ARA published a few days ago that Catalan universities are revolting against minister Castells's plans. Among other things, they criticise that the new law the ministry is preparing, known as LOSU, hyper-regulates the sector and constrains it. The Catalan Minister for Universities and Research, Gemma Geis, has now joined vice-chancellors criticism, calling the new law "a threat" and warning that "the Catalan university system does not feel recognised". That is why the minister and the 12 Catalan vice-chancellors are preparing a joint document to position themselves against the new regulation, the third since the end of the dictatorship. First came the university reform law of 1983 and the organic law of universities of 2001, which is the one that is now in force.

Catalan universities are the most highly rated institutions according to the Centro de Estudios de Opinión (CEO) and top the rankings of the best centres in Spain. At the Spanish level, however, their social prestige is unknown because the Centre for Sociological Research does not take them into account. This is a small example that shows that the Catalan university system - and also the research system - has always been one step ahead. This is why Catalan universities have been particularly opposed to the plans of the Ministry of Universities, led by Manuel Castells: from the elimination of three-year degrees, which is already official, to the drafts of the future law on Universities.

The average fees of compulsory master's degrees (i.e., those that qualify students for certain professions, such as lawyers, secondary school teachers and psychologists) will fall to the same level as university degrees by the end of the 2022-23 academic year at the latest throughout Spain. The measure, announced on Monday by the Ministry of Universities with the agreement of all the regions except Madrid, means that fees paid by students enrolled in one of these master's in Catalonia will drop from €1,800 to about €1,100 per year. This come on the back of a 30% reduction in university fees introduced this year. This will translate into a €2.5m shortfall in Catalonia, with the Generalitat to foot the bill; the overall cost of the measure is estimated at €10.5m in the State.