MELBOURNE, Australia, June 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- RMIT University - Australia's most internationalised university - is expanding its presence to Europe by establishing a site in Barcelona, Spain to build its European education, research and student mobility activities.

RMIT Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Margaret Gardner AO, said the decision to establish a site in Barcelona was to extend and deepen RMIT's collaborative partnerships in Europe to strengthen the global orientation and reach of RMIT's education and research.

"The excellence of Barcelona in design and technology was very significant in our choice to deepen our partnerships there; and indeed, the high quality of technology and design in Europe has led RMIT to seek a stronger platform for collaboration in education and research here.

"It will also provide an opportunity to link RMIT activity in Australia, Asia and Latin America with our partners in Europe," Professor Gardner said.

Ongoing and significant initiatives in Europe to date for RMIT include:

• RMIT School of Architecture's long-standing involvement in the design and reconstruction of Gaudi's iconic unfinished basilica in Barcelona - La Sagrada Familia.
• RMIT's architecture PhD program at St Lucas School of Architecture in Ghent, Belgium.
• Industry partnerships and student placements as part of RMIT's International Industry and Research Program - with companies including Bosch, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Siemens, Volkswagen, Airbus, Degremont and Rolls-Royce - which enables almost 200 students a year to take part in this program.
• Being part of the EU program Architecture, Design and Art Practice Training Research (ADAPT-r) international research training network - created to build advanced knowledge and skills in architecture, design and art. For this initiative RMIT is partnering with the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium; the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland; the Art School of Aarhus, Denmark; and the University of Westminster, UK.

The President of RMIT Europe, Professor Colin Fudge, said that in 2014 RMIT Europe planned to begin dual Master programs, joint research, and student and staff exchanges with partners in Spain, England, Sweden and Germany.

"In Barcelona our main partners include Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Elisava School of Design and Engineering," Professor Fudge said.

"We also have significant collaborations with institutions in England - the University of the Arts in London, Salford University and the BBC, in Sweden - Chalmers University in Gothenburg and Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Stockholm, and in Germany - Sports University of Cologne - to develop cooperative programs."

As a global university of technology and design, RMIT has an international reputation for excellence in professional and practical education, applied and innovative research, and engagement with the needs of industry.

Eighty-five per cent of RMIT's fields of research were rated as world standard or above in the 2012 Excellence in Research for Australia assessment by the Australian Research Council.

RMIT was rated as "well above" or "above" world standard in research in:

• architecture
• clinical sciences
• human movement and sports science
• pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences
• medical physiology
• engineering (aerospace, mechanical, materials, and electrical and electronic)
• building
• design practice and management
• urban and regional planning
• applied mathematics
• condensed matter physics
• physical chemistry
• artificial intelligence and image processing
• information systems
• visual arts
• cultural studies.

RMIT is ranked in the top 100 universities in the world for engineering and technology in the 2012 QS World University Rankings.

With 82,000 students worldwide, RMIT has three campuses in Melbourne, Australia, and two in Vietnam, and offers a variety of programs through partners in Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Europe.

RMIT Europe's Barcelona site is based at Carrer de Minerva 2, Barcelona, Spain and was officially launched last night, Thursday, 6 June.

For interviews and further information contact: 

Professor Colin Fudge, President
RMIT Europe
+ 34 93 54 77700
colin.fudge@rmit.edu.au

SOURCE RMIT University