The rector of the UIB, Jaume Carot, argues that Catalan should be the language of instruction for a subject if the teaching guide establishes it. "The teaching guide is a contract. If the language indicated therein is Catalan, the subject must be in Catalan," he states. In this sense, Carot considers that students who arrive from outside and do not know the language can adapt to it with ease. If they have difficulties following a subject, he explains, they can request a group change or receive materials and tutorials to continue their learning. "Someone coming from a non-Catalan speaking territory may feel lost at first, but, with a little goodwill, this is resolved quickly," he maintains.

Jaume Carot (Tortosa, 1960) has been the rector of the UIB since 2021. At a time when the arrival of new private universities threatens to gain ground on the public offering, Carot must face the challenge of securing the necessary resources to consolidate research and expand studies. Catalan in the classrooms and the need to bring the university closer to society are other pending subjects. The threat of the commodification of higher education is real.

The housing crisis is now also affecting the Balearic Islands' ability to retain students who want to study Medicine there. The dean of the UIB Faculty of Medicine, Antoni Bennàsar, explained that two people have resigned this year from the place they had secured to begin their degree for a non-academic reason: "They didn't find housing and have gone elsewhere," he said. Bennàsar made this statement during the review of the 2026 MIR results and the ten years of the UIB Faculty of Medicine, at the Son Espases University Hospital. The dean explained that there have been several resignations from places, although in some cases the reason is simply that the students have secured a vacancy in their home community.

43.6% (24) of the 55 students from the UIB Faculty of Medicine who took the 2026 MIR exam placed within the top tier of the ranking, among the 27% with the best results out of the nearly 15,000 candidates who took the test, with seven graduates (12%) in the top 10%. The faculty highlighted these figures this Wednesday, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of Medicine studies at UIB. The dean, Antoni Bennàsar, remarked that results have improved progressively in recent graduating classes. The percentage of students placed in this top tier was 30% in the first class, rose to 40% subsequently, and last year it stood at 41.6%. "The level of the students is good," he defended.

The UIB student residence is increasingly overwhelmed. “There are more than 300 people on the waiting list. The pressure is getting worse every time. Housing is very complicated,” admits the Vice-Rector for Innovation and Digital Transformation at the UIB, Loren Carrasco. The residence has 101 places and practically all of them are occupied each academic year by students who already live there. This year, 85 students have renewed their place. The pressure on the facility has intensified in recent years: in the 2022-23 academic year there were 185 students on the waiting list, a figure that increased to 215 at the beginning of the 2024-25 academic year and now exceeds 300 people.

The American Urological Association (AUA) has incorporated for the first time into its reference guide for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of kidney stones the use of phytate and theobromine, two molecules developed and patented by researchers from the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB).

The Department of Education announced this Wednesday a new reduction in the price of menus at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) campus cafeterias, which will come into effect starting this Thursday. The Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera, explained in a press conference that the full menu will now cost 6.85 euros, while the half menu will be priced at 4.30 euros. Until now, the full menu cost 7.55 euros and the half menu 5 euros, following the price cap applied last academic year.

The first signs regarding the fire declared on Saturday on the roof of the Archduke Lluís Salvador building at the University of the Balearic Islands campus indicate that the fire could have originated in an area where flammable construction material related to the renovation of the School of Hospitality kitchens was stored.

The Palma Firefighters intervened this Saturday in a fire declared on the roof of the Faculty of Hospitality of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), in Palma.

The Obra Cultural Balear (OCB), the Association of Music Teachers of the Balearic Islands (ADMIB) and the Area of Didactics of Musical Expression of the UIB have proposed to the Department of Education that La Balanguera, a poem by Joan Alcover set to music by Amadeu Vives, be explicitly incorporated into the Primary and Secondary Education Music curriculum.

The Institutional Repository of the University of the Balearic Islands has incorporated the collection Watching from space, which brings together 91 popular science articles published by Dr. Joan Bauzà Llinàs, a member of the Climatology, Hydrology, Natural Risks and Territory research group (CLIMARIS) and the Center for Geographic Information Technologies (CTIG), between the years 2016 and 2020 in the weekend edition of ARA Balears.

The Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera, avoids taking sides between the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and the Beato Luis Belda University Center, affiliated with CEU San Pablo, when asked where he would study Medicine if he had to choose between the two institutions today. "As of now... I don't know," replies Vera. The minister argues that these are two projects that are at very different stages: "The CEU has just started in the Balearic Islands and needs maturation, while the UIB has been around for many years."

Catalan as a welcoming language has been the theme of the third session of the IEC-ARA cycle in Palma, IEC Questions: we question, we understand, we converse, which is promoted by the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC) and ARA Balears.

Starting in November, the UIB will offer a new edition of the University Specialist in Coeducation, a 30-credit degree aimed primarily at education and socio-educational intervention professionals. The course, which reaches its sixth edition, has the collaboration of the Balearic Women's Institute (IB-Dona) and has a cost of 300 euros. The training will begin on November 23 and will run until May 7, 2027. It includes 155 in-person hours and will be held at the Sa Riera building, although the possibility of following the classes through synchronous virtual attendance will also be offered. Registration is open until November 12.

The University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) now has one of the two plots of land necessary to develop future university facilities at ParcBit. The university has formalized the purchase of plot 7A, a site with 2,311 square meters of buildable area located next to plot 6A, which is owned by the Government.

Starting this Wednesday, the UIB will host the exhibition 50 years of La Bressola. 50 years sowing the future, an exhibition that reviews the trajectory of this network of schools in Northern Catalonia and its pedagogical project based on linguistic immersion in Catalan, verticality, and cooperative work. The exhibition, organized by the Faculty of Education, can be visited from September 10th to 17th on the ground floor of Block A of the Guillem Cifre de Colonya building.

In Sant Lluís (Menorca) lived Mrs. Van Oppen, daughter of a British military officer stationed in India when it was still under the direct control of the British Crown. She gave private English lessons which, beyond grammatical and phonetic foundations, "were filled with landscapes, experiences, and lifestyles" that far surpassed the daily experience and canons of Western culture known until then by two Menorcan children born in the late 60s. "She encouraged exploring the unknown, opening up to new frontiers, accepting diversity. This experience, undoubtedly, would fuel our interest in opening up to new horizons. Alicia often comments that these English sessions were the seed of her later scientific vocation". Alicia is Alicia Sintes (1969), professor and doctor in Physics from the UIB; and her brother, Tomàs Sintes (1966), also a professor and doctor in Physics from the UIB, tells us about it.

The University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) will incorporate in the 2026-2027 academic year the new degree in Marine Sciences, a qualification especially linked to the island reality and the management of the Balearic coastline. The new study will offer 35 places and will train professionals specialized in the study and management of marine and coastal environments from disciplines such as biology, geology, chemistry, physics, and technology.

The University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) has disappeared from the 2026 edition of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), known as the Shanghai Ranking. The Balearic university thus ceases to be among the 1,000 best university institutions in the world, according to a classification that is published every August 15 and which this year places 30 Spanish universities among the first thousand.