Galicia will become, in this autonomous legislature, the first community to reach 1% of GDP in public resources transferred or captured by its universities; and it will also achieve it well in advance, knowing that it is a general objective for all of Spain whose achievement is set for 2030. This was stated this Friday by the Minister of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Universities, Román Rodríguez, at the opening of the 2024-25 academic year of the Galician university system, in A Coruña. The head of the branch, who described the centres of this network as “the most accessible and best financed” in the country, also claimed the “historic measure” at the State level that the Community is launching this year: Free tuition for students at three public universitiesprovided that you obtain a pass to ABAU – future PAU – or achieve a minimum number of credits in professional courses, depending on the case.
The issue of financing public universities had been raised a few minutes earlier by the rector of the Universidade de Coruña (UDC), Ricardo Cao, who demanded an increase in investment. According to Ep, Cao stressed the “urgency” of adapting the financing plan “to the real needs of the structural costs of the university system, also respecting the objective of reaching the investment of 1% of GDP in universities” set by the Organic Law of the Spanish University System (LOSU); the same rate that the councilor has set as a goal for the current legislature. In any case, the rector appealed to building consensus between Xunta, universities and political forces parliamentarians to continue to make progress.
For his part, Román Rodríguez valued the current University Financing Plan as a “sign of identity” of Galicia, one of the “few autonomous communities in Spain that have A multi-year funding which “allows us to provide certainty” and “plan management” that each center exercises. “A circumstance that is completely normal in Galicia, but that is exceptional in other autonomous communities” and that is part of “a financial path that gradually increases the resources of university institutions and allows budgets to be approved in a timely manner,” he stressed.
He also referred to the “historic measure” for the non-Galician and state educational model that the university tuition bonus, “an unprecedented step in supporting higher education” that “reduces as much as possible the economic limitations that may exist to advance in university studies, and further democratizes higher education in our community, strengthening equality of opportunity like never before,” he said. approved. As long as a first-year student passes the ABAU or, in the rest of the cases, reaches “a minimum number of credits, to try to maintain with this measure the culture of effort”, the free measure that will be applied to them When they begin their studies in the three universities or in the higher centers of artistic education, this will mean “an expense per student of only 60 cents per month,” said the director of the universities.
Focus on research
In addition, Román Rodríguez drew attention to the need to “foster” the Galician scientific and research fabric and consolidate its potential in R&D&I. To achieve this, he said, Galicia’s greatest asset is betting on a “clean formula” that favors “usefulness, innovation and knowledge” so that they have a beneficial impact on the territory, and differentiate themselves instead of trying to imitate reference centers “like Oxford, Stanford, Harvard” or others. “That should not be our goal,” he stressed. As a highlight, after placing the positions related to R&D&i in Galicia at 25% of university funding, “the highest percentage in Spain”, he encouraged the continued strengthening of synergies between university technology centers “to build more powerful networks and accelerate the impact.” of their contributions.
