The Spanish university lives immersed in a process of continuous transformation that has accelerated in recent years. In general terms, and despite the fact that there is great room for improvement in specific aspects of the model, our university system can boast that it enjoys social recognition. This is confirmed by the CYD Barometer, which measures society’s perception of higher education and according to which 81% of citizens consider it to be good or very good. On the contrary, almost half of those surveyed ensure that the training received in university classrooms is far from the needs of the labor market. Undoubtedly, one of the great challenges of the future.
With the desire to better understand the road map of our university system, ‘Dialogues in La Vanguardia’ brought together three leading experts who live first-hand the evolution of the university in Spain: EloÃsa del Pino, president of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), MatÃas RodrÃguez Inciarte, president of Santander Universities and vice president of Universia and Rosa Visiedo, rector of the CEU San Pablo University.
The three participated last May in the V International Meeting of Universia Rectors, organized by Banco Santander, which brought together around 700 rectors and university leaders from 14 countries, representatives of politics, business and national and international institutions in Valencia. international. A forum in which, among other conclusions, the importance of international cooperation between university systems was highlighted as a key element for the future. But there are many more that emerged during the conversation between the three experts.
For EloÃsa del Pino, “the university continues to be a place that we aspire to reach, an important place that has undergone many changes in recent years, to which must be added the effects of the pandemic, the incorporation of new technologies” and the eternal debate that we always have on the table of what the role of the university should beâ€. Between doubts and conflicting opinions, there is a general agreement that part of that role has to be training. Something that seems obvious, but that contains a deeper reflection on whether the centers should focus their efforts on the typical undergraduate and postgraduate training or have to assume a greater role in continuous training. Del Pino assured that “I think that now we are moving towards this second option with the implementation of micro-credentials by the Ministry of Universities and in the context of the European Union.”
Rosa Visiedo affirmed that this misperception about the capacity of university centers to prepare young people for the labor market does not correspond to some official figures. “If we analyze the data, the unemployment rate among young people with basic training is around 30%, while this figure among university graduates stands at 10%. These 20 difference points indicate that having higher education is always a source of opportunities also in employment. The university trains you to practice a profession, but it also prepares you for lifeâ€, assured the rector.
In the opinion of MatÃas RodrÃguez, “the university is fulfilling a role within society that is not sufficiently recognizedâ€. For the president of Santander Universities, proof of this lack of attention is manifested in “that the investment allocated in Spain to higher education is much lower than that of other neighboring countries”. Specifically, “there is 19% less investment in Spain per student than the OECD average.”
These deficiencies are also observed in the resources allocated to research. “While neighboring countries allocate an average of 2.6% of GDP, in Spain the percentage is much lower and stands at 1.4%,” lamented RodrÃguez. Why does this situation occur? For this expert there is no doubt: “Governments pay all their attention to what is urgent as opposed to what is important.” A convinced European, the head of Santander Universities highlighted “initiatives such as the European Higher Education Area, promoted by President Macron, are going in the right direction.” The supranational component “must be present in this type of movement that provides financing, interrelation, internationalization and cooperation in the university space. There are four dimensions that must be deepened â€, he concluded.
The financial crisis of the 2008-2010 period put the commitments made with research centers like the CSIC against the ropes. “Fortunately, today we are living in a moment in which science is once again committed toâ€, affirmed the president of the CSIC. Adding public and private funding, “money allocated to science will reach 3% of GDP in 2030,” according to the agreement supported by all political parties in Congress.
For her part, the rector of the CEU San Pablo University claimed that private centers that are committed to research “can choose to obtain public resources in a competition in which each participant shows their merits.” For now, most of these public competitions are closed to private universities.
The international rankings that rate the excellence of university centers is one of the moments in which citizens believe they have information that allows us to compare the quality of Spanish universities with those of the rest of the world. Among all the indexes, the most popular is the one known as the Shanghai Ranking that is published every year by most of the media. In 2022, the first Spanish university was above position 150.
