CRUE President calls for 1% GDP investment in Spanish public universities

Julián Garde, President of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) and Rector of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, has called for a formal agreement between the central government and autonomous communities to establish a stable funding framework for public universities.

Speaking at the opening of the academic year at the Polytechnic University of Cartagena in the presence of King Felipe VI, Garde warned that state investment in higher education is currently “20% below the average of European Union countries.” He emphasized the need to meet the goal set by the Organic Law of the University System (LOSU) to allocate at least 1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to public higher education by 2030.

Garde noted that no new public universities have been created in Spain for nearly two decades and criticized the insufficient growth of enrollment spots in high-demand degree programs, describing it as a “failure of equal opportunity.” He highlighted the system's efficiency, noting that public campuses conduct 80% of national research and that Spain ranks sixth globally in the number of institutions listed in the Shanghai Ranking.