Universidad Pompeu Fabra (UPF) is a public, international and research-intensive university that, in just twenty-five years, has earned a place for itself among the best universities in Europe. Awarded with a CEI label (International Excellence Campus) by the Spanish Ministry of Education, UPF consistently ranks among the top five Spanish universities in terms of academic efficiency and is the first one in the national ranking of scientific productivity since 2009. It is the first Spanish University in the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking 2020, where it is also the 11th world university among those younger than 50 years, and among the top 150 within the global ranking. It is one of the 7 fastest- rising young universities in the world, according to the same ranking. Founded in 1990, UPF stands out for high quality in teaching, excellence in research and a strong vocation for international outreach. UPF runs 27 undergraduate, 33 official masters and 9 doctoral programmes in social sciences and humanities, health and life sciences, and ICT and communication sciences. The links among the three fields have contributed to new inter-disciplinary initiatives targeting global challenges. UPF serves around 12.600 students, of whom 25% are international, rate that rises up to 40% in Masters degrees and 49% in PhD programs. It has 1583 teaching and research staff and 700 administrative personnel. The University’s international profile starts with its faculty, most of them have extensive international experience or are directly recruited abroad. This policy has helped to make UPF a multilingual university with three working languages (Catalan, Spanish and English) for both teaching and research. UPF’s high international profile increased significantly its capacity to attract researchers from competitive programmes, such as the European Research Council Starting and Advanced (20 of the grantees in Spain are affiliated to UPF), and it is the 2nd ranked university in Spain in total funding through FP7 programmes. The outstanding research offered by the University Pompeu Fabra is possible due to the high competitiveness of its lecturers and researchers. In that sense, the University model is primarily based on a policy of being an institution that is open to the world, incorporating prominent national and international researchers. This commitment is reflected in excellent indicators in research, such as the volume of funds coming from Europe or indicators of scientific production. The University Pompeu Fabra is the 2nd ranked university in Spain in total funding through FP7 programmes. Additionally, this strategy begins to result in the form of patents and spin-offs of international impact. The University Pompeu Fabra has always accepted the challenge of internationalization, which provides an excellent environment for developing innovative teaching initiatives.