Spanish Universities in Figures

The Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) has presented the fifteenth edition of the report ‘Spanish Universities in Figures’, corresponding to the year 2023 and the academic year 2023-2024. This publication provides a comprehensive overview of the Spanish University System (SUE), situating it within the context of the European Union and the OECD. It analyses results, strengths and main structural challenges.

The president of CRUE and rector of the Universitat Jaume I, Eva Alcón Soler, chaired the event. Juan Juliá, associate professor and advisor to the CRUE presidency, a former rector of the Universitat Politècnica de València from 2005 to 2013, presented the most important findings of the report. The study was led by José Antonio Pérez García from the UPV and Juan Hernández Armenteros from the University of Jaén.

The president of CRUE recalled that the report constitutes ‘an in-depth analysis of the Spanish University System’ and noted that CRUE ‘considers this report as an exercise in transparency and accountability to society’. Alcón focused on three main conclusions of the report: employability, scientific results and the state of university funding.

Reduction in unemployment rate

Eva Alcón also pointed out that, according to the data presented, ‘Spanish university students have a lower unemployment rate than the OECD and EU-23’, adding that ‘a university education is an excellent investment’. She highlighted that, among adults aged 25 to 64 with a university degree, the reduction in the unemployment rate reaches 7.3 percentage points, compared to 3.6 percentage points in the OECD and 3.7 percentage points in the EU-23. Among young people aged 25 to 34, the reduction is 5.7 points, compared to 2.0 in the OECD and 2.4 in the EU-23. However, she warned that ‘there is still room for improvement’, as 17.5% of people with higher education work part-time throughout the year (21.0% for women), compared to 8.3% in the OECD, reflecting the persistent ‘precariousness’ of the Spanish labour market.

Scientific outcomes

The second conclusion highlighted by Alcón was the scientific performance of the university system. ‘The standardised index of the quality of scientific activity in our university system is very close to the benchmark values for the United States, Germany and France,’ she said. She emphasised that these results are obtained 'in a context in which, despite having reached the highest level of R&D spending in the historical series, we are 34% below the EU-27 and the OECD.’

Funding

The third major area addressed by the president was funding. Alcón pointed out that, over the last decade, ‘the contribution of public resources to the Spanish University System has been 21% lower than the OECD average and 26% lower than the EU-23 average’, a difference she described as ‘enormous and structural.’ She also referred to the insufficient public provision of university accommodation, which ‘is affecting real equality of opportunity’, as it forces many families to resort to the private rental market, which is under great pressure and has high prices.

Finally, Alcón highlighted the strategic value of universities: ‘The Spanish University System achieves results on a par with the best European countries,’ she said, ‘even though we operate in a context of underfunding of Spanish public universities’. She recalled that investing in universities means investing in ‘opportunities for the professional and personal development of our young people,’ in ‘social mobility,’ in ‘the competitiveness of the productive fabric and in the progress of the country.’ She concluded by pointing out that ‘this handicap has not reduced, nor will it reduce, the commitment to accountability of the Spanish University System, of which this report is a clear example.’

The report was presented on 1 December at the MAPFRE Foundation headquarters in Madrid. The General Secretary for Universities, Francisco García Pascual, and the President of Santander Universities and Vice-President of Universia, Matías Rodríguez Inciarte, accompanied the President of CRUE.