However, the experts summoned by La Vanguardia demand a deeper and more knowledgeable look at the reality of this type of classification and claim the results obtained by the Spanish centers are very positive. One of the factors that determine the position of universities in these rankings has to do with funding. In this sense, MatÃas RodrÃguez assured that “a study reveals that the first 100 universities in the rankings have twice the funding per student than the 100 centers that follow them and these differences are maintained in the rest of the rankings”, the president clarified. from Santander Universities. “If we take into account that Spanish universities are underfunded, the position they occupy is very outstandingâ€, he stated. In addition, “when we go deeper and look at specific degrees, we can see that Spanish universities are among the best in the world.”
Along these lines, Rosa Visiedo clarified that if we delve into the Shanghai Ranking “we can verify that in 28 academic disciplines we have Spanish universities among the top 100 in the world.” The rector claimed that “as a system we must improve our communication capacity to explain where we are in the world scene.” Despite the deficiencies, the university leader claimed the importance of measuring “because it helps you to set improvement objectives.” The ranking produced annually by Crue Universidades Españolas maintains that “we are eleventh as a system of scientific production worldwide and ninth in terms of most cited researchers”.
EloÃsa del Pino recalled that it is estimated that there are between 25,000 and 30,000 universities in the world “and we have numerous Spanish centers among the 500 most prominent according to various rankings, which means that we are well positioned.” On the other hand, the president of the CSIC highlighted that “in the Shanghai Ranking, for example, you lose 30% of your score if you do not count among your researchers or graduates Nobel laureates or winners of a Fields medal in mathematics.”
Another element to improve the Spanish university system is closely linked to the elimination of bureaucratic obstacles. MatÃas RodrÃguez explained that “when you approach the university coming from the business world, you realize the large number of barriers that must be overcome to carry out an action that in the private sector would be resolved quickly and naturallyâ€.
The president of Santander Universities recalled that we live in a world in which “it is impossible to know what professions we are going to need in 5 years”. You have to react quickly. However, to approve a new degree “between one and a half and two years pass from when you have the idea until it is implemented,” confessed the rector of the CEU San Pablo University. From the CSIC, her president revealed that “we have launched five administrative simplification processes” to move forward.
RodrÃguez recalled the importance of cooperation and international relations between universities to identify and face the challenges that higher education has posed. The expert stressed that “at Santander we have been collaborating with universities for 26 years, we have allocated 2,200 million euros and established relationships with 1,300 universities in 24 countries, which greatly facilitates intercommunication.”
This global perspective makes it easier to detect deficiencies such as the gender gap in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) that only have a percentage of 20% of women among their students. For EloÃsa del Pino, a very similar situation is observed in the world of research, which is especially alarming as time passes and women and men advance in their careers. Positive action policies are necessary to change this situation and to do so decisively and quickly.
One last point that stands out to address the future of higher education and increase its social value is closely related to the relationship between the university and companies. Issues such as the transfer of knowledge, the improvement of employability based on knowing the needs of companies and the need to facilitate continuous quality training for life are essential in the debate on the future of the university system.
The rector of the CEU San Pablo defended the role of the university in continuous training and “the need for companies and centers to dialogue more and be able to find models in which both parties win.” For her part, EloÃsa del Pino explained that “the university must be there for everyone and micro-credentials make it easier.”
Regarding the transfer of knowledge, the president of the CSIC stressed that “we have made a lot of progress in recent years.” In this sense, Del Pino highlighted that “before, the university investigated and then showed its achievements to companies with the hope that they would be interested. Now what we do is try to understand the needs of the two parties from the beginningâ€, she highlighted. Visiedo stressed that “an entrepreneurial society needs a university that is capable of transferring that spirit to the young people it is training.” While RodrÃguez considered essential “that the centers are capable of inoculating the innovative gene to their students so that they can then take it to their companies.” The ability to adapt to changes will probably be the most demanded skill.
