The UIB will start the academic year with more than 14,500 students: "We can't grow much more; we have serious space limitations."

PalmMore than 14,500 students will study at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) during the 2025-2026 academic year, numbers close to the institution's capacity limit. This was explained this Friday by the University's Rector, Jaume Carot, during the opening day of the academic year. Of the total number of students, between 11,500 and 12,000 will be undergraduate students; between 1,500 and 1,600 will be master's students; and around 1,000 will be doctoral students. These figures, he noted, are within the usual averages for the UIB. "We can't grow much more; we have serious space limitations," he explained.

The university programs with the highest demand, as usual, are currently Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy, all of which have "long waiting lists." There is also high demand for master's degrees, the rector added. "We are starting a new academic year, the 47th since this university became a university and not a branch of another institution. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all students, particularly the 3,000 who are starting, and wish them a path full of good experiences," he said.

Campus under construction

This new academic year, Carot announced, will be "marked by the large-scale works" that will be carried out on the Ramon Llull and Mateu Orfila buildings, both located on campus. These projects, he recalled, will be carried out as part of the program to promote the rehabilitation of public buildings and will consist of thermally and acoustically insulating roofs and walls, as well as replacing the air conditioning, lighting, electrical distribution, and windows.

All of this, he stated, will result in energy savings of more than 40%. "They were buildings that suffered from many problems and were a constant source of complications," the parish priest noted. Throughout this year, the rector continued, work is also scheduled to begin on the new student residence, which will be next to the Palma Conservatory; on the new Science building on campus, which will allow for "growth in degrees"; and on the expansion of the Menorca campus. The UIB will also host the International Conference on Scientific Communication and the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) this year, and will inaugurate a transition strategy towards sustainability that will allow the campus to be "completely energy-independent."

The event was attended by numerous authorities, such as the Regional Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera; the President of the Government, Marga Prohens; the President of Parliament, Gabriel Le Senne; The Mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez; the Bishop of Mallorca, Sebastià Taltavull; and the Spanish government delegate, Alfonso Rodríguez, among others. The inaugural lecture was given by Dr. Joana María Seguí, a graduate of the University of Mallorca. Unity and diversity in European island territories: A geographical overview.