According to official figures, 56% of students from Lleida enroll in the local university, surpassing the 4,160 who pursue studies outside the province. Of those who leave, an overwhelming majority (86.2%) head to centers in the Barcelona demarcation, totaling 3,590 students, while 425 go to Tarragona and 145 to Girona.
“"Lleida is more familiar, and Barcelona is colder. I like the UdL because I feel it is a closer university, which is what I prefer for studying."
This preference for proximity is also reflected in the attraction of external talent. The UdL hosts 4,050 university students not residing in the Lleida counties, of whom 1,335 come from Barcelona and 1,680 from outside Catalonia. Regarding the capital, Lleida city, 2,230 residents study at the UdL and 1,100 leave, mainly for Barcelona (575).
Although some students, such as Albert Drudes, opt for other centers for specialization (he chose Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona for Chemical Engineering), many others who initially preferred different cities end up satisfied. A group of students from Igualada, Girona, and L'Arboç, who chose UdL as a second or third option, highlighted that “Very few people want to come to Lleida, but very few people want to leave afterward.”
