- Faced with the "red carpet" of the Basque Government to the private university European University Gasteiz, which will already teach the same degrees as in the UPV/EHU, the unions STEILAS and ESK have called a concentration on April 26 for the benefit of some people's pockets and against a project that only implies "the weakening of the only public university we have in the Basque Country".
“In defense of the public university,” they convened a rally on April 26 at 12:00 p.m. in front of the Basque Parliament of Vitoria-Gasteiz. They have stressed that this is an "elitist project" driven by the main shareholder of the teams Baskonia and Deportivo Alavés, which seeks to do business and is not necessary, as it will offer qualifications that the UPV already offers. “So where is the need for Basque society to repeat these studies? Does the PNV not see that such a decision does not benefit the Public University? Do you not see that repetition only gives rise to rivalry between the public and the private? Or rather, don’t you want to see it?”, the unions say.
STEILAS and ESK have strongly criticised the decision: “They do not defend the Public University, they do not defend a university that guarantees opportunities for equality, they do not bet for a just society, they do not seek a cohesive society.”
First 1997
The Basque Government approved in March the bill to open the doors of the private university Euneiz (European University Gasteiz) and there does not seem to be any impediment to ratifying it in the Basque Parliament. In the CAPV this has not occurred since 1997, since the approval of the implementation of Mondragon Unibertsitatea.
Negative assessment by the Quality Agency
The unions have stressed that the project, which is supported by the private universities of Girona and Tarragona, has received a negative evaluation from the Quality Agency of the Basque University System. Of the 6 evaluated dimensions, 4 have received a negative assessment.
The union is also concerned about the conditions that the university that wants to open its doors will have in September. “What working conditions will the teachers going to work have? What kind of infrastructure and material resources will be available for your research tasks? Will there be any line of studies in Basque? In other words, will we find Basque teachers in Euneiz? And we must not forget the staff of administration and services, under what conditions will they also work? Privatization and precariousness… is a perfect binomial for the benefit of a few.”
There are still many unknowns to be clarified on this project.
