Antonio Alfaro, director of the Research and Departments sector of the University of Castile-La Mancha (UCLM), has held this responsible position since the beginning of 2019 without meeting the minimum requirements set by the institution itself. It was the former rector, Miguel Ángel Collado, who appointed zone director to the man who was then a professor and head of the vice-rector’s office for research, without having the rank or belonging to the corresponding civil servant scale.
This is not the only (alleged) irregularity affecting Alfaro, who was chief of staff to a vice chancellor in 2012 and was also not qualified for the position. There is more: the official is director of the research sector while teaching at the Faculty of Educational and Human Sciences of the Cuenca campus without having the compatibility required by law authorized by the university.
Alfaro declined to speak with this newspaper, referring to data protection (his own) and UCLM resorted to a similar argument without explaining whether it is aware of the situation or plans to investigate.
An A2… from this year
To access any sector management position at UCLM, you must belong to the group of civil servants at the highest level, A1, and at the administrative level – the specialization within the civil service body – as indicated in the UCLM Position List (RPT). university. The RPT is a document which details the positions of an administration, with their access conditions, required skills and other basic information.
Alfaro does not belong to the group of civil servants required in the RPT and only managed to reach A2 on the administrative scale – one step less – this year after having succeeded in an internal promotion, as indicated in this resolution from the Journal Castilla-La official. Mancha (on the other hand, we can verify that the maximum level of horizontal internal promotion positions, for which Alfaro applied, is an A2).
In addition, at the court which found him suitable to promote the administrative A2, a direct subordinate of the applicant participated as secretary in the research sector which he directs. Leonor Prieto García appears on the UCLM website as director of the research management unit, just below Alfaro.
Julián Garde, vice-rector for Research when Alfaro became director of this area, won the rectorate elections at the end of 2020 and confirmed Alfaro’s position. A day after the confirmation of the appointment, one of the UCLM unions addressed the management and copied an email to the rector demanding that “people who participate in the selection processes must meet the requirements specified in the RPT”. Sources in this union say they remind the director “from time to time” that Alfaro is not qualified for his position and that the rector is aware of this.
Antonio Alfaro refused to answer elDiario.es’ questions, considering that this is information protected by data protection law. The University of Castilla-La Mancha has also not responded to this newspaper because it understands that this is “specific information about its public employees” that, in general, the institution does not provide for “ preserve their privacy and personal data” despite almost all information coming from publicly available sources.
Groups and scales
Antonio Alfaro started working at the University of Castile-La Mancha in the 90s as an official of the C1 group of the laboratory scale. The first irregularity (still alleged) occurred in January 2012, when he became chief of staff of the Vice-Rectorate for Research and Scientific Policy, which Julián Garde occupied then and until his appointment as rector, position that he occupies today and that he aspires to hold a repeat in the next university elections.
When Garde appointed him chief of staff, Alfaro did not meet one of the requirements required by the university’s RPT: UCLM requires that this position be occupied by someone from the administrative level and he belonged to the laboratory . It was only almost four years later, in 2015, that Alfaro obtained the C1 rank on the administrative scale.
In April 2019, Alfaro was appointed director of the UCLM research area. He then passed an exam to reach group A2 of the laboratory scale, but this was not enough. It was neither the right level nor the right scale. The minimum group for access to this position is A1 and the scale is administrative, as established by the RPT. Although this is a freely appointed position, the university regularly rejects applications that do not meet these minimum requirements, as noted in other UCLM calls for applications.
Alfaro continued to pass the exams and, in 2023, he accepted a call which, thanks to horizontal internal promotion, this year earned him rank A2 on the administrative scale. One of the UCLM unions appealed Alfaro’s admission to this procedure, knowing that there is another irregularity: according to this organization, the research director does not meet the condition of having two years of activity as an A2 laboratory.
Union sources explain that Alfaro “has not set foot” in the laboratory since he became Garde’s chief of staff and would therefore not have the required seniority in the exercise. The university’s defense in this ongoing legal proceeding alleges that the plaintiff union’s intent is to harm the official.
Compatibility
In addition to his administrative or laboratory responsibilities, Alfaro has been teaching social education degree courses at UCLM since 2014, according to his academic profile. It may be normal for an associate professor to have other responsibilities besides teaching, but the workday as director of Alfaro’s research area is listed in the institution’s job listing as E1. In other words, it requires “39.5 hours and dedication [completa]”.
The Public Sector Incompatibilities Act generally prohibits the same person from holding two positions in charge of the public treasury, but also allows exceptions for associate professors at universities. However, it must be the same institution that allows two positions to be maintained. Alfaro obtained compatibility authorization from the Directorate in 2020, but this document available on the entity’s transparency portal does not speak of his position as zone director, but rather of his work as a laboratory technician, which he no longer exercises.
