The Plenary of the Congress of Deputies has definitively approved this Thursday the Organic Law Project of the University System (Losu) after voting on the amendments approved by the Senate. With 182 votes in favor, 157 against and eight abstentions, the third university democracy reform has gone ahead, which replaces the Lou of 2001.
As Minister Joan Subirats explained after the debate in plenary, the objective of the new regulation is "to face the current challenges of the change of era", in which universities must "generate critical knowledge and continue to be pillars to preserve pluralism ideological". The Losu sets itself the goal of achieving financing of 1% of GDP (currently it is 0.7%), although the regional governments and the rectors denounce that the funds are not guaranteed and that it is a mere "declaration of intent".
The text begun by Manuel Castells and finished by Joan Subirats leaves enough freedom to the universities to adopt the changes they consider in their statutes. It also gives more powers to the autonomous communities, as the deputies Josune Gorospe (PNV) and Marta Rosique (ERC) have celebrated. These two parties have voted in favor of the norm together with the PSOE, Unidas Podemos, Más País, Compromís, Teruel Existe and PdeCAT, while the PP, Vox, Ciudadanos, UPN, PRC and BNG have voted against. Junts, Bildu and CC have abstained.
The spokesperson for PP Universities, María Jesús Moro, recalled that this law "does not please anyone", because the rectors and even the director of Aneca herself have denounced that "it goes against the principles of merit, equality and capacity ", "does not guarantee the necessary financing", "does not solve the problems of the university" and "breaks institutional neutrality".
The deputy of the PSOE Roberto García Morís has defended, for his part, that the Losu will allow "establishing a more predictable academic career", "facilitates the rejuvenation of the staff" and will regulate the situation of 25,000 associate professors who were in a "precarious" situation.
These are the most important measurements of the Losu:
The Losu has changed considerably during its parliamentary process to face the demands of ERC. The most controversial is the one that establishes as one of the "fundamental functions" of the faculty (highest body of representation and participation of the university community) that of "analyzing and debating issues of special importance". The deputy Rosique revealed that it was the key to avoid future judicial sentences such as those that have already condemned the University of Barcelona and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia for "positioning themselves on issues of profound political relevance and affectation in their environment" when they gave their support to the process The Supreme Court has established that the universities "are subject to the principle of predicable neutrality of all public Administration", therefore they cannot issue this type of pronouncement. The Losu, therefore, contradicts the TS. Even the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, has threatened to take this part of the law to the Constitutional Court, together with the financing.
Another achievement of ERC is that it will be the regional quality agencies, and not Aneca, that have the possibility of evaluating the candidates who want to apply for a civil servant position, which will cause there to be different criteria depending on the CCAA. The outgoing director of Aneca, Mercedes Siles, has said that this measure will cause "no homogeneity" because "different criteria" will be established based on the specific interests of the regional governments.
ERC has also achieved the Erasmus in co-official languages, that Catalan is the official language of teaching, research and transfer, that the obligation that teachers have to communicate in which language they teach their class is recognized (so that students can denounce them if they do not do in Catalan), or more funds for those who use the co-official languages.
And they also gain powers for "automatic recognition of studies" of students from other European regions, one more step to give these communities the rank of country. "Our country", understood as "nation", is a term that has disappeared from the Losu during its phase of amendments in Congress.
On the other hand, the ability of the General Conference on University Policy, a forum for agreement between the Government and the autonomous regions, to establish maximum limits on the prices of tuition paid by universities is eliminated. Regions such as Catalonia and the Basque Country strengthen their skills in their scholarship programs.
Among other "achievements" of ERC is also the "equalization of labor personnel with the official." Two paths are established, the official one and a parallel labor one. Those hired will have the same rights as civil servants and there may be labor professors and tenured labor professors, as already exists in Catalonia or the Basque Country. The unions see it as a "covert privatization of the university" and a way to "place those on the rope, which will create client networks linked to the government of the day." According to Ramón Caballero, head of Universities of the CSIF union, "the employment of staff is encouraged while university teaching bodies tend to be dismantled, which will cause duplication, curb mobility and increase precariousness, discrimination and inequality between groups".
Until now, universities had to have 51% of the staff made up of civil servants. Now this percentage has been eliminated and it is said that there must be a majority but computed in full-time equivalence, which, in practice, reduces this percentage, because "there are many professors, for example associates, who are not hired full time complete".
