The University of Barcelona launches the UB Chair in Logistics and Customs Management

The UB Chair in Logistics and Customs Management aims to become a benchmark for research, training and knowledge transfer in logistics and customs management, as well as generating a strategic ecosystem for the Catalan economy.

The University of Barcelona, in collaboration with the Institute for Careers and Innovation in Logistics and Supply Chain (ICIL) as a patron entity, has launched the UB Chair in Logistics and Customs Management.

The Chair aims to contribute to addressing the shortage of professionals who can efficiently coordinate the dispatch of goods until they are delivered to the customer. This includes managing transport and the necessary documentation for export and customs, as well as contact with logistics operators. The Chair also aims to respond to the research deficit and the lack of publications on customs, logistics, transport and foreign trade management with a comprehensive vision of international trade.   

The presentation of the Chair, held recently at the Paraninfo of the University of Barcelona, was attended by the Rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia; the Director of Innovation and Business Strategy of the Port of Barcelona, Emma Cobos; the Member of the Parliament of Catalonia, Ramon Tremosa; the Director of the Chair, Òscar Mascarilla; and the Director General of ICIL, Xavier Rius.

The rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, noted “the emerging nature of the logistics sector, with values that make it a living network of communication and transport”. For this reason, from the University “we have to offer training adapted to sensitive sectors such as this one”. Along these lines, he pointed out the importance of university education reaching all groups and all areas of knowledge, which is why “the University promotes collaboration agreements with entities and institutions such as the one signed with ICIL”.

For his part, Òscar Mascarilla, professor of Economics and director of the Chair, pointed out that logistics “is the great strategic sector of the Catalan economy” and that Barcelona “is the ideal enclave for the logistics sector in southern Europe, with a solid industrial ecosystem very open to the world, a geostrategic position and a logistics hub made up of one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean, an airport, the Zona Franca and various logistics areas”. He also highlighted “the presence of various specialised operators, both local and international, who need a university like the UB to generate research and knowledge transfer”. Mascarilla recalled that the UB offers two leading master’s degrees in Europe, in Logistics and International Trade and in Customs Law and Management, which link logistics with the management of imports and exports and with customs procedures. The two master’s degrees, and the new Chair, aim to generate an ecosystem of research and teaching at the UB that links the knowledge of academics with that of professionals in the sector.

The presentation of the Chair was also attended by Emma Cobos, Director of Innovation and Business Strategy of the Port of Barcelona, who highlighted the role of the Port in the creation of jobs and the promotion of international trade, also highlighting the commitment of the enclave to sustainability.

Ramon Tremosa, member of the Catalan Parliament and lecturer at the UB, recalled the strategic importance of the Mediterranean on a global scale and described logistics as an “invisible friend”, while defining it as a key sector.

Finally, the director of ICIL stated that this entity “has been linked, since its beginnings, to the field of logistics and the supply chain from the perspective of praxis, but also of research into new trends and management models”. For this reason, “when the idea of the Chair arose, we thought that, by joining our efforts with those of the University of Barcelona, we could provide a much more powerful response to this concern”, he concluded. 

The UB Chair in Logistics and Customs Management created with the collaboration of ICIL aspires to be a benchmark for research, training and knowledge transfer in logistics and customs management, in addition to generating a strategic ecosystem for the Catalan economy.