SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, March 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ministry of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands has presented this Wednesday the proposal made to the two public universities of the islands, that of La Laguna (ULL) and that of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), to a new financing model that, among other issues, will improve the supply and quality of education and will significantly increase its funds.
This was stated this Wednesday by the head of the educational department, Manuela Armas, accompanied by the general director of Universities, Manuel Ramírez, who indicated that the proposal is based on the three financing axes provided for in the Organic Law of the University System (LOSU), and clarified that it complies with all the requirements established in that regulation, so the archipelago is ahead of other autonomous communities in its application.
In this way, a basic structural financing is included, which will be sufficient to cover the multi-annual needs of personnel expenses, current expenses in goods and services and real investments, development of teaching and training activity and structural research, including the investments to guarantee the environmental sustainability of universities.
Likewise, structural financing is contemplated for singular needs, which will be established based on needs such as insularity, territorial dispersion and presence in rural areas of its centers, the level of specialization of the degrees taught, the linguistic plurality of the programs , the existence of singular infrastructures or the size of the institutions.
The new model also has financing by objectives, which is established based on the fulfillment of strategic objectives that have been set in the multiannual programming, linked to the improvement of teaching, research, knowledge transfer, innovation, internationalization, inter-university cooperation and participation in projects and networks, as well as gender equality.
Ramírez explained that the model is built from a series of objective and measurable indicators that are grouped into four main axes of quality improvement, which are teaching quality, job placement, research and knowledge transfer. and gender equity, collects a note from the Ministry.
CAPTURE RESOURCES
Likewise, the director stressed that, although the universities have public financing guaranteed by the Autonomous Community, they must have the capacity to attract their own funds for research projects or transfer activities, “and this proposal rewards the fact that these institutions are capable of improve their financing by attracting competitive resources, so that for every euro that they manage to capture, the Government of the Canary Islands grants additional financing”.
The expected effects of university financing by results, pointed out Ramírez, will materialize in three different aspects.
On the one hand, it will be reflected in internal efficiency, since it is expected that the new model will require the management of a good system of unit costs, and will allow the calculation of factor productivity and objectivity in its differentiated remuneration.
In addition, it will also produce effects on institutional efficiency, since it will encourage the adjustment of supply to demand, provide transparency and improve the impact of the preferences of its users, forcing them to provide services with greater added value.
Likewise, it will affect social valuation and costs incurred will not be financed, but results.
A NEW HISTORICAL TIME
Armas insisted that, with this new model, the foundations of a “new historical time” will be laid for the public universities of the archipelago that will allow them to face future challenges and their adaptation to the new legislative framework, for which the Canary Islands will be one of the the first autonomous communities to align the financing of these public institutions with the objective set forth in the LOSU, which will allow progressive comparison with the average of the Spanish University System (SUE) and with that of the Member States of the European Union.
In short, the counselor pointed out, this proposal will “significantly” increase university financing and, she was convinced that, to the extent that the rest of the agents involved also improve their economic efforts and the ability to incorporate resources through of competitive financing, it will be possible to increase the financial resources of public universities.
The head of the educational department commented that in order to arrive at this proposal it was necessary to know in advance the situation of the two Canarian public universities, for which a report was commissioned from a group of experts in the field of the economics of university education that addressed the state in which both public Canary Islands universities are located in aspects such as the economic perspective, the offer of degrees, academic performance and employability, among others.
Tomorrow, Thursday, a technical meeting of both rectory teams will be held with the staff of the General Directorate of Universities and external staff who have directed the preparation of the report and the new financing model.
In this work meeting, public universities will have the opportunity to convey their doubts and suggestions for improvement on the new financing model.
The person in charge of the area also recalled that both universities have repeatedly expressed their commitment to recover multi-year funding and to increase the amount, and said that she considers “the first aspect fulfilled by putting on the table the offer of a framework of multi-year funding without having to wait until 2025 to see it materialize.
Regarding the second matter, Armas announced that the new model complies with the commitment to improve university financing, since it will mean an increase in the financing of public universities, aligned with the objective set by the recently approved Organic Law of the University System (LOSU). ), which will make it possible to go from 0.54% of regional GDP to 0.67% in 2030.
EUROPEAN RECOGNITION TO THE ACCUEE
The director of the Canarian Agency for University Quality and Educational Evaluation (ACCUEE), Saturnino Martínez, who together with the head of the educational department, referred to the European recognition of this autonomous body attached to the Ministry, also participated in the event.
Thus, Martínez indicated that the ACCUEE has formalized this week its registration in the European Quality Assurance Register of the European Higher Education Area (EQAR), which implies full recognition as an agency for university quality assurance in the European space. of higher education and, therefore, that its reports on the quality of university degrees are valid in the 47 countries that make up said space.
The Agency thus complies with one of the fundamental requirements for carrying out its activity set forth in the Royal Decree establishing the organization of university education and the quality assurance procedure.
These new competencies also make it possible to reform university quality assurance processes in the Canary Islands, lightening the bureaucratic burden.
The person in charge of this autonomous body pointed out that “shortly, the ACCUEE will have prepared the new protocol, within the framework of the Canarian university regulations, and with sensitivity to the reality of the university system of the islands”.