The rectors will no longer be considered the "highest academic authority" of the university and will be chosen by direct election by weighted universal suffrage of all members of the university community. That idea of Manuel Castells that they could be selected by an external committee with experts, as is done on the best campuses in the world, has not come to fruition. Their requirements have also been lowered: they will no longer have to be professors as up to now and they will no longer have to meet specific merits, but each campus will set the criteria it considers. The duration of his mandate will be six non-extendable and non-renewable years (now there were four). However, a PSOE amendment approved at the last moment in the Senate says that, until the universities approve their new statutes, the candidate must prove at least three six-year research periods, three five-year teaching periods and four years of management experience.
In accessing the teaching career, external control is eliminated, since PhD assistant professors will not have to be accredited by Aneca and their evaluation remains in the hands of the campus selection committees. On the other hand, university professors will have to take a teacher training course before starting to teach, as is done in non-university education.
The law obliges to reduce temporary contracts from the current 40% to 8%, in tune with the EU, for which it obliges universities to call merit contests to make 25,000 part-time professors permanent, who have been struggling for years with very poorly paid contracts. But this group has gone on strike because they do not see that there is a specific budget item in the law nor are common criteria set, since each university will be able to establish what it deems appropriate. In addition, the medical assistants fear that the associates will take their position.
Students will be able to request "the residence permit for the entire duration of the studies and one more year", instead of having to renew it annually as now. And the limbo in which more than 1,000 foreign psychologists found themselves who were not allowed to practice in Spain has also been resolved in the Senate. As soon as it comes into force, they will have the possibility of validating their studies or accessing the Spanish master's degree to complete them. Now his degree was not valid in our country. In addition, a new figure of "distinguished" professors is created to attract talent from outside, although it is not clear that they can be paid more.
People without a university degree but who prove work experience with a level of competence equivalent to university education will be able to access permanent university education through a procedure for recognition of professional experience. Universities will be able to offer specific and quick training, the so-called microcredentials. In line with the Anglo-Saxon model, interdisciplinary degrees, dual mentions (careers with internships in companies), university degrees and open itineraries are allowed for students to create à la carte careers.
Women will have "preference" over men to be hired at public universities even if they have the same merits. "In equal conditions of suitability", the sex less represented in the teaching body or category in question will be chosen. Parity is sought in the research teams, in the collegiate bodies and in all the selection and evaluation commissions. In addition, projects with a gender perspective are favored and the role of equality and diversity units, which already work in a large number of universities, is reinforced.
The new Law on Universities prevents the halls of residence attached to the public university from separating by sex. These residences will have to become mixed if they do not want to lose tax exemptions and their participation in the cultural and sports life of the universities to which they are attached. Of the 109 residence halls in Spain, 50 are mixed; the rest differentiate between men and women. This change was made in Congress at the request of an amendment by Más País after the macho cries at the Elías Ahuja boys' college in Madrid, attached to the Complutense University.
The Losu recognizes the right of students to strike, which means that they will be entitled to call academic strikes and will not be required to take exams or undergo evaluations during that time. In Congress, the duty of striking students to "guarantee the right to education" of their classmates who want to go to class has been eliminated, which in practice allows them to boycott them.
Scholarships are also established as a "subjective right" of students, and it has been included that the student's "national and ethnic origin" may also be a criterion for receiving aid along with their socioeconomic situation.
Another wink for students is the amendment that says that, when the Government designs the new Selectividad, it will be obliged to count on the State University Student Council, which is placed in this matter at the same level as the General Conference on University Policy, although both have conflicting interests.
The Losu will enter into force 20 days after it is published in the BOE. The rectors had complained that they did not have time to undertake all the changes, especially the new contests, so several moratoriums have been introduced in the Senate that give them a margin to continue obtaining places with the previous law until the end of this year, although This period is considered insufficient by the rectors, especially to enable funds for hiring. In the large universities, promotion contests are going to be mixed with those for the stabilization of associates, which is going to be chaotic.
There is also a margin until September 2024 for the campuses to adapt the dedication regime of their permanent teaching and research staff. Losu sets a fork that may mean fewer teaching hours in some cases and, given that difficulties may arise in the restructuring, it has been preferred to save time.
All these changes slow down the implementation of the Losu, which the PP has promised to repeal if it governs again. The deadlines are only expedited after the approval in the Senate of an ERC amendment that reduces from one year to six months the time that the Government has to present a Statute for University Teaching and Research Personnel. But, with the general election also on the horizon, that is unlikely to materialise.
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