Barcelona City Council has given the Gold Medal for Scientific Merit to the UPC Barcelona School of Nautical Studies (FNB)

15/01/2021

Barcelona City Council has given the Gold Medal for Scientific Merit to the UPC Barcelona School of Nautical Studies (FNB), which celebrated its 250^th anniversary in 2019. The award presentation was held on Thursday 14 January and could be followed live on the City Council’s YouTube channel.

The UPC Barcelona School of Nautical Studies (FNB) received the Gold Medal for Scientific Merit from Barcelona City Council, the highest award that is given to recognise natural or legal people or entities who have stood out for their personal merits or for having given relevant services to the city. The presentation of the medal was held in Barcelona City Council’s Saló de Cent and was presided over by the mayor of the city, Ada Colau, who also awarded the Gold Medal for Cultural Merit to the dancers and choreographers Cesc Gelabert and Anna Maleras. 

Others present at the event were the Deputy Mayor for Culture, Science and Community, Joan Subirats, and Agustí Martín, dean of the FNB. The commentary was provided by Toni Jodar, who has studied, collaborated and danced with Cesc Gelabert and Anna Maleras, and the UPC Rector, Francesc Torres. 

On 28 February 2020, the Municipal Council plenary agreed to give the Gold Medal for Scientific Merit to the FNB “for its quality, recognised training and teaching activity resulting in highly qualified professionals and for its contribution to making Barcelona a maritime capital.” 

The FNB, which has celebrated its 250 years of history and in 2019 received the Sant Jordi Cross from the Catalan Government, is currently the oldest school in Spain in its field. The  centre offers bachelor’s degrees in Nautical Engineering and Maritime Transport, in Naval Systems and Technology Engineering and in Marine Technologies, as well as master’s degrees in Nautical Science and Maritime Transport Management, in Management and Operation of Marine Energy Facilities and in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, and a doctoral programme in Nautical and Marine Engineering and Naval Radio-Electronics.

Throughout its history, this teaching centre has trained students and been a driving force behind the construction, along the coast, of numerous sailing boats that traded with Spanish colonies in America at the end of the eighteenth century. The centre also contributed to the creation of the Maritime Museum of Barcelona.