The University of Oviedo, a “public oasis” in an increasingly privatized system – Nortes | Focused on the periphery

Madrid and Barcelona They have the worst funded public universities in Spain since their regional governments invest around 5,500 euros per student, a figure very far from the 9,000 or 8,000 euros provided by the the Basque Country either Cantabria. This underfinancing contrasts with its public prices, which are the highest.

These are conclusions from the latest report of the Knowledge and Development Foundation (CYD)an entity not exactly suspected of leftism, its president is the banker Ana Botínwhich has prepared the study using data from 2022.

The foundation’s report does not leave a bad impression on the University of Oviedo/Uviéu. It is the sixth best-financed Spanish public university in the country, with a contribution from the Principality of 7,894 euros per student. Uniovi It is also the eighth with the lowest public prices per student in all of Spain. In fact, enrollment has been frozen for five years, after a long mobilization of its students, later transferred in 2019 to the autonomous budgets of the Principality by the parliamentary group of We can Asturias. The president Adrian Barbon He has also announced that his desire throughout this term is to make tuition even cheaper and extend free tuition to students with lower incomes.

Added to this good state of financing is the prestige of the institution. The University of Oviedo/Uviéu is among the 900 best rated in the world according to what is known as Shanghai ranking that makes the Academic Ranking of World Universities.s out of control.

Underfunded public and out of control private

The Knowledge and Development report points out that despite a certain recovery experienced after 2015, Spanish public universities have still not returned to the levels prior to the 2008 crisis and the subsequent cuts. And the 47 face-to-face public universities had income of 11,357 million euros in 2022 compared to expenses of 10,869 million, so they had practically no investment margin.

The University of Oviedo is among the 900 best rated in the world

The experts who prepared this document point out that “an additional effort is essential” to reach international standards, “since other countries have not experienced such a negative evolution as Spain in the last 15 years.”

According to the new University Law (LOSU), financing should represent 1% of GDP in 2030, but data from 2022 indicate that to achieve this investment, financing would have to be increased by almost 40% more.

The communities that best finance their universities were Rioja, Navarre and the the Basque Countrywhich exceeded 9,000 euros per student, while Madrid and Catalonia are below 6,000 euros per student.

Valencia and Cantabria They also financed their universities at levels close to 8,500 euros per student. Castile La Mancha, Estremadura, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Galicia and Asturias invested between 7,000 and 8,000 euros per student, while the universities of Castile and León, Andalusiaand Murcia They received between 6,400 and 6,800 euros.

Since 1998, private centers have tripled from 16 to 46

While the public system is not going through its best moment, private universities are experiencing an explosion partly related to this financial strangulation of their public competitors. Nothing seems coincidental. In communities like Madrid, private universities are twice as many as public ones, 13 compared to 6, and there are a dozen more in the pipeline.

Since the last public university was created in 1998, in Cartagenaprivate centers have tripled from 16 to 46. Private university students have increased from 13.3% in 2015 to 21.8% of those enrolled in a degree last year.

Asturies, without private universities for now, is no stranger to this growth of the sector. The Nebrija University aims to create a nursing degree in Avilesand the European University plans to disembark in Xixon with a campus and several degrees.