Sixty years after Engineering studies began at La Salle-URL, the questions that drive the discipline remain relevant: how can we go beyond established knowledge? How can we imagine new solutions? And, above all, how can we continue putting technology at the service of people? With this perspective, the La Salle-URL Digital Engineering School (ETSELS) has held the closing event of the 60th anniversary of its Engineering studies, bringing together generations of people connected to the campus to look back on the journey so far and reflect on the challenges of today and tomorrow.
The celebration recognised the people who have made this journey possible and La Salle-URL’s contribution to technological and social progress. This history is not an endpoint, but an opportunity to keep bringing together knowledge, disciplines and talent to address society’s challenges. “What defines us is the how, our values and a way of doing things that makes you want to give someone a hug when you recognise them as part of La Salle. Ten years ago, during the 50th anniversary, we were asking ourselves how we could prepare students for professions that did not yet exist and technologies that had not yet arrived. Today, the future is moving even faster, and we still do not know what changes lie ahead. Technology is accelerating our pace, but as a university, we must ask ourselves what our purpose is and what we want to contribute in the years to come. And the answer once again lies in the hows and the whys: in the values that guide us and the purpose that gives meaning to what we do,” said Josep M. Santos, General Director of La Salle-URL.
Six decades of pioneering progress through engineering
During the welcome address, Guiomar Corral, Director of the School of Engineering, recalled the origins of the programmes in 1965, with the establishment of Catalonia’s first university school of telecommunications. “We have paved the way, especially when the path had yet to be forged. That is what we do at La Salle: anticipate where the world is heading and stay one step ahead,” she said. She also highlighted the evolution of the campus and the introduction of new disciplines, which have broadened the perspectives from which technological challenges can be addressed. “The question is not only what we can do with technology, but how we can use technology to change people’s lives,” she said, emphasising the importance of educating professionals who are guided by values and a humanistic outlook.
The event, hosted by Jaume Abella, campus educator and Engineering alumnus, also featured a special congratulatory message from Bob Kahn, co-creator of the TCP/IP protocol and considered one of the fathers of the Internet, alongside Vinton Cerf, who received an honorary doctorate from Ramon Llull University in 2016 at the proposal of La Salle-URL’s School of Electronic and Computer Engineering.
One of the highlights of the celebration was the premiere of the 60th-anniversary manifesto video, an audiovisual piece that traces the history of the Engineering programmes through the experiences of La Salle-URL graduates and their perspectives on the advances that have transformed the way we live, work and interact, from microprocessors and personal computers to the Internet, mobile communications and artificial intelligence. The video features Ismael Gutiérrez, Cellular Systems Engineering & Algorithms at Apple; Natàlia Prats, Director of Digital and Technology Infrastructure at 3Cat; Andreu Vilamitjana, Managing Director of Cisco Spain and Portugal; Sonia Cañizares, Business Unit Director for Public Sector and Healthcare in Catalonia at Sopra Steria; Jaume Anguera, founder and CTO of Ignion and professor at Ramon Llull University; and Marta Bertran, Research Fellow at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research).
The celebration also coincided with the 30th anniversary of La Salle-URL Alumni. In this context, Carles Casanovas, the association’s first president, highlighted the community’s journey and its contribution to keeping alive the personal and professional connections forged during university life, an element that also shapes the campus’s innovative and pioneering spirit. “It was the alumni community that recommended that the Mateo and Martí brothers launch the Telecommunications programmes, and it is this same community that helps us understand what lies ahead so that we can anticipate change and innovate in education,” recalled Josep M. Santos.
The event also included an interactive performance by Planeta Impro, which invited attendees to revisit memories, anecdotes and experiences connected to these six decades of history.
A journey that continues to imagine the future
Each generation of engineers has faced the challenges of its time and made possible transformations that, decades ago, would have seemed unimaginable. Today’s challenges may be different, but the curiosity to question, explore and imagine new possibilities continues to drive engineering.
Through this celebration, La Salle-URL highlights its commitment to educating professionals who can understand the complexity of the world, connect knowledge and disciplines, and turn ideas into purposeful solutions. Because the future is not simply something to anticipate, but a reality to be built. And because the deepest meaning of technological progress lies in its ability to improve people’s lives.