The president of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE), Eva Alcón, has recently sent a letter to the Minister of Universities of the Autonomous Government, Migdalia Machín, expressing the concern and unease of the association she heads, created in 1994, and which currently brings together a total of 77 Spanish universities, regarding the proposed law on social councils that is being processed by the Parliament of the Canary Islands.
In Alcón's opinion, the proposed legislation redefines the legal function of the social councils to the point of "seriously undermining university autonomy." In fact, he adds, the text "distorts the mission of the Social Council as an instrument for the participation and representation of society in the university and practically transforms it into another governing and representative body of the university itself, almost like a parallel Governing Council.".
The letter from the president of the CRUE, also sent to the rectors of the two public universities in the Canary Islands, Francisco García and Lluís Serra, provides further examples of this overreach of authority: the social councils are empowered to sign agreements and collaboration contracts with public and private entities, including those aimed at developing employability programs, dual training, and knowledge transfer. Nor does it seem to be the best solution, the president continues, for the Social Council to act as its own contracting body, given that it is not a separate public administration from the university.
Particularly serious is the provision in Article 14.3 of the proposal that states that “the Intervention or the unit responsible for internal control of the university's economic and financial management, as well as its staff, will report to the Social Council (...)”. According to Eva Alcón, Article 59.3 of the Organic Law on Universities (LOSU), on the contrary, stipulates that “universities will develop an internal control system, which will, in any case, include an internal audit system” and that “the body responsible for this control will have functional autonomy in its work and may not be dependent on the university's single-person governing bodies.” It is, therefore, a matter of internal control, a designation that cannot in any way be applied to the Social Council.
According to Eva Alcón, these are just some examples of this legislative proposal that “could cause harm” to the university system, “clearly affecting the autonomy of universities,” and therefore she urges the councilor to reflect on these issues and remains available to the councilor for any clarification that may be needed.
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