Zigurat Student Week Grows: 11 Master’s Programs Represented in the Edition of 2019

From 22nd to 26th of July, Zigurat Student Week 2019 was celebrated in Barcelona. This year’s edition brought together students of 43 different nationalities and of 11 different master’s programs for one intense week full of workshops, company and site visits, and a lot of networking fun.

Chronicle of a Productive Week

Workshops to Grow as a Professional

In the mornings, the participants assisted various presentations and workshops related to their master’s studies developing either soft skills, such as team building and leadership, or focusing on the more technical aspects of the program, such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, BIM workflows, and collaborative processes.

The workshops were divided into three parallel panels based on the content and language of instruction: AECO Spanish, AECO ENGLISH and Innovation & Technology. In all three panels, the focus was on presenting practical cases and how new technologies resonate with each industry. The workshops and presentations that caused most echo among the participants were: Innovating with AI by Angela Shen-Hsieh, Technology Ethics and Intrapreneurship by Robin Weninger, Be a Leader with a Purpose by James Basha, Blockchain for Good and Shark Tank by Daniel Diemers and Integrated Project Delivery and Collaborative Processes by Ignasi Pérez.

Tours and Visits to Complete the Barcelona Experience

After the lunch break, the participants gathered again for various visits all over the city to companies and construction sites. The students of Innovation&Technology background paid a visit to organizations such as Barcelona TechCity and Telefónica to find out more about Barcelona’s technological ecosystem and digital innovation scene.

Meanwhile, the students of Architecture&Engineering background put on their helmets and vests and explored the construction site of the tunnels of Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, a mega infrastructure project assigned to Ferrovial, and toured Networkia Business Center, a unique project developed and executed fully in BIM in the very center of Barcelona. But if we were to put a finger on which activity the participants were most in awe with, that would probably be the Zigurat Barcelona Walking Tour with Carles Romea, the director of Máster Internacional en Estructuras Metálicas y Mixtas de Edificación, who had planned an alternative route through some of Barcelona’s less-known highlights.

Company Visits

Barcelona Walking Tour

Networking - At the Heart of It All

Given that this year, the annual student event extended over 5 days, the participants had also more time for networking and getting to know each other in person. Something that is very important in the context of master’s programs where students work collaboratively online but don’t normally have the occasion to meet their peers face-to-face.

There were workshops oriented at team building and group exercises to promote the relation between students from different master’s programs. In addition to the more academic networking environment, the participants were also invited to an opening Rooftop Party and to a Farewell Party at Razzmatazz.

Zigurat Awards

To conclude the Student Week, it has become a tradition to reward the work and effort of the students. The Zigurat Awards were presented at the Closing Ceremony on Friday at Institut de Formació Contínua IL3 - Universitat de Barcelona. This year, the awards recognized teams and individuals who stood out in different academic activities during the week.

Congratulations to the winners! The awards and winners of Zigurat Awards 2019 were:

⦿ AI Innovation Team Vesa Lähdemäki Anita Pupolina Mohamed Mahgoub Benjamin Immoos Tayfun Ates Morgana Schuler Haroon Kamal ⦿ Team Building Success Josué Anderson Prada Cristian Eduardo Matamala German Torres Macarena de la Vega Arias Abril González Hernández ⦿ The Leader with the Most Inspiring Purpose (English Session) Mohamed Mahgoub ⦿ The Leader with the Most Inspiring Purpose (Spanish Session) Mónica Zumarraga ⦿ The most active participant at the Agile Lab (English Session) Alexandr Sukhorukov ⦿ The most active participant at the Agile Lab (Spanish Session) Esteban José Fernández This year, we also awarded the most active students on social media whose first-hand reporting of the event we really enjoyed: ⦿ The most active on Social Media during the Student Week Mario Bravo Morgana Schuler Rafaela Jung

The most moving moment of the ceremony, however, was probably when Zigurat professor Carles Romea, who had stolen the heart of the students with his presentation and walking tour, received his award for Professional Trajectory: In recognition of the effort, dedication and hard work since the beginning of this exciting project.