Speech by the President of the Government of Spain during his visit to the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT)

SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN, PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

Thank you very much, Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities, dear Diana; Fran, Government Delegate; Secretary of State for Science, Universities and Innovation; and, of course, the President of the CSIC; the Vice-Chancellor of the Autonomous University of Madrid; the Director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences; the President of the CRUE; and distinguished guests, good morning.

Today we are at one of Spain's leading centres for mathematical research, as the minister said earlier. And, moreover, at a particularly significant time for this Institute.

As Diana mentioned earlier, just a few days ago we learnt that the work carried out by Diego and Luis is behind new breakthroughs in solving one of the great unsolved problems in mathematics, namely determining whether the equations that describe the motion of fluids can, under certain conditions, cease to behave in a regular manner.

This research, which is the result of years of work - as Diego shared with us during our earlier discussion - illustrates, if anything, that the key lies in committing to knowledge over the long term, and in having conviction and determination in pursuing that goal.

And it reminds us why we need a university - a strong public university system - one that is not only capable of nurturing talent, which is essential, but also of supporting research and paving the way for others to follow.

It's true that - and I'll be honest with you - these are not good times, it has to be said, for the public university system. Over the last decade, as we saw recently in the media, the number of students enrolled at public universities has risen by just 3 per cent, whilst at private universities it has risen by no less than 128 per cent. And in postgraduate studies - master's programmes - it's more of the same. The number of students in private universities has tripled and now exceeds the number in public universities.

The question, therefore, is: Why are public universities losing ground to private universities? It is true that for decades, Spain's public universities have been a story of success and progress - the story of thousands of Spanish families who saw their sons and daughters gain access to higher education for the first time; few institutions better embody what is colloquially referred to as the 'social mobility ladder'.

But what is causing this situation to change? There are three main reasons. The first is, of course, underfunding, which we have discussed and debated at length over the past period with the CRUE and, consequently, with the university vice-chancellors. The underfunding of many public universities, resulting from policy decisions taken by the relevant governments - which have fewer resources at their disposal - ultimately leads to poorer infrastructure, fewer teaching staff and fewer places. And, unfortunately, we see this happening in many autonomous communities, following the same pattern and using the same approach: demanding more and more from the public sector whilst giving it less and less.

In the Autonomous Community of Madrid, out of 20 universities, 14 are now private and only six are public. And in Castile and León too, not far from here, out of nine universities, five are private. This is, if you'll pardon the pun, the 'planned obsolescence' of the public sector. First, it deteriorates, then, the supply is reduced; and, finally, the private sector is presented as the only alternative. And this is not by chance. It is a pattern, a method, a strategy that we are very familiar with, because, incidentally, we see it in other pillars of the welfare state as well, such as the public health service.

Funding from the General State Administration, on the other hand, has - I am referring to direct funding - increased by no less than 78 per cent since 2018. Today, public universities receive more than 600 million euros for research projects - such as those mentioned earlier by the minister - from the State Research Agency, and we have launched the María Goyri Programme to recruit academic staff, which last year alone allocated no less than 100 million euros. We have also allocated nearly 1.3 billion euros in grants for the 2025-2026 academic year, 42 per cent more than in 2018. We have therefore made up a great deal of lost ground. We have reinstated the Séneca grants, which were abolished in 2013; they are now, of course, known by a different name: the Luisa Medrano grants. What's more, we have increased their number and value, raising their budget by 90 per cent.

And we are doing the same with the UNED, the only university that comes under the General State Administration. The multi-annual plan for 2026 to 2029, which we approved last April, will increase central government funding to 169 million euros. And so, this is, we are talking about, the largest investment ever made by the General State Administration in our public university, the UNED. To give us an idea, this is double the amount that was invested in 2018. Consequently, there is underfunding.

