I am writing this text not so much as rector of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), but as the person responsible for the public system of Valencian universities, concerned about the lack of respect that has been expressed in recent times towards university laws, the management of public money and, above all, the lack of respect towards medical students. Of course, as rector I also have information that I want to share:
The law
What happened in the processing of the authorization of the medical degree at the University of Alicante (UA) are not simple administrative errors that are easy to correct. What happened constitutes a serious breach of the law, which could give rise to criminal prosecution. For more than two years (2019-2022), a commission chaired by the Minister of Universities and composed of the Rector of the UA, the Rector of the UMH, the two Presidents of the two Social Councils, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the UMH and the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the UA, have tried to reach an agreement to share the UMH medical degree with the UA. As you can see, the idea did not arise recently by spontaneous generation, as some ill-informed or misinformed criticize, but it has been studied and analyzed for some years. After the UA’s continued rejection of said collaboration, the President of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, I want to believe that ill-advised and ill-informed, surprisingly announced at a press conference on April 26, 2022 that the Government of the Generalitat had approved that day the creation of the Faculty of Medicine at the UA and that, from that same day, the Rector could decide on the schedule and organization of the new Medicine degree. In addition to implying a blatant disloyalty to previous negotiations, the announcement was FALSE. But it is not a lie that needs to be proven in court, but an obvious lie, since the Generalitat did not approve the new degree until almost four months later, in August 2022. What was the need to lie like this? Why this disloyalty and not only on the part of the President of the Generalitat? Let’s see a possible explanation below.
Hospital internships are at the heart of medical training, very important for the training of students but also for the patients who will be treated by future doctors. The law clearly establishes that to approve a degree in medicine, a report from the Center Accreditation Service of the Ministry of Health must be provided, certifying the existence of hospital centers available for internships. To date, there is NO such report. When Ximo Puig announced the approval of the degree in April, ALL the reports were negative. A week before the royal approval, in August 2022, an “ethereal” report was published, signed on July 25, 2022, which does not even specify whether it is favorable or not. It is not signed by the head of the department, who is the technician authorized in this matter. But the most serious thing, and we learned this from the sincere and altruistic speech of Minister Rovira at the opening of the course at the AU, is that, according to the Attorney General’s Office, the long-awaited and long-awaited report is signed by a deputy director, from a political position, from another department without power in the matter.
Several commentators from a certain media outlet, including the UA rector herself, blame the current Generalitat for intervening in a “surprising and untimely” manner, at the end of the conflict and not at the beginning. I give you some public information, but little known; The head of the Accreditation Service, signatory of the negative reports, appeared before the court as part of the testimony requested by the UMH on May 7, 2024. The report from the Generalitat Law Firm is dated June 12, 2024. The dates to adjust? I know that there were discreet negotiations at a very high level, but finally the raid by the Generalitat, based on the aforementioned report from the Prosecutor’s Office, took place on August 2. How important is loyalty in any negotiation.
But in the end, the law, this norm of coexistence between citizens, was not respected. Indeed, the Law must serve the common interest. I completely agree, let’s hope so.
public money
Anyone with a minimum knowledge of how the university works knows that the cost of a degree in medicine cannot be compared to that of other degrees such as law or computer science, without undermining the academic and social importance of these degrees. But this is the reality and, moreover, it can be measured. We present in the dispute an expert report approved by the College of Economists of Alicante, estimating the cost of generating a new degree at almost 10 million euros per year, for the six years that it lasts, compared to the 500,000 euros per year that it would represent to expand this degree. Same number of places in the existing Faculty of Sant Joan d’Alacant. It is logically a “party report”, but coming from a very well-informed “party”, we know from our own experience what it costs. Of course, as long as the objective is to achieve levels of academic excellence. If the level of academic demand is not expected to be maintained, the cost of creating a new medical degree may actually decrease to the anticipated amount.
Students
We are witnessing a disinformation campaign in which it is intended to carry out a policy of “fait accompli”, accusing the Generalitat and the UMH of irresponsibility for having hindered or questioned the continuity of studies of 172 medical students at the UA. This is a very cynical accusation. The UA medical degree was implemented by those responsible, as we have seen, after profound disloyalty during a negotiation process, also knowing that:
The availability of hospital centers was very limited (please read the ANECA 2018 report, it contains only two paragraphs, which is published by regulation on the website of the UA Medical Degree). The day after the “false” approval of the Diploma, UA officials were already asking the then Minister of Health, just as they are asking the current Minister of Health, for access to the hospitals agreed with the UMH for their internships. students. All this is in flagrant contradiction with the commitment they signed in the ANECA report for the creation of the Diploma.
They did not have the financial resources to implement this expensive degree. And this cost not only impacts their “internal finances”, but also affects the entire Valencian public university system, since they also publicly demand greater funding for the degree from the Generalitat. In flagrant contradiction to what was stated, for example, in the contentious allegations. When asked for an economic report for the implementation of the medical degree, the UA responded with a commitment from its rector to the effect that “the degree would be taught at no additional cost”. There is no economic memory. Do you know of a medical degree in the world that has been developed without an additional budget?
The availability of specialized teaching staff, especially in clinical areas, is very limited and represents a serious problem for maintaining academic excellence. They only need to listen to the deans of medicine and the Conference of Deans. There is no need to duplicate this teaching staff in two faculties 7 km apart. I will give you another piece of information, in the first two years of the UA degree in medicine, only 20% of the heads of subjects are doctors. At the UMH, the percentage in these two courses is 80%. Curiously, the sum of the two offers 100%.
Therefore, neither the UMH nor the Generalitat are compromising the continuity of the studies of 172 students. Quite the opposite. The UMH, and has thus committed itself publicly and with the Minister of Universities, continues its generous offer to share the Degree in Medicine, in line with the proposal of the President of the Generalitat to generate an interuniversity campus, which would provide a solution to the three previous points, the sharing of hospitals, infrastructure and economic resources, and teachers. This offer is responsible, in accordance with compliance with the laws and the management of public funds. It is also the most responsible and appropriate to serve the Alicante society as civil servants, maintaining the number of places offered in the public university and guaranteeing the quality of teaching to all medical students in the province of Alicante. To all.
Juan José Ruiz Martínez is rector of the UMH
