The so-called “lost decade” for universities – that of 2010 – is dragging on in the Community of Madrid. In 2009, the Government dedicated 1,058 million euros to chapter IV of the higher education section of the public budgets, the one dedicated to current transfers, the main income of universities. The draft budget for 2025 published by the Executive of Isabel Díaz Ayuso states that the same item will be 1,122 million euros 15 years later. There are 66 million more, an increase of 6%, when life (the CPI) has increased by 34%, according to the INE.
In real terms, maintain the rectors of the six public centers, the Madrid campuses have had a “decline in the financing of universities” for 15 years. This will be the main argument that the leaders (Joaquín Goyache, from the Complutense; Ángel Arias, from the Carlos III; Javier Ramos, from the Rey Juan Carlos; Amaya Mendikoetxea, from the Autonomous; José Vicente Saz, from the Alcalá; and , starting this Friday, the newly elected Óscar García, from the Polytechnic) will take to the meeting they have with the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
Ayuso has called them for next Tuesday the 3rd after, in an unprecedented gesture, the six universities agreed to approve two joint statements in which they denounce the “underfinancing” that suffocates them and prevents them, they say, not only from normal functioning or ensure the quality of the system, but simply comply with the new university law (LOSU). At that meeting, the six rectors will demand more money from the president (the initial calculation was 200 million extra euros, the essential is estimated at around 45 million, according to sources from the Conference of Rectors of Universities of Madrid) and that a multi-year financing model that allows universities to work in the medium term with a forecast of the funds they will be able to manage, a model that already works in the majority of autonomous communities.
A 15-year setback
The situation is “critical” in Madrid’s public universities, say the rectors, who with the financing they receive from the Community can barely cover 80% of their staff’s salaries. During the last few years, the leaders had chosen a strategy of non-confrontation – public at least –, in the hope that individual negotiations would have an effect. It has not happened, and given the confirmation of a “progressive reduction in income without signs of improvement”, they have changed tactics and have decided to raise their voices, and do so jointly.
The approval last Thursday of the two statements – one more institutional and generic, the other an open letter with specific data – was done simultaneously and through the governing councils of the universities, entities where the entire university community is represented, a gesture that gives more substance to the protest. Furthermore, it was the second time in a few months that there was a common protest. Last April, the rectors organized a public event whose sole purpose was to send a message to the regional government: the universities are drowning.
The data seems to agree with the rectors. Although Chapter IV includes an increase in budgets, no matter how small, according to the universities, the part that the Community of Madrid contributes from that item, the so-called nominative transfer, is today lower than in 2009. In any case, even counting The entire increase is less than the cost of living. For some universities, the figure is lower in hard and fast euros: in 2009 the Complutense received a total of 418 million euros for Chapter IV; in 2024 there were 403 million. Fifteen million less, without counting the CPI.
In that same period, the budgets of the Community of Madrid have gone from 17,689 million euros to 27,624 million, an increase of 56%. If the weight of the university had remained constant in the budgets, public universities would have received 1,624.36 million euros in 2024 instead of the 1,122.37 million euros contributed.
The worst financed
If the analysis of Madrid’s own data supports the “regression” in financing that the rectors denounce, the comparison with other regions does not fare much better for the Ayuso Government. An analysis by CCOO corroborates the idea, which university leaders also leave black and white, that Madrid is the community that finances its campuses the worst, despite being the richest in per capita income.
The Ayuso Executive is 21% below the average in spending per student, according to the CCOO report based on data from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU). “Despite the fact that its per capita income is 36.5% higher than the national average (…), Madrid was at the bottom in 2023 with an investment of 5,473 euros per student, compared to the average of 6,777 euros, and far behind the 8,750 euros of Navarra. If Madrid wanted to appear simply in the average, it would have to allocate a transfer of 1,383 million euros to the universities. If it aspired to be on par with Navarra, the amount should increase to 1,786 million euros,” explains the union.
