A university that doesn't expel anyone

The figures are striking: almost 37% of Catalan university students currently live with a mental health diagnosis, primarily anxiety disorders (15.4%) and depressive disorders (7.1%). Looking at their lifespan, nearly half of the students have been diagnosed with a mental health problem at some point. This is compounded by a high level of emotional exhaustion: more than a third of students report feeling emotionally drained every day. These data are taken from...Study on mental health in the university system of Catalonia(2023), promoted by the Department of Research and Universities, and prepared with the participation of Catalan universities. The report goes further and the conclusion is clear: this emotional distress does not only affect the student body, but stress and burnout are common to all workers in the university community.

These figures don't appear out of thin air; they reflect a social context marked by constant pressure. We live in a fast-paced society where technology becomes obsolete before we can even grasp it, where everything is immediate and superficial, and characterized by young people's overexposure on social media, life and job insecurity, and the lingering emotional impact of the pandemic, to name just a few factors. Change is constant, and the university is no exception; on the contrary, it reflects this reality.

We turn to another report, in this case the portrait compiled by the Vives Network of Universities based on surveys of more than 45,000 students in the Catalan Countries. The report University Pathway 2023-2025This only confirms that today's universities are far more diverse than they were a few years ago: in terms of social backgrounds, ages, identities, life trajectories, and also educational and emotional needs. Today, classrooms are home to students with disabilities, learning disorders, ADHD, and those facing social vulnerability who, not long ago, were excluded from the system.

All of this demonstrates that, in recent years, the profile of university students has changed. Consequently, the working conditions of faculty and administrative staff have also changed. There are greater demands, increased complexity, more bureaucracy, and less time for support. Faced with this reality, this complex scenario, the question is unavoidable: what role should the public university play in addressing it? How can the university support, without extraordinary resources, students with special needs who received special attention during their secondary education? Is it enough to simply expand existing psychological support services? These services are undoubtedly necessary and highly valued, but the same reports indicate that they are insufficient without a deeper reflection on teaching models, pacing, assessment methods, and the expectations we create.

The paradigm we have lived with until now conceives of the public university as the institution that offers higher education to society, conducts scientific research, and transfers that research. These requirements must prevail, as they must, but the surrounding conditions have changed, and the public university cannot ignore this. To do so would be to adopt an implicitly elitist model: a model that only works for those who can emotionally accept rules of the game designed for another era. If the university expels—even silently—those who do not adapt to it, it ceases to fulfill its function as a public service; it ceases to act as a social elevator.

Bringing this reality to light, addressing it with data, honesty, and institutional responsibility, is a starting point. It's true that we're not starting from scratch, and that public universities, sometimes individually and sometimes collectively, are promoting initiatives that attempt to respond to some of these situations. An example from our own institution, the Rovira i Virgili University, is the Amb-Èxit-Ed program, designed to support young people leaving foster care who want to attend university and who, upon reaching adulthood, often find themselves without a support network. As a result of sharing experiences among different universities, programs like Meetup have also been launched, creating spaces for meeting and support for students with diverse backgrounds, helping to combat isolation and strengthen their sense of belonging.

Examples show that it is possible to pave the way, but the challenge demands a structural, coordinated, and sustained response. Fortunately, for over a year now, Catalonia has had a framework document, a pioneering initiative at the national level, that establishes the foundations for achieving a university system based on the inclusion of differences and respect for diversity. This is the Plan for Inclusion and Diversity in Catalan Universities (PIDUC), a plan developed through collaboration between the universities and the Catalan Government that surpasses the previous model—which focused on curriculum adaptation—with a new model that places diversity and people with disabilities at its core.

Well-being, inclusion, and support not only for diverse backgrounds but also for emerging realities must be at the heart of the university project. To achieve this, in addition to strategic plans for the system, sufficient resources for their implementation are also necessary.

The challenge before us is clear: either the university adapts to the reality of the people who comprise it today, or it risks becoming stuck in an exclusionary model. If the public university wants to remain a space of opportunity and a true elevator for social mobility, it must face this challenge with determination and courage, but also with the necessary resources.

Because we're not just talking about diversity and emotional well-being: we're talking about the future of the society that we are all building together.