• Education The Government paralyzes the new Selectivity so as not to generate uncertainty in the new political scenario
  • Education Thousands of university and vocational qualifications are at risk due to the obligation to contribute for all trainees
  • Education The Government will force to reduce the number of departments of universities before the end of 2024

The Government of Pedro Sánchez is parking all the university controversies before the elections of the next 23-J. Every vote counts and there are about 230,000 people working in Spanish universities, including professors, researchers, technicians and administrative and service personnel. Therefore, after paralyzing the controversial new Selectivity, it has decided to suspend three projects of royal decrees that were generating much discomfort on campuses. The most questioned is the one that forced employers to contribute to Social Securityfor all trainees. But it also leaves in the air the one that imposed the reduction of university departments and the one that mixed areas of knowledge. These are three decrees that are highly questioned by the rectors, teachers, businessmen and regional governments.

In exchange, the Executive maintains two other decrees that did not arouse so much rejection because they are more technical: the doctorate and the one that regulates the state accreditation to be a civil servant. The Secretary General of Universities, José Manuel Pingarrón, has sent a letter to the rectors, to which EL MUNDO has had access, in which he explains that "the situation of electoral advance makes it unfeasible for the procedures of all the royal decrees to come to an end since, among other aspects, the mandatory reports for all of them are not possible in the short period of time that exists before the elections. "

Therefore, he adds, "it is necessary to establish a priority for requesting reports and processing, always taking into account the provisions that already appear in the Organic Law of the University System (Losu) and the impact of the aforementioned draft royal decrees on the ordinary functioning of universities."

On Wednesday afternoon, Pingarrón participated in a Steering Committee of the Ministry of Universities in which the possibilities of continuing with the processing of the pending royal decrees were evaluated. And from there it came "not to continue" with the processing of the royal decrees of areas of knowledge and organization of university departments. The first does not like the teachers because, for the purposes of the constitution of the templates, they were going to mix areas of knowledge that until now were separated (for example, surgery with podiatry, or psychology with speech therapy) and this was going to harm them at work, since these areas serve for the purposes of the assignment of jobs.

The second decree required a reduction in the number of university departments by the end of 2024. It put at 35 professors the minimum to have a department open, when now legally it is 12. This measure, aimed at economizing, was considered by the rectors an "interference" in their university autonomy, since now each campus has its organizational structure as it deems appropriate. Merging departments harms the directors and middle managers and also the administrative and service personnel who depend on each of them.

"At risk" thousands of titles

Pingarrón takes advantage of his letter to the rectors to also inform them of "the willingness" of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration "to postpone the entry into force of the obligatory nature of Social Security contributions for university students in practices". He tells them that in this Ministry, led by José Luis Escrivá, "they are looking for the legal instrument" to park this measure.

Rectors and Autonomous Communities of different political signs had warned that it put "at risk" the titles of "thousands of students" of FP and university, because the measure, designed to enter into force from October, implied a "high bureaucratic burden" and was going to force universities to change tens of thousands of agreements.

Until this decree, only students who did paid internships were registered with Social Security. The idea was that everyone did it, whether the internships were paid or not and whether they were curricular or extracurricular. The problem was not so much the cost to the employer (contribution expenses were subsidized by 95% and paid by the State) but the laborious process involved in the registrations and cancellations to Social Security, which could dissuade many small and medium-sized companies when hiring students. The universities had also warned that their students were not going to find where to do the internships due to the obligation of having to sign new agreements and that was going to prevent them from obtaining the degree, since these practices are an essential requirement to graduate in many cases.

Subsidies are maintained

But not all pending decrees are parked. The team of Minister Joan Subirats has decided to continue with the processing of more technical regulations, such as the royal decree of doctorate, the most advanced in its development and that in a few days will be sent to the Council of State to issue its report. This rule is maintained, says Pingarrón, "taking advantage of the fact that its processing status makes it more likely to be completed in a timely manner." It argues that "some aspect of this decree cannot be delayed", such as the regulation of official university degrees of the European Universities Programme of the EC or the granting of subsidies to public universities to modernise and digitise within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. That is, issues that are to the liking of universities.

The draft royal decree regulating state accreditation for access to university teaching bodies and the regime of competitions for access to such bodies will also go ahead. This regulation is more delayed and is subsequent to those that have been paralyzed, but, even so, Subirats maintains it ensuring that it is "fundamental for the implementation of the LOSU".

  • Universities
  • Social security
  • THE WORLD
  • Selectivity
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Secondary education
  • Articles Olga R. Sanmartín
  • Education

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