Moreno winks at public universities and promotes two new private ones

The main demand of the 10 public universities of Andalusia has received a response. Yesterday, the regional government approved the new financing model for higher education that will rectify the one promoted during the previous mandate, when Juanma Moreno governed in coalition with Ciudadanos. Then, the council depended on Rogelio Velasco, an independent from the orange formation quota.. His proposal had caused an imbalance between academic institutions, with Jaén or Huelva as the main victims, which led the Board to invest up to 21 million more so that they could face the payments..

Now, the new advisor, the also independent José Carlos Gómez Villamandos, has altered the norm that he himself supported as rector of the University of Córdoba. It does so as an “express order from the president” and with an injection of 14 million euros for strategic projects, which represents a response to the demands of the rectors.. “The previous model was conceptually impeccable, but in its application it generated dysfunctions that we had to correct,” the counselor acknowledged in a day in which, in addition, PP and Vox carried out the processing of two new private universities..

The new financing model, which will be applied between 2023 and 2027, maintains the evaluation of the results of the universities based on the objectives set. However, unlike the previous one, the bulk of the money will not depend on these objectives.. The universities will be guaranteed the money allocated, but it will depend on their indicators whether they can invest it at their discretion or within a policy set by the Board. “We cannot invest that amount of money without being clear about what the return is,” defended the counselor..

The Board has also given in to another of the rectors' demands, the creation of a safeguard clause to guarantee a response to possible salary increases agreed in Madrid.. In this way, universities will receive the same resources as the previous year plus an increase in the salaries of their public staff.. The document has been approved pending a set of calculation rules for its definitive application, although it has the approval of the rectors.

Before the arrival of the PP to the regional government, the last financing model was that of 2007-2011, a document that was extended until 2016. From that year until the previous legislature, Andalusia has lacked planned and updated allocation guidelines. Now, the Andalusian Executive takes pride in its commitment to the public university: in 2023 alone the amount reaches 1,620 million, a historic figure. The increase in investment since 2018, when Juanma Moreno became president, is 18.25%, consolidating Andalusia as one of the communities that invests the most in higher education.

On the same day, PP and Vox promoted the processing of two new private universities in the Andalusian Parliament. These are the CEU San Fernando III University, which will be based in the Sevillian town of Bormujos, and the Atlantic-Mediterranean Technological University (Utamed). According to calculations by the Junta de Andalucía, there are 7,000 Andalusian students who study outside the community in a private center, among other reasons, because there is no offer in their land. Currently, the only private university in Andalusia is Loyola, in Seville.

In Andalusia the recognition of private universities is carried out by law, so the University, Research and Innovation commission of the Andalusian Parliament approved the opinions yesterday. Now the processing must continue until approved in the Plenary. The opposition and the rectors of the public have defended in recent months that neither of the two meet “the minimum quality requirements”, an accusation that the current counselor has rejected, who recalled that these entities have the approval of the Agency of Scientific and University Quality of Andalusia (Accua). In addition, Gómez Villamandos has announced a specific inspection service to verify compliance with the indicators set in private universities.. “It does not mean that we are going to apply different criteria,” he stated after the Government Council, insisting that “the quality criteria will be the same.”.