Get to know BAU
BAU is an Art and Design College located in Barcelona and affiliated with the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, which provides official studies in design within the European Higher Education Area.
BAU's mission is to be a driving force of knowledge and innovation at the service of society. It focuses on attention given to students and their global training so that they incorporate the values of respect, equity, social commitment and responsibility towards people and professional rigour.
The academic offer is made up of the Bachelor's Degree in Design and Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts (1st cycle), the official University Master's Degree (2nd cycle), Master's Degrees and Postgraduate Degrees (university’s own degrees)) and BAU/UVic-UCC's Doctoral Programme in Design and Communication (3rd cycle).
At the same time, and within the framework of Continuing Education, BAU offers Online Specialisation Courses - in collaboration with the renowned Australian RMIT University - and the Summer University courses.
Over 35 years of creating
BAU, College of Arts and Design, was founded in 1989 with a strong pedagogical vocation to offer a new way of understanding and teaching design. It was based in the Gràcia district and was inspired by the philosophy of the Bauhaus, the school that revolutionised art and design education worldwide.
With its own distinctive, open and participatory outlook, BAU's mission was to train designers who are capable of understanding the social, cultural and economic changes that make design a strategic asset for responding to society's demands.
In 1990, the first affiliation agreement was signed with the University of Vic (UVic) and, as a result of this relationship, in 2009 BAU consolidated its undergraduate degree programme, becoming a pioneering centre for offering the Bachelor's Degree in Design.
With the introduction of these programmes, BAU moved permanently to Poblenou (22@), Barcelona's district of innovation, knowledge and new technologies. An industrial complex (the Pujades building) was renovated to create dedicated spaces for teaching and experimentation, as well as to foster research.
Research at BAU was consolidated through the Research Group in Design and Social Transformation (GREDITS). This initiative was recognised by the AGAUR as an emerging research group in 2014 and as a consolidated group in 2017 and 2021.
Coinciding with BAU's 25th anniversary, the infrastructure was expanded in 2014 with a second campus, the Llacuna building. Four years later, and with the aim of meeting new training needs, a further expansion was carried out at the Pujades building.
In 2017, the proposal to offer the Master's Degree in Research and Experimentation in Design was ratified. This new milestone allowed BAU to introduce its second cycle of university studies, complemented by a wide range of its own master's programmes. In 2019, BAU, together with UVic-UCC, achieved the third cycle of university studies with the introduction of the Doctoral Programme in Design and Communication.
In 2021, BAU became the first private university centre in Catalonia to offer the official Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts degree. It also integrated a new 2,600-square-metre space into its infrastructure in the heart of Poblenou, the Granada building.
The ambition to consolidate its position as a centre of reference drove BAU to embark on a new path with Rovira i Virgili University (URV). This new affiliation and the construction of a new building in 2026 represent a strategic step forward to continue offering rigorous, globally-focused education.
BAU, a commitment to university education
As a centre affiliated with Rovira i Virgili University (URV), the training at BAU guarantees academic quality. Building a solid foundation in arts and design, active participation in the learning process and open workshops provide the ability to analyse, reflect and respond thoughtfully to the contemporary challenges of society.
The centre's university environment allows the development of skills such as adaptability, teamwork and autonomy. These are crucial for coping with a demanding and complex working environment, which requires a distinctive perspective alongside technical skills.
BAU is also a multidisciplinary space where the university degrees in Design and Fine Arts coexist, alongside other postgraduate and postdoctoral studies, on a unique campus specifically designed to meet their needs. Thus, students' educational trajectories are enriched by activating imagination, dialogue between disciplines and an understanding of the creative world in all its complexity.
BAU and university excellence
Design in BAU
To study design is to learn to create worlds, to translate creativity into the creation of messages, objects, spaces, relationships or situations. This means not always accepting the world around us, but wanting to transform it. For this to be possible, it is essential to know how to analyse, understand and, ultimately, make changes.
Therefore, studying design means training as a designer by using prototypes, models, tools, techniques, productions, etc. Studying design involves experimenting, trial and error, creative documentation and critical thinking. It is learning how to work in collective environments surrounded by fellow students with whom you will share your discoveries and concerns. It means engaging with others, wanting to share ideas and explore new spaces, new aesthetics and other concepts. Studying design requires us to ask questions, identify opportunities, respect the environment and be prepared to provide solutions. It forces us to experiment with materials, ideas and processes to explore the frontiers of our knowledge and propose more sustainable ways to coexist.
To study design is to better understand the world we live in, to reflect on the relationships that we build with objects and other people, to stimulate the imagination and speculate about possible and desirable futures, to question limitations and to learn, collectively, to create the worlds of the future.
The purpose of the BAU Degree in Design is to develop the profession from the perspective of creative practice and ethical commitment by working in a way that respects diversity and sustainability.
Art in BAU
Studying at BAU is learning to create worlds, to pour creativity into the creation of messages, objects, spaces, relationships or situations, something that implies critically observing the world around us and the desire to transform it.
BAU's Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts situates artistic practice in great debates and challenges of the contemporary society. It was created with intention of contributing to the transformation of society through art as well as with conviction that artistic practice has a unique power to propose new ways of feeling, thinking and living, based on artistic sensitivity, environmental commitment and social responsibility.
With Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts, BAU consolidates its educational offer in the fields of Arts and Humanities. Fine Arts students now have an exceptional setting to become relevant creators in the society of the present and the future. From a clearly professionalising perspective, it takes care of each student's career and it provides students with tools and methodologies to help them develop their own language.
With experimentation and research as the pillars of learning, it connects art with humanities, sciences and technologies, and the future artists with the local and international cultural network.
Fine Arts studies enable the development of creative thinking, critical reflection, research methodologies, project management, communication and negotiation abilities and various technical and technological skills related to artistic practice.
Teaching staff
Our teaching staff includes specialised professional experts and university graduates with both bachelors' and doctoral degrees. They are experienced in the fields of design, art, architecture, photography, advertising, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, history, etc.
Our teachers are passionate about design. Their working philosophy is open and integrated. They monitor each student’s work and progress, respect their students' efforts, and are more than willing to collaborate with them. Their aim is to assist the students in their professional and personal growth.
