Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona has appointed an honorary doctorate to Josep Pons at the request of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. Pons has a link with the university through his work at Gran Theatre del Liceu and their Open Opera courses at the university. In 1990, Pons received the National Music Prize of the Ministry of Culture and, in 1992, the Ciutat de Barcelona Prize. Pons is considered ​“one of the most important Spanish directors of his generation” and a figure that ​“has opened up to new ways of listening to music, introducing transversal visions and projecting towards other genres.” Pons has said that receiving this honorary doctorate represents ​“a great pride and the feeling of being recognized at home”.