More Madrid has registered an initiative to promote an in-depth analysis of the situation of private universities in the Community of Madrid, both those already authorized and those in the accreditation phase, and for the necessary quality reports for their creation to become binding.
Through a Non-Law Proposition presented by deputies Antonio Sánchez Domínguez and Juan Varela-Portas, the party requests that this study examine the impact of private universities on the Madrid university ecosystem and the consequences that would have "making binding the mandatory reports that evaluate the quality of the projects aspiring to become universities".
According to what More Madrid has explained in a statement, the establishment and growth of these institutions "has been accompanied over the last decades by negative reports issued by the Ministry of Universities, external entities, and institutions" of the Community of Madrid itself.
The parliamentary group denounces that the regional Government has authorized the opening of these centers "despite those reports" and warns of "a possible inflation" of the term university that "would end up equating institutions of recognized prestige with others whose investors are mainly known".
In the party's opinion, the absence of sufficient controls has allowed the establishment of nearly a dozen private universities in just ten years and has consolidated a dual university model in which economic capacity can replace the academic record and the grade obtained in the University Entrance Tests (PAU) to pursue certain degrees.
"Unequal competition" with public university
More Madrid also argues that there is a "situation of unequal competition" between private and public universities, which are subject to "more demanding" and longer procedures when they want to expand their offer of degrees, master's programs, places, or lines of research.
In this regard, the party argues that the "underfunding" of public universities reduces their margin to meet the demand for new degrees and opens a space that ends up being occupied by private centers.
For this reason, the proposal urges to study the "existing relationship" between the increase in demand for private universities, the absence of the creation of new public universities in the Community of Madrid in the last 20 years, and the lack of sufficient economic resources for the latter.
In conclusion, the initiative proposes to analyze the possibility of creating independent, external, and non-profit organizations, of national or international scope, that are responsible for ensuring the quality and viability of the projects of new private universities.