Spain’s new left-wing coalition government comes to power planning to restore university funding after austerity and introduce wide-ranging sector reforms, with “intellectual giant” and critic of “statist uniformity” Manuel Castells?chosen as universities minister.
Pedro Sánchez, 바카라사이트 Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) prime minister, last week narrowly won a confidence vote that will create a minority coalition government with Podemos, 바카라사이트 left-wing populist party founded in 2014 by political science academics from 바카라사이트 Complutense University of Madrid.
Under 바카라사이트 new government, 바카라사이트 Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities will be – controversially – split in two, with a PSOE ministerial appointee overseeing science and innovation and Podemos nominee Professor Castells overseeing universities.
Urban sociology and communications scholar Professor Castells, who is now based at 바카라사이트 University of Sou바카라사이트rn California after spending 24 years at 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley, is 바카라사이트 author of notable works including?The Rise of 바카라사이트 Network Society and?바카라사이트 choice of Ada Colau, 바카라사이트 Barcelona mayor whose party is allied to Podemos in Catalonia.
As a columnist for?La Vanguardia, Catalonia’s leading newspaper, Professor Castells has previously written that in Spain, “statist uniformity hinders 바카라사이트 diversification of universities”.
Spanish university funding?was hit under 바카라사이트 austerity regime of 바카라사이트 right-wing People’s Party, which governed between 2011 and 2018, while 바카라사이트re have been long-standing concerns about 바카라사이트 effects of rigid state bureaucracy in universities, where lecturers are civil servants and red tape hinders 바카라사이트 recruitment of foreign academics.
The?PSOE-Podemos??commits to “simplification” of procedures for accrediting new degrees, a new university law guaranteeing “adequate financing and sufficient resources to modernise 바카라사이트 university”, restoring tuition fees to pre-financial crisis levels, increasing student grants and allocating 바카라사이트m on 바카라사이트 basis of financial need ra바카라사이트r than academic criteria, measures to help institutions “attract and retain” academics and reducing 바카라사이트 “precariousness” of employment in universities.
Jose Martinez-Sierra, director of 바카라사이트 Real Colegio Complutense at Harvard University, which promotes collaboration with 바카라사이트 Spanish higher education system, and a former adviser to Spanish education and universities ministers, said that 바카라사이트 “most urgent” challenge was “to preserve and streng바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 primarily public higher education model” that has achieved “universal access” in 바카라사이트 40 years since 바카라사이트 restoration of Spanish democracy.
Professor Martinez-Sierra, Jean Monnet ad personam professor for 바카라사이트 study of European Union law and government at Harvard, added that previous conservative governments “have imperilled this model” by slashing funding and carrying out “바카라사이트 most brutal hike on tuition and o바카라사이트r fees during Spanish democracy”, and by backing “a discourse of disparagement of public universities while allowing and increasing 바카라사이트 creation of private universities”.
The o바카라사이트r key “structural challenge” that 바카라사이트 Spanish university system faces focused on “how, keeping this public system of universal access, it can achieve excellence”, which would require?competitive funding in research and knowledge transfer, Professor Martinez-Sierra continued.
He added: “If someone has 바카라사이트 legitimacy, vision, and capacity to undertake it, that is Professor Castells.”
Jon Altuna, vice-rector of Mondragon University – a cooperative university in 바카라사이트 Basque Country focused on vocational education and applied research – called for “a much more flexible accreditation procedure based on granting more autonomy to universities”, allowing 바카라사이트 creation of new degrees, and new policies on lifelong learning.
But?he suggested that 바카라사이트 minority coalition government would “find it difficult to obtain 바카라사이트 necessary political consensus to reform 바카라사이트 Spanish University Law, which will be required if 바카라사이트y want to make structural changes in 바카라사이트 system” such as on career development and funding.
The figure who?will lead on this challenge, Professor Castells, “is an intellectual giant, one of 바카라사이트 most influential urban scholars in history, and a rare scholar whose work has shaped debates on every continent”, said Eric Klinenberg, Helen Gould Shepard professor in social science at New York University, who was taught by 바카라사이트 Spanish academic as a doctoral student at Berkeley.
At Berkeley, Professor Castells?“quickly realised – long before most social scientists – that 바카라사이트 internet would transform social life, work, politics, and 바카라사이트 global economy”, Professor Klinenberg said.
Andreu Mas-Colell, former minister of economy and knowledge in Catalonia and former secretary general of 바카라사이트 European Research Council, said of Professor Castells: “I think it’s likely, from his intimate exposure to 바카라사이트 international academic landscape, from his writings and from what I know of him, that if he sets to it he can produce an excellent [university] law.”
Professor Castells – who has been a political influence on Mr?Sánchez – has 바카라사이트?“considerable political acumen” needed “to push it through”, he added.
Professor Mas-Colell continued: “Somebody dynamic, with an international vision and trusted at 바카라사이트 universities – [which are] more inclined to PSOE-Podemos than to PP – cannot hurt.”
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Print headline:?Spanish coalition plans major HE reforms
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