The Rovira i Virgili University (URV) is located 100 km south-west of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia. During the last two decades has opened centres in multiple locations with its main campuses being in Tarragona and Reus.

The URV has 14,000 students studying in all areas of knowledge across 49 bachelor’s degrees, 52 master’s degrees (including 2 Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degrees) and 24 different doctoral programmes (40% of whose students are international). The URV employs 2042 academic staff (9.4% international and 54% part-time professionals) and 729 administrative and service staff. Its total regular budget is €110.7 million, which is complemented by a further €18.1 million obtained for competitive and non-competitive research projects and €4.3 million to carry out R&D projects and services for different companies. The impact of the URV’s scientific production is reflected by its 1,313 publications on the Scopus/Web of Science in 2017 alone, of which 50% were co-produced with international partners, by the 200 doctoral theses defended each year and by its presence in nine areas of excellence in the Essential Science Indicators.

The special emphasis that the URV places on research allows it to play a leading role in the regional development, especially in the areas that are closely linked to its economic strengths, namely Chemistry, Energy and New Materials, Nutrition and Health, Oenology, Tourism, Housing, Heritage and Culture, ICT & Digital Economy.