Rovira i Virgili University

University of Rovira i Virgili is located in the Catalan cities of Tarragona and Reus, Spain. Its name is in honor of Antoni Rovira i Virgili. The University of Rovira I Virgili (URV) is a nationally and internationally recognized teaching and research institution with centers in Tarragona, Reus, Vila-Seca, Tortosa, and El Vendrell. In 2018 and 2019 it was ranked the 78th World's Best Young University with less than 50 years (Times Higher Education World University Rankings). In 2020 it was ranked within the top 200 world's universities by the Times Higher Education 2020 ranking, which recognizes universities for their social and economic impact based on 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. At the Spanish level, in 2017 URV was ranked the 4th in publication production by faculty number, and the 7th with Highly Cited Papers by faculty number. In 2014 URV obtained the HR Excellence in Research award from the EC, renewed in 2017. URV offers doctoral studies distributed in 24 programs and annually welcomes 11400 undergraduate, 1300 master, and 1200 PhD students. History University education in the Tarragona area goes back to the 16th century when Cardinal Gaspar Cervantes de Gaeta founded a university to teach Grammar, the Arts, and Theology. This Universitas Tarraconensis was practically wiped out by the reprisals of Philip V after the War of Succession. University education did not return to the Tarragona area until the second half of the 20th century when three different paths converged to form the Universitat Rovira i Virgili: The Universitat Laboral (Technical College), created by the Ministry of Employment in 1956, started to teach technical courses for the first time in 1961–62 with specialties in mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering. It depended on the Terrassa School of Engineering. Later, in 1972, the title of "Engineer" was changed to "Technical Engineer", and the Universitat Laboral ceased to depend on Terrassa and dropped its mechanical and engineering courses.