Assumptions: the oxygen of the public university

The rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, becomes emotional when explaining the honoris causa he has just awarded to the medical director of BioNTech: “They are one step away from finding a vaccine for cancer. Do you know what that means?” He tells us this to a group of members of the UB Social Council, gathered on a cold March morning. The German Özlem Türeci has indeed predicted that in ten years, treating cancer with mRNA vaccines will be commonplace. This is one of the “wonderful things,” as the rector says, that happen in our universities daily and which do not always receive the attention they deserve.

The University of Barcelona has positioned itself, in international rankings, among the best universities in the world. It is the leading educational institution in Catalonia, a collective asset that sustains a large part of our scientific and cultural capital. We know – because comparative evidence confirms it – that no country prospers without a solid public university system. This observation becomes especially relevant at a time when private universities are growing at an accelerated pace, to the point that they are one step away from surpassing public ones in some Spanish cities.

But there is an Achilles' heel. The public university system will not survive without strong budgets specifically oriented towards its development. The effects of the non-approval of new budgets in the Generalitat (and, therefore, the extension of the previous ones) are not neutral, but cumulative and structural. If there are no new budgets, the place of the public university will be progressively occupied by the private one. In a highly competitive context, standing still actually means falling behind.

The first major brake is financing. For years, universities have been suffering from structural underfunding that limits their ability to grow and innovate. Without new accounts, this deficit not only persists but consolidates. The goal of achieving financing equivalent to 1% of GDP, repeatedly requested by rectors, is, de facto, out of reach. This lack of resources directly impacts the ability to plan, attract talent, promote research, establish international alliances... With budgets extended, any multi-year plan becomes a dead letter.

One of the most strained areas is personnel. The system faces massive retirements in the coming years, both for teaching staff and technical and management personnel. Without budgetary margin, these positions cannot be replaced nor can working conditions be improved. The result is well known: more precariousness, more difficulties in retaining talent, and a slow but sustained erosion of academic quality.

The essential equity is also compromised. Scholarship and grant policies, key to ensuring universal access to university, depend on the availability of public resources. Without new budgets, expanding these measures is unfeasible, and this can translate into a potentially less inclusive and therefore less fair university.

The challenge of digital transformation is added to all of this. Universities must adapt to new educational formats, integrate emerging technologies and new artificial intelligence models, and respond to a growing demand for lifelong learning, for dual training.

The research and knowledge transfer, key drivers of the economy, are also affected. The lack of funding limits the capacity to promote new projects and reduces the multiplier effect of European funds. This not only impacts universities, but also the entire productive fabric and the country's innovation capacity.

Finally, there are less visible, but equally critical aspects: infrastructures that are not renewed, equipment that becomes obsolete, degrees that are not updated at the pace required by the labor market. All of this does not generate immediate headlines, but it erodes the system in the long term.

Meanwhile, private university teaching projects –with more resources and financial flexibility– are advancing rapidly and not always with the level of excellence that a university must guarantee. Priorities must be set: academic quality and public function must precede any other consideration of economic profit.

If, as a society, we stop adequately funding our public universities, we will not be saving, but rather we will be giving up, silently but effectively, our future.