The Minister of Universities, Science, Innovation and Culture, Migdalia Machín, presented a proposal for the 2027-2030 period to the rectors of the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), Lluís Serra and Francisco García, respectively. The meeting took place on July 28 at the Government Presidency in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
This agreement aims to establish stable and evaluable financial programming, replacing annual negotiations. It will involve an increase of 45 million euros by 2030, bringing the total sum for the two public Canarian institutions to 1,242.8 million euros. The document includes allocations for technology but not equivalent state funding or extraordinary funds yet to be quantified.
Migdalia Machín emphasized the need for stability in university planning, which will translate into "better teaching, more research, more transfer, and more opportunities for students."
The consolidated basic funding for personnel, operations, research, and infrastructure will be strengthened with a 9.7 million euro equalization fund to correct accumulated imbalances between 2021 and 2026. The ULL is projected to reach 173.24 million by 2030, and the ULPGC, 153.65 million, representing increases of 15.76% and 16.18% respectively.
The scheme also includes competitive funding linked to an increase in full-time students and variable funding starting in 2028, capped at 1% of basic funding, subject to indicator definition.
For technological modernization, 34 million euros are programmed over the four-year period, with a request to the State for equivalent contributions. The minister stressed the importance of clearly distinguishing between funding programmed by the Canary Islands, funding dependent on additional agreements, and funding still open to negotiation.
Funding linked to results will consider areas such as continuous training, dropout reduction, academic efficiency, research, fund acquisition, knowledge transfer, entrepreneurship, and internationalization. Each university will develop its own Financial Plan, and the implementation of analytical accounting, annual economic reports, and external audits is foreseen.
The meeting allowed for progress on the architecture and figures of the model, identifying pending issues such as indicator rules, application guarantees, governance, financial annexes, and extraordinary infrastructure funding. The Canarian executive will continue technical work until the document and its annexes are validated, with no fixed signing date.
“"Our will is to reach an agreement that is understandable and useful for both universities, with stability for planning, resources to sustain the system, and shared objectives to improve it."
