Dean’s pronouncement regarding Spanish government’s announcement on the rise in tuition fees at university

Coat of arms.
Coat of arms.
(23/04/2012)

On 20 April, the Board of Trustees, as the Spanish Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, José Ignacio Wert, had informed the press, approved different cost rationalisation measures that affect university education. One of these measures implies an increase in tuition fees of up to 66% of the current price, based on a model that allows autonomous communities to raise the cost of what students pay at public universities to a 25% of the estimated actual cost (currently it is estimated that they pay an average of 15% of the real cost).

Coat of arms.
Coat of arms.
23/04/2012

On 20 April, the Board of Trustees, as the Spanish Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, José Ignacio Wert, had informed the press, approved different cost rationalisation measures that affect university education. One of these measures implies an increase in tuition fees of up to 66% of the current price, based on a model that allows autonomous communities to raise the cost of what students pay at public universities to a 25% of the estimated actual cost (currently it is estimated that they pay an average of 15% of the real cost).

In this regard, the rector of the University of Barcelona, Dr. Dídac Ramírez, wants to express:

 
1.        His aspiration for a university policy that faces the needs and plans of improvement of the public university. Aisolated, sporadic and partial measures that do not take into account the different problematics of the university are not the path that an efficient university policy should follow to achieve quality and improvement objectives in the public service that they represent.
 
2.        His position against the approved increase, for its dimension (qualitative change in the way tuition fees are increased), its proceedings (without having consulted it, discussed it and without the participation of the universities), the absence of future guarantees offered in terms of grants (the Ministryʼs budget has dropped) or other paths that enable the social (distributive) justice of the measure.
 
3.        With this political measure the public university moves away from the continental European university and may also move away from its objective of quality and public service, which allows everybody (with capacity, vocation and talent) to access it, regardless of their origin.
 
4.        His determination to guarantee that any student who wants to study at the University of Barcelona and shows the merits to do so may access the University and that their social and economic situation many not be a disadvantage. 
 
Therefore, the dean of the UB expresses his disagreement with the form and the content of the approved measure, so that universities can take part in the decision process in all aspects regarding tasks, financing, priorities and quality parameters of the public university, as the university autonomy envisages. In this respect, he offers loyal and responsible collaboration to all public administrations, in this case, to the Minstry of Education, Culture and Sports, to work and discuss a university policy that is not a consequence of aisolated and non-agreed measures.
 
A collaboration that will always reject announcements aimed at stigmatising public university with inaccurate, ambiguous, or even wrong, data regarding our management, results or members of the university community.
 

The University of Barcelona, as the first public university in our country, works in a rigorous and responsible way to face the current crisis situation. Public administrations should become aware of the fact that higher education is not part of the problem and that they do not admit strategic cuts, as they are precisely one of the keys to move the country forward.