The second reason. I believe that public universities are also linked to the unmet demand for places. In 2024 and 2025, public universities offering face-to-face courses received almost half a million first-choice applications for just over 245,000 places, which works out at almost two applications per place. Many young people want to study at public universities, but cannot find a place; and there are countless examples we can all see around us - amongst our friends - of how, unfortunately, this shortage of places in the state system is driving a great many students in our country towards private universities. When supply, therefore, fails to keep pace with demand, entry requirements rise, many students are left out and, as a result, financial means begin to carry more weight than merit. This creates a cycle - a vicious one, in my view - which, in the absence of public university places, effectively pushes many students towards the private sector; this growth is then presented as a supposed preference on the part of families. But a choice forced by a lack of alternatives is not a choice; it is coercion, and it is a form of coercion which clearly fails to guarantee the equality of opportunity that the entire education system is meant to ensure.

So, what should the answer be? Ours is at least to increase the supply and expand it. For this reason, during this period and within the special budget allocated, for example, to the UNED, there is a substantial allocation that will enable the creation of more than 20,000 new places by 2029.

And the third reason for understanding what is happening is that some universities have emerged offering what might be described as questionable quality, which are taking advantage of this situation to make a profit. And we put it in very plain terms: a university cannot be a fly-by-night operation or a franchise that churns out university degrees. It must deliver on what the minister said earlier: high-quality teaching, rigorous research and appropriate training. Universities have always been a beacon for our societies, and we must not, therefore, allow them to become a mass-market business.

And that is why, last year - and I would also like to congratulate the minister on this, because a great deal of important work was done to engage in dialogue with the entire university community, particularly with the CRUE, whom I would also like to thank for their work and efforts - we tightened the requirements for establishing and recognising new universities, and we have followed through on this: since October, to give you an idea, any new university project must allocate at least 5 per cent of its budget to research. Furthermore, every newly established university - and I mean every one - will have to ensure that at least 50 per cent of its academic staff hold a PhD and that at least 60 per cent have a track record in research.

Clearly, we wish to take further steps in this direction, and for that reason - and I would like to thank the minister for giving me the opportunity to present this here today, at this prestigious university centre of excellence in the public sector - I would like to announce today that we will begin the process of drafting a new Royal Decree, on which we will be working with the CRUE and, naturally, with the student body as well; this Decree will set out new requirements to ensure that every degree programme is underpinned by high-quality university education.

And what will this actually mean in practice? Well, the proposal we will be sharing with the educational community is as follows: we will be tightening the requirements for teaching staff on each university degree programme. 50 per cent of teachers must hold a PhD and 40 per cent must be on full-time contracts. And in doing so, we will not only improve the quality of teaching, but we will also tackle job insecurity, which, unfortunately, is also a problem in this sector.

Secondly, as the minister said earlier: we must require people to attend in person where necessary, particularly in sectors such as, for example, healthcare. And so, what we are going to do is prevent certain private universities from taking advantage of the growing demand for these degree programmes and the lack of sufficient places at public universities to massively expand their online provision, without guaranteeing the logical and necessary standards of quality and face-to-face teaching.

Clearly, we are doing all this because a university degree should be of value regardless of where it is studied, who studies for it, or what family background the student comes from. What is at stake, I believe, is that studying in Spain continues to open up the same opportunities for everyone, and that society continues to place its trust in those who graduate from our classrooms.

It is clear that there are other options, other approaches, which aim to create a sort of 'low-cost' airline: to gradually get us used to the idea that basic services are no longer included (such as checking in a suitcase or sitting with our family or friends). They want to turn what used to be commonplace into an add-on, and what used to be a guarantee into a commodity - into a business. We do not want this 'low-cost' approach when it comes to fundamental rights, such as, for example, our children's education. And that 'low-cost' model - well, clearly we don't want it for our university, nor for our children's higher education, and, of course, not for the future of research in our country.

On that note, I will now conclude my speech. I said at the start that these are not good times for public universities, but we also know that hard times do not last forever - especially when there is a society like ours that is prepared to defend what belongs to everyone. For this reason we will not let our guard down. On the contrary, we will continue to redouble our efforts. And, of course, as long as we have this minister, this ministry and, naturally, this government, we will fight to ensure that the University system remains one of the main drivers of social mobility, equality and - why not say it - the future, in terms of consolidating and improving our democratic system.

That is all and thank you very much.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)