The Social Board Council of La Salle-URL advances in defining its foundations to drive social transformation

Wednesday, September 17, 2025. The Social Board Council (SBC) of La Salle Campus Barcelona has held its second meeting coinciding with the start of the 2025–2026 academic year. The meeting served to take new steps in defining the foundations and operating model of the council, a space for collaboration between the campus and around fifteen third-sector organizations that seeks to promote sustainable development and social transformation. In addition, Francina Alsina, former President of the Taula d'entitats del Tercer Sector Social de Catalunya, was unanimously appointed as the new Co-President of the council.

Last June marked the constitution of the Social Board Council, an initiative by La Salle Campus Barcelona that reinforces its commitment to the local environment and to creating real social impact, something that has been recently endorsed by the ACEEU accrediting body, which awarded the campus its “Engaged University” seal. In this regard, the General Director of La Salle-URL, Josep M. Santos, emphasized that “as a university we have a great responsibility that goes beyond issuing degrees: to teach young people how to live together and how to be, so that they have the ability to transform the world we live in.” He also explained that the Social Board Council is “a watchtower that helps us see more clearly and that invites us to educate with purpose, with commitment, and in service to the most vulnerable.”

The session was led by the Secretary of the council, Jordi Jover, and the Co-President, Brother Joan Carles Jara. “We must build together and work collectively to find answers to social challenges; we must be a space for real transformation that drives projects benefiting all of us and society as a whole,” said Brother Jara. During the meeting, the SBC members agreed to continue working on defining the priority areas of action and lines of collaboration.

During the meeting, the Director of Research and Innovation at La Salle-URL, Rosa Ma. Alsina, presented the lines of the new Strategic Plan related to social impact and engagement with local stakeholders, areas in which the SBC’s work will be key. Meanwhile, the Director of the Observatori de la IA at La Salle-URL, Josep Maria Ribes, delivered a keynote session on new trends in artificial intelligence. The talk prompted the council’s social entities to emphasize the importance of ensuring that “no one is left behind” in this new era of technological change, and the need to “maintain a critical, ethical, and social perspective on AI” to avoid deepening existing inequality gaps.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to share current challenges and needs of the participating social entities, and to explore how the campus can help address them through teaching, research, and community engagement. The entities highlighted the value of having a stable space for dialogue and collaboration with the university to create real and lasting impact on the territory and its people, and one in which they can work together with students on the design and resolution of real-world challenges.