At least 4,500 students, bank guarantee and accommodation: the requirements that private universities must meet to open

The Government plans to approve next May the Royal Decree that will modify the creation, recognition and authorization of universities and university centers. The Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday the urgent processing of this royal decree with the objective that it enters into force “as soon as possible.”

With this measure, the Government wants to “reinforce the demands to ensure that all universities, public and private, are quality and sustainable projects”, with the aim of “guaranteeing the global quality of university centers, interchangeably from whether universities are public or private.”

With the new royal decree, a Mandatory and Binding Evaluation Report prepared by ANCA or the equivalent autonomous agencies, in addition to the report of the General Conference of University Policy that is currently required.

Virtual universities (with more than 80% of their teaching under virtual model) will be considered universities of special characteristics, having their territorial scope of action the entire State. Therefore, they can only be authorized with the approval of the General Courts.

Three doctoral programs and more research weight

Likewise, a minimum critical mass of 4,500 students will be required in the first five years of exercise, as well as Three doctoral programs Instead of two as until now, and it will be necessary that in the offer of degrees, master and doctorate they are represented three of the five great branches of knowledge.

In addition to the requirement already established in the previous regulations of allocating 5% of the annual budget of the University to Research, the requirement to obtain resources in equivalent research and research contracts of the equivalent 2% of the university annual budget.

Also reinforces the economic solvency guarantees of the project, since a Banking guaranteeor other similar legal instrument, to reliably demonstrate the availability of sufficient economic resources to support the project

With the new royal decree, universities undertake to have a minimum capacity of Student Accommodation andQuivalent to 10% of the places of students offered; and experience in university management will be required to their promoters, and will have more strict requirements in research.