THE public funding of universitiesas well as its internal management resources are two of the themes that mark the educational agenda for this end of year. In this context, the CyD Foundation has published a report which analyzes the data … of the 2023-2024 academic year, with an emphasis on the efficiency of our university system.
One of the conclusions that, at first glance, attracts the most attention is the one that analyzes the university accounts one by one. Thus, the only two who presented the deficient results were Rey Juan Carlos and Complutenseboth in Madrid. According to the study, they presented a non-financial and current deficit. This means that their non-financial income (tuition, fees, transfers, subsidies) was lower than their expenses (staff, services, equipment, infrastructure). The current deficit concerns more limited expenditures and does not include investments or financial operations.
In 2023, the non-financial income and expenses of all 47 face-to-face Spanish public universities increased by around 7% annually, a rate located, as over the entire period 2015-2023, above inflation. However, due to declines between 2009 and 2015, 2023 levels remained around 10% lower than 2009 in real terms.
In 2023, Cantabria, La Rioja, the Basque Country, Navarra and the Valencian Community exceeded 10,000 euros per student in current and capital transfers received, of which more than 80% came from the respective autonomous administrations. Madrid recorded the lowest value (6,975 euros/student)followed by Extremadura, Andalusia, Catalonia, Murcia and Castile and León (with figures between 8,000 and 8,600 euros).
In terms of regional GDP per capita, the lowest ratio was recorded in Madrid (16.3%), followed distantly by Catalonia (23.5%) and the Balearic Islands (26.7%), reflecting a lower relative public financial effort in these communities.
Public fees and prices per student varied in 2023 between just over 1,000 euros in regions like Galicia and over 2,000 euros in the Community of Madrid.
How are we compared to EU countries?
The 2023 data show sustained growth in R&D investments, with 22.379 million euros (1.49% of GDP), following nine years of uninterrupted growth. However, Spain remains below the average in the international context.
Investment per university student in Spain also continues to be lower than international benchmarks: in 2022 it was 18,369 dollars per student (currently 15,753 euros), lower than the EU average and the OECD average.
THE public contributionalthough the majority (65.9%), It is also lower than that of these countries; Despite this, we observe a slight improvement in the weight of public university expenditure on GDP (it increased from 0.69% in 2015 to 0.75% in 2022), still far from the 1% objective set by LOSU (Organic Law of the University System).
The study concludes that the recovery “has not yet fully offset the strong impact of budget cuts resulting from the sovereign debt crisis at the start of the last decade.” In 2023, funding levels were still around 10% lower than in 2009, in real terms, after accounting for inflation.
Little international projection
In academic effectiveness, and according to CyD. Spain approves, but not with a note. The overall efficiency of Spanish universities for the 2023-2024 academic year is 57.58 points out of 100. However, it warns that “the persistent lack of renewal of the stable PDI (teaching and research staff) and the limited autonomy of universities in personnel management “They remain the main obstacles to effective and sustainable generational change in the medium term.” On the other hand, between 2020-2021 and 2023-2024, the the internationalization index decreased by 9.57%which confirms that internationalization “continues to be one of the main structural weaknesses of the Spanish university system”.
Student mobility continues to focus on short stays and an increase in foreign staff is observed (+11.2%), even if their presence only represents 3.3% of the total PDI.
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