector, who is retiring from teaching this year. The closing speech was made by the University Rector Llorenç Huguet, and the ceremony ended with the singing of Gaudeamos Igitur.