Carles Pérez Testor has taken office as the new Rector of Universitat Ramon Llull (URL), of which La Salle-URL is a founding member. The ceremony was held at the Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Sciences Blanquerna-URL, where the new Rector has developed a significant part of his academic career. The event brought together nearly three hundred people from the academic, institutional and social spheres. Among the authorities in attendance were the President of the Parliament of Catalonia, Josep Rull; the Cardinal and Archbishop of Barcelona, Joan Josep Omella; the Minister for Research and Universities, Núria Montserrat; and the Ombudsperson of Catalonia, Esther Giménez-Salinas, along with representatives of the governing bodies of the URL, the Catalan university system and institutions closely linked to the University.
The ceremony had a strong tone of remembrance and tribute to Rector Josep A. Rom, who passed away suddenly in November 2025 and was recalled in all the speeches. In this way, Carles Pérez Testor succeeds Josep A. Rom as Rector, following his appointment by the Board of Trustees of the URL on 25 November 2025, effective from 7 January 2026. The President of the Board of Trustees, Lluís Recoder, highlighted that his appointment “responds to the desire to ensure continuity in the university project while, at the same time, opening a new stage with renewed leadership, faithful to the values and identity of the University.”
In his first address as Rector, Pérez Testor recalled with emotion the figure of his predecessor and, from a humanistic and clinical perspective, highlighted some of the major responsibilities of universities today: fostering hope, caring for the well-being and well-being of being of the university community, building bonds rooted in love and commitment, and promoting critical and transformative thinking. The new Rector also reaffirmed the URL’s identity as a socially driven, non-profit university, recalling the sustained effort in providing student financial aid and its commitment to an education oriented towards service to society. He also called on the institutions that make up the URL to remain united, paraphrasing La Salle’s motto: Indivisa Manent (to remain united).
In their speeches, both Cardinal Joan Josep Omella and the President of the Parliament of Catalonia, Josep Rull, highlighted the academic project of Universitat Ramon Llull, rooted in the humanistic tradition, a culture of dialogue, the pursuit of truth and social commitment, values that connect with the legacy of Ramon Llull and with the university’s transformative vocation in the current context. With this transition, Universitat Ramon Llull begins a new stage marked by continuity in its educational project, fidelity to its founding values and the determination to continue contributing to the progress of society through knowledge and humanism.
* More information and the profile of the new Rector are available on the URL website
