The rector of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Juan José Ruiz, issued this Monday a release “as a civil servant of the Valencian public university system” in which he has expressed his concern about what he considers a “lack of respect for university laws, for the management of public money and, above all, for the lack of respect for medical students” and he strongly attacks the previous government of the Generalitat, presided over by the socialist Ximo Puig, as the Minister of Universities, José Antonio Rovira, of the PP, did last week, and against the University of Alicante. Far from calming down, the conflict continues to intensify. In his writing, Ruiz aligns himself with the position of the Generalitat, presided over by Carlos Mazón, of the PP.
Miguel Hernández demanded the implementation in 2022 of the Medina degree, one of the most in-demand in Spain, at the UA (which has been taught since last year). The Generalitat withdrew from the litigation this summer by presenting a writ of consent, a legal device that, in theory, gives the plaintiff the right, in this case, the Elche campus, whose germ was, precisely, the segregation of the Faculty of Medicine from the University of Alicante by decision of the Government of the Generalitat of Eduardo Zaplana, of the PP, 26 years ago.
Juan José Ruiz has assured that what happened in the processing of the authorization of the Degree in Medicine at the University of Alicante (UA) “are not simple administrative errors that are easily corrected.” Ruiz has insisted that “what happened constitutes a serious breach of the law, which could be the subject of criminal reproach.” The rector has explained that for more than two years (2019-2022), a commission chaired by the Minister of Universities and made up of the Rector of the University of Alicante, Amparo Navarro, 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, tried to reach an agreement to share the Degree in Medicine of the UMH with the UA.
Following the UA’s continued rejection of this collaboration, the president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, “poorly advised and informed,” says Ruiz, “surprisingly” announced 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 the calendar and the organization of the new degree in Medicine. Juan José Ruiz describes this action as “gross disloyalty” and an “obvious falsehood,” since the Generalitat did not approve the new Degree until almost four months later.
The rector acknowledges that he has also responded to articles by “several commentators in a certain media outlet, including the rector of the UA herself”, who “accuse the Generalitat of having given in in a ‘surprising and untimely’ manner, at the end of the dispute and not at the beginning. “I give you a fact, which is public, but little known; the head of the Accreditation Service, signatory of the negative reports, appeared in court as part of the testimonial evidence requested by the UMH on May 7, 2024. The report from the Generalitat’s Legal Department is dated June 12, 2024. Do the dates match? I know that there were discreet negotiations at a very high level, but finally the Generalitat’s consent, based on the aforementioned report from its Legal Department, occurs on August 2. How important loyalty is, in any negotiation.”
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He also stressed that hospital placements are the core of medical training, which is why the law establishes that in order to pass a degree in medicine, a report from the Accreditation Service of Centres of the Ministry of Health must be provided, certifying the existence of hospital centres available for the placements. Ruiz points out that, as of today, this document does not exist.
On the other hand, Juan José Ruiz has insisted that the cost of a Degree in Medicine cannot be compared with that of other Degrees such as Law or Computer Science. The UMH submitted to the dispute opened for the authorization of these studies, an expert report endorsed by the College of Economists of Alicante, which estimated the cost of generating a new degree at almost 10 million euros per year, compared to the 500,000 euros per year that would be required to increase the same number of places in the Faculty already existing in Sant Joan d’Alacant of the UMH.
The rector also added that a “disinformation campaign” is taking place in which they intend to implement a policy of “faits accomplis”, accusing the Generalitat and the UMH of irresponsibility for making it difficult or putting into doubt the continuity of the studies of 172 medical students at the UA. Ruiz assures that “it is a very cynical accusation.”
The rector has pointed out that the University of Alicante did not have the necessary financial resources and that the availability of specialised teaching staff, especially in clinical areas, “is very limited and represents a serious problem for maintaining academic excellence”. Therefore, Juan José Ruiz has clarified that it is neither the UMH nor the Generalitat that are compromising the continuity of the studies of 172 students. On the contrary, the UMH continues with its offer to share the Degree in Medicine, in line with the proposal of the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, to create an inter-university campus, which would allow the sharing of hospitals, infrastructure and financial resources, and teaching staff.
Ruiz has insisted that this offer is responsible, consistent with respect for the laws and the management of public funds. It is also, he adds, the most responsible and appropriate to serve Alicante society as public 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. In his statement, there is no reference to the origin of medical studies in Elche.
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