University education clashes with the labor market: less unemployment but more part-time contracts
A report by state university rectors confirms that job insecurity is overshadowing the increase in employment over the last decade.
BarcelonaThe academic offerings of universities in the State continue to prioritize student preferences over the needs of the labor market, and although higher education has halved the unemployment rate in a decade, this achievement is overshadowed by the increasing precariousness of these graduates, according to the fifteenth edition of the report. The Spanish university in figuresThe report, prepared by the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE), reveals that 17.5% of students work part-time year-round (21% for women), compared to 8.3% in the OECD, reflecting the "persistent precariousness of the Spanish labor market." The report concludes that demand for the Spanish university system will remain stable, at around 1.7 million undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students, over the next twenty years, and lists three clear challenges: increased public funding, a decisive boost to knowledge transfer, and the reversion of teaching and research to the universities themselves. "Having a university education is an excellent investment," says Eva Alcón, president of CRUE and rector of Jaume I University, while acknowledging that there is still "room for improvement."
The conclusions of this report suggest that the university system's capacity to increase graduate employment, which stands at 9%, is higher than the European Union average, despite having fewer institutions per capita than other countries in the region. Regarding the first element—more jobs created—university rectors point out that the academic performance of Spanish universities is comparable to—or slightly better than—the average for undergraduate and master's degrees in OECD countries, and that, between 2014 and 2023, higher education in Spain has improved the employment rate, which has increased by 50%.
According to the highest officials of state universities, the university system reduces the unemployment rate for graduates of older adults (between 25 and 64 years) by 7.3 points, compared to 3.7 points among EU universities, and among young people (from 25 to 34 years) with a master's degree, at 8.7 percentage points, compared to 3.4 European points. The document highlights that Castilla-La Mancha is the territory that has reduced unemployment the most in a decade (60%), followed by the drop achieved in the Valencian Community (56.8%), in Cantabria and Catalonia (both 53%), and in Aragon and the Basque Country (52%).
However, the Spanish labor market "struggles to provide employees with higher education with working conditions commensurate with their skills and responsibilities," says the report, which notes that 37% of workers are overqualified for their jobs.
Low funding and "scarce" patents
According to the CRUE (Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities), the main challenge for Spanish universities is reversing insufficient public funding. They lament that the resources allocated are 21 percent lower than the OECD average and 26 percent lower than the EU average. Just to reach the target of 1% of GDP set by the university law for 2027, almost 4 billion euros would have to be injected, they emphasize. In contrast, in 2023, actual funding was 10% lower than in 2008. In the area of research and knowledge transfer, the report argues that Spain has a normalized index of the quality of scientific activity "at a level very close to benchmark values in the United States, Germany, and France," but that it ranks lowest in the OECD. "Despite having reached the highest R&D spending in the historical series, we are 34% below the EU average," states Alcón.
Furthermore, patent generation activity is "meager." It represents only 0.60% of global production. In fact, although registrations have grown by 46.5% in Spain between 2010 and 2022, China has increased them 3.5 times, and Korea, a country of similar size to Spain, registered 4,248 more patents in 2022. At the European level, the rectors point to the United Kingdom and France, and one-fourteenth of Germany's.
The rectors also highlight the low investment in scholarships and grants, the cost of which does not reach 0.17% of GDP, compared to 0.7% allocated in Denmark. This, combined with the level of public tuition fees, "significantly weakens the guarantee of equal opportunities in access to university studies." They also estimate that €1.2 billion per year would be the budget needed to guarantee equal opportunities for effective access.