Nearly four million euros of university funding have been left in limbo because the Government of Castilla y León has delayed for months the signing of the ‘María Goyri Program’ agreement with the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities to hire more than 400 teachers doctor assistants in the next six academic years. The agreement had to have been signed from September until December 4 for the Ministry to pay the proportional part corresponding to 2024; but as was later signed, neither the Board nor the Ministry agree on what will happen with that amount.
Until this Thursday, December 5, the Government Council of the autonomous community has not given way to the agreement with the Ministry, which makes it impossible to use the spending for the months corresponding to 2024. In total, what was assigned in the agreement for this year amounted to 3,429,558 euros, money that the universities of Valladolid, Salamanca, Burgos and León do not know if they will be able to use or not, since the two governments disagree on whether the funds will be available. funds or not. The Ministry of Education has indicated to elDiario.es that the deadlines were the same for all communities and that there are those who signed in a timely manner, like Asturias, and were able to already use the planned expense and that it is the responsibility of those who have not done so until now.
The agreement aims to alleviate staffing problems in public universities and help them comply with the Losu, for which it will create 445 PhD Assistant Professor positions between 2025 and 2031: 178 at the University of Salamanca, 152 at the University of Valladolid, 61 at the University of Burgos and 54 at the University of León. The signed agreement is valid for four years with the possibility of extension for another three years. The Government of Spain will finance the hiring of 269 doctoral assistant professors and the Government of Castilla y León, for its part, will finance another 176 positions and will have to assume the payroll of the positions paid by the ministry when their contracts expire, within six years.
University sources have told elDiario.es that in November the Junta de Castilla y León confirmed – reluctantly – that it would sign the agreement with the Ministry after the four public universities urged the Junta de Castilla y León to sign since September. and be able to have the funds and hire staff. Until the public controversy of the minister, Diana Morant, with the Community of Madrid, the Junta de Castilla y León did not activate the signing of the agreement, ratified this Thursday electronically by the four rectors and both governments.
The Junta de Castilla y León assures that it does not lose financing
Sources from the Ministry of Education assure that no funding is lost. “If something had been received in the month of December 2024, no place could be attributed to the program with the requirements set by the Ministry and, therefore, it should be returned with interest,” they point out from the area that directs the ‘popular ‘Rocío Lucas.
The Junta de Castilla y León points out that it “guarantees” that the doctor assistant positions at the public universities of Castilla y León attributable to this program will be covered in the first quarter of 2025 “as has been agreed between all parties and foreseen.” the agreement of the General Conference of University Policy.” At that time the Ministry will provide the necessary funds to finance these places and from the following courses onwards the Autonomous Community will do so.
The Minister of Education assured in the plenary session of the Cortes that they have worked for “months” on the agreement, which has been signed after carrying out “some pending procedures.” “In 2024 they could not be executed because we are in November or December and they would allow those funds to be returned with interest. No losing funds, but no returning them with interest,” insisted Rocío Lucas, who acknowledged that this year [las universidades] They couldn’t summon any staff. “It will be in 2025 when we make the corresponding hires,” he announced.
The spokesman for the Junta de Castilla y León, Carlos Fernández Carriedo, has denied that any Government contribution will be renounced. “What we have decided with the universities is that it is better to apply from 2025 to 2031 for the global amount. We are not going to give up any of the funds, we will implement it next year and we will spend everything planned,” concluded the Minister of Economy and Finance, who has made a calculation that the agreement itself does not delve into, which he has had access to this diary.
18 million euros more in 2031
According to Fenández Carriedo’s estimates, in the last year of the agreement, the Government of Spain will contribute eleven million euros in this program and another seven will be paid by the regional government. In the following year, the 18 million euros will be provided by Castilla y León.
Fernández Carriedo has criticized that the Government plans to finance part of the hiring until 2031, when the Junta de Castilla y León will have to pay it in full. “From then on, the teachers are hired and cannot be fired; and someone will have to finance them. If the Government does not do it, it will have to be the Junta de Castilla y León, it is not going to leave them stranded,” he stated before the media, to whom he insisted, before comparing this situation with that of Education from 0 to 3 years: “We are living the ‘I invite and you pay’. The Government approves a series of regulations that involve communities and the communities are the ones who pay.”
In the regional parliament, the Socialist Group asked the Minister of Education about this issue. The socialist spokesperson for Education, Fernando Pablos, rejected that the universities of Castilla y León are the fifth worst financed in Spain and that they have not yet developed sections of the LOSU such as the figure of the permanent employment professor or that spending on universities is still far away to reach 1% of the regional GDP, among others.
“He has come to say that the 14 communities that have signed have made fools of themselves. But what nonsense is that? How can you tell the representatives of all the autonomous communities that they have done wrong by signing? They have not done their homework and this year at least they are going to have less money than they could have for teachers,” concluded the socialist spokesperson.
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