The director of the URV’s International Center has received the annual prize awarded by this network of universities since 2013 in recognition of her integrated, active, motivated and participative professional activity

The prize has been awarded by the Executive Committee since 2013 and its name, IMPACT, is an acronym formed from the words Integrating, Motivated, Participative and ACTive. The news was published in bulletin 159 of the SGroup European Universities’ Network, in December 2016. Marina Casals was awarded the prize in recognition of her work throughout the 2015-16 academic year.

Marina Casals (Manresa, 1975) adds this new award to others that she has also received for her professional work, including the Rising Star Award which she was given by the European Association for International Education, EAIE, in 2009 as a new talent in the field of internationalisation. She has worked at the URV since 2005 as an expert in transversal institutional management of international relations, in the design and implementation of internationalisation policy and in the creation of strategic international alliances.

She is director of the International Center at the University, where her functions include increasing the international visibility of the URV, promoting internationalisation among the university community, supporting all of the institution’s processes of internationalisation, assessing students and university staff who go on international visits to other universities and providing information and assistance for international students and visitors who come to the URV. The I-Center currently has twelve members of staff and operates under the direction of the Office of the Vice-Rector for Internationalisation. Marina Casals is a graduate in translation and interpreting (UAB), has a Master’s Degree in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language and can speak several languages.