The Community of Madrid could argue that the Madrid centers compensate for this lack of financing with greater income from public fees, an argument that the rectors do not like either.
The most expensive
Because that is because it is the one with the most expensive public prices along with Navarra. CCOO has collected the data from the Statistics of University Public Prices for the 2023-24 academic year of the MCIU. “The highest average prices for first undergraduate registration are concentrated in the Foral Community of Navarra (19.29 euros), the Community of Madrid (18.54 euros) and Catalonia (18.14 euros). As a counterpoint, the lowest average credit prices are found in Galicia (11.70 euros), Asturias (12.34 euros), the Canary Islands (12.5 euros) and Andalusia (12.62 euros),” the union maintains. Madrid is 61% more expensive than Galicia. The situation is similar for master’s degrees, whether they are qualifying or not.
Breaking the law
Another consequence of (poor) campus funding is that universities risk breaking the law, rectors warn. Doubly added CCOO.
The most immediate is the part related to the hiring of personnel. “In compliance with the LOSU, the teaching dedication of some categories of teachers has had to be reduced, without having been able to hire the number of teaching staff necessary to compensate for this reduction, given the precarious economic situation described and the limitation of staff at the rate. replacement”, describes the letter from the rectors.
As if that were not enough, they regret, the Community of Madrid has for the moment declined to take advantage of a program through which the Ministry of Universities is willing (although it is not its responsibility) to finance the hiring of 3,400 extra professors for universities of throughout Spain, with the condition that the communities finance another 800. “Nothing has come to fruition in the Community of Madrid – nor has any alternative been proposed to us,” laments the communiqué from the rectors.
On the other hand, the LOSU sets the objective of allocating at least 1% of GDP to public spending on university education and at this time Madrid allocates 0.4% of the community’s GDP to its public centers. At least Madrid is not alone in this: the national average is 0.55%.
Nothing for infrastructure
There is exactly nothing that is planned in the budgets for infrastructure maintenance, but in the eyes of the rectors it is quite similar. It is “alarming that the annual allocation for investments has been frozen since 2014 at only 7.6 million euros for the six public universities,” they maintain in their letter. This contrasts drastically with the 640 million euros allocated in the 2007-2011 investment plan (…). This figure is clearly insufficient to meet the needs of the spaces used daily by nearly 30,000 teachers and researchers, and technical, management, administration and service personnel, along with approximately 220,000 students. The lack of investment seriously compromises the conditions necessary to guarantee an adequate environment for teaching, learning and research,” they warn.
And the quality?
The lack of investment is a serious threat to the quality of public service, the rectors warn, a concern that is not clear will be echoed in next Tuesday’s meeting with a president who validates universities in office buildings.
“This lack of resources puts at risk the investments necessary to modernize and expand our training offer, renew and consolidate our staff and improve essential infrastructure to guarantee a quality public service. The university, and higher education in general, are a common good that drives both individual and collective progress, at the service of the entire society. Our public universities are a productive asset in which we must continue investing,” the leaders implore.
But the rectors know that the president is embarked on a crusade against her public universities, which she accuses of being taken on the left, especially the Complutense. That is why they also try to appeal to the benefits that a strong university system has for the region and the dark future that arises.
“If the current situation is critical, in a few years it could become catastrophic, which will put us at a clear disadvantage with other Autonomous Communities. These other regions have implemented multi-year financing models, reversing the cuts of the financial crisis and enhancing their capacities in training, research and innovation, while the Community of Madrid continues to lag behind, compromising its academic and scientific future. Financing higher education is not an expense, but a strategic investment that benefits both citizens and the regional and national productive fabric. In a region like Madrid, public universities are essential to train and attract talent, generate knowledge, drive economic progress, promote scientific and technological innovation, and create wealth. More than educational institutions, public universities represent a common good that must be protected and supported by the political class and the society they serve. Its excellence in research and teaching is not achieved improvised, but through constant investment and years of dedication and effort on the part of the university community,” they conclude.
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