Career
A teacher by profession, Rigau holds a psychology degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a diploma in public sector management from Escuela Superior de Administraciónew york Dirección de Empresas Business School. In the education sector, Rigau has been a primary school teacher and a schools inspector. She also got licensed as secondary school teacher.
Rigau has lectured on psycho-pedagogy at The University of Girona Education Department and on educational policy and schools legislation at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).
From 1982 to 1999 she held a number of management posts in the Catalan administration. Her political career includes four years as minister for welfare and family issues (1999-2003).
In December 2012 she was appointed education minister. Rigau currently heads the National Council of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, senior partner in ruling coalition Convergencia i Unio (Convergence and Union Party). Rigau appeared in court in Barcelona on 13 October 2015, to face criminal charges of having assisted in the organisation of the Catalan self-determination referendum, 2014, which the Spanish courts deem illegal.
Fellow ministers Artur Mas and Joana Ortega also face charges.
Large public protests took place in Barcelona the same day in support of the accused.
