The Universitat Internacional de Catalunya officially began its academic activities in October 1997. The Organic Law 11/1983 of University Reform, (LRU) together with the 26/1984 Law of the Parliament of Catalonia, established the appropriate legal framework for the establishment of a university with the capacity to award official degree certificates. The Fundación Familiar Catalana (Catalan Family Foundation) assumed full responsibility for developing the academic project.
This law meant that the founding of the UIC - which initially opened with five faculties and ten degree courses' was now officially recognised. A total of about 400 students partcipated in the opening of the new buildings on the campuses in Barcelona and Sant Cugat del Vallés.
The UIC began the 1997-1998 academic year by offering diplomas in Nursing and degree courses in Law, Management and Public Administration, Architecture, Humanities and Journalism, Dentistry and Business Management and Administration. Within a year the diploma in Physiotherapy had been added and in the year 2000 the diploma programmes in Primary School Teacher Education and Pre-School Teacher Education began.
The degree course in Employment Studies was included in 2002, as was the degree course in Criminology two years later. In that same year the diploma in IT Systems and Management Engineering was officially recognised, helping to broaden the technical side of the university. Finally, in 2004-5 classes in Audiovisual Communication began. This means that today there is a total of 16 diploma and degree programmes on offer.
Alongside this expansion in faculties, the UIC has also seen a significant increase over the years in the number of centres and institutes. Among these, the Institute of Advanced Family Studies (IESF) was founded in 2004 with the encouragement and support of the Joaquim Molins Figueras Foundation. It would eventually become the most important Spanish institute -with university status- in the field of family policy.
In a similar vein, the Centre for Advanced Social Studies (CESA) was created in 2004 with the aim of coordinating three degree courses with a common teaching programme. It is primarily intended to serve working professionals from the civil service or the armed forces. The degree courses offered are Public Administration and Management, Employment Studies and Criminology.