Spain’s investment in universities is lower than that of major Western countries. This is reflected in the latest study carried out by the CYD Foundationpresented this Wednesday, which details the challenges of public administrations to improve the education of young people.
According to this study, the total spending per university student in Spain was 17,300 euros in 2022. This figure is 19.5% lower than the OECD average ($22,828, approximately 21,500 euros) and 14.5% lower than the EU average ($21,486, approximately 20,200 euros).
Among the 33 countries analyzed, Spain appears twelfth from the bottom in terms of spending per university student. They are at the top of the ranking Luxembourg, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Canada and Norwayall above 29,000 euros.
Concerning the method of financing, Spain relies relatively more on private contributions than its European environment. Only 65.9% of spending on university higher education comes from public funds, compared to almost 76% in the EU as a whole.
Between 2015 and 2022, spending per student at Spanish universities increased by only 2.5% in real terms, well below the average increase in the OECD (9.7%) and the EU (11.4%).
The result is very different if we compare the situation of the different autonomous communities.
The public funding that the Autonomies allocate to their universities exceeds 10,000 euros per student in Cantabria, La Rioja, the Basque Country, Navarre and the Valencian Community. Above the state average, which is set at 8,626 euros.
At the opposite extremeMadrid is the community that funds the least each public university place, with 6,975 euros in transfers per studentsignificantly below average.
Madrid is at the same time the autonomy in which universities earn the most in tuition fees, public prices and other concepts per student: more than 2,000 euros per student. Compared to communities like Galicia, which barely exceeds 1,000 euros, or to territories like Basque Country, Andalusia or Canary Islandswith significantly less pressure on prices.
What does this mean? That the Madrid administration is the one that spends the least money per student and that the families of the region are the ones that put the most money out of their pockets.
Of course, this outlay does not necessarily cost the same for all families, since it depends on their level of income.
Thus, if the financing of universities is linked to the wealth of each region, Cantabria, Valencian Community, Andalusia, Canary Islands and Asturias They are among the autonomy areas that make the greatest public effort, with ratios of transfers per student to GDP per capita above 35 on the scale.
On the other hand, Madrid, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands appear at the bottom of the table, with Madrid around 16.3%, indicating that they devote a smaller fraction of their wealth to financial support of their universities..
This context of relative public underfinancing and large territorial disparities has favored the expansion of the private sector.
Over the past decade, the number of private universities has increased significantly. These establishments already concentrate nearly 22% of undergraduate students and have overtaken public establishments at the master’s level, with a very significant weighting of distance centers.
Private institutions have specialized in areas that are in high demand and offer good job placements, such as business, education, health, services and IT, also taking advantage of the flexibility of online education.
The report highlights that this progress is occurring in a public system where expenditure per student and regional funding They remain below international standards.
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