Organization and governing bodies

Gabriel Ferraté i Pascual (Reus, 1932 - Barcelona, 2024) founded the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and was its first rector (1995-2005).

He was an industrial engineer and agricultural expert. His professional, scientific and research activity focused on the fields of computer science, automation and robotics.

From 1968 he was Professor of Automation at the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB), and he was director of the school from 1969 to 1972.

From 1972 to 1994 he was rector of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, with a break from 1976 to 1978, when he was appointed Director-General for Universities and Research and, later, Director-General for Science Policy of the Catalan Ministry of Education.

In 1994, he was commissioned by the Government of Catalonia to create a Catalan distance university; and, in 1995, going out on their own and with the internet still in its infancy, Ferraté and his team created what would be the world's first online university, the UOC. "We wanted to break down the barriers of space and time with new technologies," he said. "It never even occurred to us to call it a distance university. We called it an open university. Our first motto was the university without distances." He was its rector until 2005.

He was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), director of the Institut de Cibernètica, and vice-chair of the Inter-ministerial Council for Research and Technological Innovation (CIRIT). He was also chair of the Cerdà Institute and member of the Institute of Catalan Studies, the Academy of Medical Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, and the Reus Reading Centre.

He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and the University of Lleida. In 1996 he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi (St George’s Cross) and in 2017 the UOC's Medal of Honour.