OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMUNITY OF MADRID

Following the approval of the 2025 Budget Bill by the Governing Council of the Community of Madrid, the Governing Councils of the six public universities of Madrid (UUPPMM), meeting in respective extraordinary sessions on November 28, 2024, warn of the economic unsustainability of the system to guarantee the public service that citizens need.

The draft budget approved by the Government of the Community of Madrid does not include the transfers necessary to deal with the impact of inflation on supplies, to fully cover the salary increase agreed by the central Government, or to finance the requirements of the new University Law. Nor does it include sufficient resources to guarantee the essential maintenance of the buildings, which is essential for their proper functioning and safety. Given this situation, the Public Universities of the Community of Madrid urge the implementation of a multi-year financing model that ensures their sustainability and allows them to continue offering citizens the public service they deserve. The Governing Councils of the six Public Universities of the Community of Madrid (UUPPMM), meeting in respective extraordinary sessions on November 28, 2024, express their deep concern regarding the 2025 Budget Bill, approved by the Governing Council of the Community of Madrid on October 30, 2024. If the Assembly ratifies it in the terms presented, the already critical economic situation of the UUPPMM will worsen, as a result of the underfunding accumulated in recent years.

The allocation for subsidies ignores the arguments we have put forward to the Ministry and masks a real decrease in university funding, worsening the structural deficit suffered by the UUPPMM. Despite the alarming economic situation, the budget allocation announced for 2025 remains at the same and identical amount as in 2024, since the apparent (and minimal) increase corresponds only to a part of the salary increase that was already applied to public employees in this same year 2024 with respect to what was initially budgeted for the same year. This, added to the increase in salary costs and the rise in the cost of energy, services and products, represents a setback in real terms for university funding.

 Furthermore, the draft budget does not include specific resources to cover the significant increase in costs arising from compliance with the Organic Law of the University System (LOSU). This decisively contributes to placing the UUPPMM in a practically unsustainable situation. Article 55 of the LOSU clearly establishes the obligation of public administrations to guarantee the necessary resources for the financial sufficiency of universities. In our case, this responsibility falls on the Community of Madrid, which must comply with this mandate to avoid a critical scenario.

The UUPPMM have been underfunded for 15 years and have seen a progressive reduction in income, with no signs of improvement. Since the financial crisis, the Community of Madrid has drastically reduced the nominal subsidy and increased the tuition fees for students. Although these public prices have been reduced in recent years, these reductions have not been translated into the corresponding recovery of the nominal subsidy to the UUPPMM, but rather they have been compensated in the same nominal subsidy by amounts calculated annually and completely unrelated to salaries and their growth.

All in all, the UUPPMM operate today with a nominal subsidy of a lower amount than in 2009 in euros of that same year, therefore without even taking inflation into account. This reduction in the nominal subsidy contrasts with an accumulated increase of 34,9% in the CPI between January 2009 and September 2024 (according to the INE). While other Autonomous Communities have reversed the cuts of the past decade through multi-year financing contracts-programs and new financing models, Madrid is moving away from the objective of dedicating 1% of its GDP to higher education. This makes it the Autonomous Community that finances its Public Universities the worst, also imposing one of the highest public prices in the country on families.

Even more alarming is the fact that the annual allocation for investments has been frozen since 2014 at just 7,6 million euros for the six UUPPMM. This contrasts drastically with the 640 million euros allocated in the 2007-2011 investment plan, evidencing a significant drop in resources allocated to infrastructure maintenance and improvement. This figure is clearly insufficient to meet the needs of the spaces used daily by nearly 30.000 professors and researchers, and technical, management, administration and service staff, along with approximately 220.000 students. The lack of investment seriously compromises the conditions necessary to guarantee an adequate environment for teaching, learning and research.

In addition to all of the above and in compliance with the LOSU, the teaching dedication of some categories of teaching staff has had to be reduced, without having been able to hire the number of teaching staff necessary to compensate for this reduction given the precarious economic situation described and the limitation of staff to the replacement rate. The Ministry of Universities has provided us with a proposal (through a draft agreement) that has been negotiated with the Community of Madrid -as well as with other Autonomous Communities and their respective Public Universities- to authorize and hire these new teaching staff and, thus, maintain the public service under the conditions prior to the LOSU. But nothing has come to fruition in the Community of Madrid -nor have we been offered any other possible alternative-, so that we would be authorized for this necessary increase in staff and the future stabilization of their corresponding positions, as well as their economic endowment with full guarantee that its cost will not end up falling on the current reduced nominal subsidies of the Community of Madrid with which barely 2% of the salaries of the staff of our UUPPMM can be paid.

The public university system in Madrid, the second largest in Spain in terms of student numbers, faces another year marked by the progressive increase of the same problems that have plagued it for more than 15 years of underfunding. Job insecurity, the impossibility of replacing retired students, limitations on promotions, the paralysis of training and research projects, and the inability to attract or retain talent are some of the recurring challenges. Added to this are obsolete infrastructures that represent a growing risk for users and workers.

If the current situation is critical, in a few years it could become catastrophic, which will put us at a clear disadvantage compared to other Autonomous Communities. These other regions have implemented multi-year funding models, reversing the cuts caused by the financial crisis and strengthening their capacities in training, research and innovation, while the Community of Madrid continues to lag behind, compromising its academic and scientific future.

Financing higher education is not an expense, but a strategic investment that benefits both citizens and the regional and national productive fabric. In a region like Madrid, UUPPMM are essential for training and attracting talent, generating knowledge, driving economic progress, fostering scientific and technological innovation, and creating wealth. More than educational institutions, UUPPMM represent a common good that must be protected and supported by the political class and the society they serve. Their excellence in research and teaching is not achieved in an improvised way, but through constant investment and years of dedication and effort on the part of the university community.

Given the seriousness that the approval of the current Budget Bill for 2025 would entail, the Governing Councils of the UUPPMM consider it essential:

 1) That the budgets be amended during their processing in the Assembly to guarantee the financial sufficiency of the Madrid public university system.

2) That the infrastructure budget be increased considerably to be able to cope with the maintenance of our buildings and new investments.

3) That the development of a multi-annual financing model be initiated immediately to ensure the sustainability of Public Universities and allow us to continue working to serve Madrid society with the quality it deserves.

4) That the possibility of adaptation to the LOSU of the staff of our universities is guaranteed in order to maintain the public service under the same conditions through a specific plan that authorises us to do so and with a full guarantee that its cost will not end up falling on the UUPPMM based on the current reduced nominal subsidies of the Community of Madrid.