The expectation reigns among the universities of the country after President Pedro Sánchez announced last Monday measures aimed at hardening the criteria for creating new campuses before the proliferation of educational entities of doubtful quality. Although the regulations without retroactive character will affect the private and public future equally – there are 46 and 50, respectively -, the 10 that await the report of the General Conference of University Policy, which brings together the Ministry of Science and the autonomic governments, belong to the private sector, which is on its way to being majority in Spain. In this group, many universities have a long and solid career, such as Navarra or Ramon Llull (URL) of Barcelona. Therefore, this newspaper has been interested in knowing what they think about it. Of the four who have wanted to give their opinion – they have declined to participate – they all make a positive assessment of the reform, although with some reserve. The rector of the URL, Josep Antoni Rom, reason that «the lack of financing suffered by the public has weakened them and has favored the appearance of private ones to fill discovered holes.» He comments in reference to the situation that Madrid lives. President Sánchez remains critical of the panorama. «A university cannot be an vending machine or become an educational beach,» said projects that are intended to be installed in a plant of an office building and polygons, others have an endorsement of 3,000 euros. If the rhythm of creation does not stop, in a few months the universities that are not publicly owned will be a majority and with a quality in question in many occasions. ROM explains that “one of the keys to the continuity and survival of the private ones is to be located in a place where the public offer is weak”, in addition to the renow. The administration has not opened any campuses since 1998, the Polytechnic of Cartagena. Meanwhile, the sector that is not of state ownership, launched 31 in this period. The rector insists that if someone decides to pay a private one, it is because of the prestige that accompanies it, but many students really resort to this option by not reaching the required cutting note to access the grades they want. Only a handful, such as the Ramon Llull, are contemplated as the first option. Students enrolled in private masters are the majority and there are more first -medicine students in Madrid, paying up to 23,000 euros per course, than on public campuses, where costs are around 1,240 euros per year. Online -, positively values the reform, which hopes to see the light in May. With the new regulations, the distance universities will be authorized with the approval of the General Courts when implanted throughout the national territory. What the Government proposes is to add a mandatory report, and this time binding, which must be carried out by the Aneca Evaluation Agency or its regional counterparts. The rector thinks that the decision «is good for the system as a whole» because it will favor citizen confidence in the Valía de los Campus.The Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, in an act of support to the Public University, last March in Pious Schools of the UNED, in Madrid. Pablo Mongeademás, sees the legislative modification appropriate, since «it is a way to ensure that the initiatives that are put on the table really have a university vocation.» Demand that there is a contribution in three of the five branches of knowledge, that there are a minimum of 4,500 students and that the research activity is guaranteed, it seems “the most natural”. In his opinion, a university that does not investigate should not be considered as such, because its function is to “generate and transmit knowledge.” Josep Antoni Rom recognizes that the reform responds to a paradigm shift in the sector. He explains that «in the last decade there has been a difficult dynamic to imagine a few years ago», in which demand in higher education has increased, especially in the masters. «No one can doubt that it has merchant with education,» adds Fitó. For her, the change in the decree will not be an offensive. «Public and private ownership must be left out of the debate because it has nothing to do with this matter. The focus is in quality and business,» he defends. ROM explains that Spain is a pole of attraction of foreign students, especially from South America, and when there is demand, companies and investment funds appear that see in higher education an opportunity to do business. «No one had thought a few years ago that this was going to generate benefit. What happened to us is that reality has advanced us and now it is urgent to change the regulations,» he confesses. In a memory exercise, the rector of the URL – university born in 1990 of the concentration of several schools, such as that, and others with more than a century of history – abounds that in Spain, at first, there were private university schools, which from the 80 They began to be universities and new ones appeared, but without profit. «Then, higher education was not seen with mercantilist vision,» he says. Everything changes in the last decade, when “high demand attracts companies, who see it as a source of income.” The Virtual Open University of Europe is the private fourteenth that is intended to open in Madrid, although it has a negative, mandatory but not binding report, of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Ten communities, seven governed by the PP, also voted against the project. In the prestigious Shanghai ranking, the best -known international university classification in the world, which positions a total of 1,000 entities and largely values scientific merits, manages to enter 36 Spanish universities, although there is only one private, that of Navarra, owned by the Opus Dei and known for its commitment to its commitment. Now she studies the draft change in the Royal Decree. She belongs to the IESE Business School and the Consolidated Clinical University of Navarra. «As a research entity, without profit and with more than 70 years, the adaptation to the different measures and regulations is part of our work, and that the Spanish university system is of quality and competent is very important for us. It is something, without a doubt, for the benefit of all,» defend sources of this university in relation to the new measures. The rector of the International of Catalonia (UIC) – a linked and also linked to Opus Dei, It is more reluctant. On the one hand, the objective of «putting the universities that arise as a business» applauds. On the other, he considers that the current decree, prepared with Manuel Castells at the head of the Ministry in 2021, is already demanding and doubt of the scope that the modification will have. As stressed, «even some of the public.» Asimism, he believes that in this process it would have been convenient to listen to the rector conference (CRUE). These have been gathering with the Ministry a whole year, but they have known the final written text after passing the urgency process by the Council of Ministers this week. The highest academic positions of the Universities of Deusto, Pontifical Comillas and Mondragón, all of them private, refuse to talk about this matter with the country, which has contacted them for being non -profit entities, with a long tradition and a good positioning in national ranks. They operate as foundations, which forces them to reinvest the profits on the campus. According to the Minister of Universities, Diana Morant, more than «meets the requirements of the Decree. La Crue, which combines the 50 public universities and 27 of the 46 private, spoke this Thursday to show her rejection of the opening of new campuses despite having unfavorable evaluations. He insists on the importance of ensuring academic quality with sufficient financing and reiterates its concern about the proliferation of new centers creative initiatives without a true consideration of the real needs of the Spanish system.
«Unjust attack»
The Association of Private Education Centers (Acade) – integrated, among others, by the European University and Alfonso X El Sabio, in the hands of investment funds, or the Cesuga Center, with an opposite report of the Ministry for its opening in Galicia – states in a statement that the Government's words “are an unfair and unjustified attack on institutions that have proven to be key in the improvement of educational quality Young Spaniards. ”Remember that they have managed to enroll more than 350,000 students and who grow every year above 10% with“ outstanding figures ”in quality indicators and with a very small abandonment rate. He acknowledges that research is more intense in public universities «because they have funds» of the administration. After its modification, the decree will require obtaining research contracts equivalent to 2% of the annual budget and demonstrating guarantees of economic solvency. Private universities will have to provide much more information. So far, the Ministry, on many occasions, does not know which budget and prices of their studies. qualitative ”.
