2023-11-25 06:30:05
“We depend on increased funding.” The rector of the University of Granada, Pedro Mercado, links the possible future increase in the number of places in the faculties of the health branch, Medicine and Health Sciences, with an increase in the funds received by the UGR for the training of students. .
Currently the UGR has 272 places in the Faculty of Medicine. Last year the number of requests to access this university center was 8,424. The data reveal that there is an evident imbalance between the supply of places and the demand. Private institutions, in the case of Andalusia, Loyola University, already offer medical studies on their campuses. In this case, that of Loyola, the start of classes at the end of November has motivated the response of the Andalusian rectors, including Mercado, who have harshly criticized what they consider a “privileged situation.” In a harsh statement, the public rectors stated that they had opposed the authorization for classes to begin this same year and considered that “legally it is not viable” to start classes three months following the start of the academic year.
Mercado expressed that in these months work is being done among the universities to “reformulate the offer.” “Right now we are in the process of evaluation because the requests will be made and presented in a first phase to the Ministry at the end of this year,” explained the rector in relation to the planning of the design of the degree map, one of the bets of the Junta de Andalucía for this course.
According to the Department of University, Andalusia will update, through the new decree of organization of university teachings and following thirteen years, the academic map of the universities to adapt it to the socioeconomic structure of the territory and its productive fabric, as well as to the needs of its working market. The regional Executive has already announced that it will approve the new programming of degrees in the spring of 2024 so that they can begin to be taught during the 2025/2026 academic year.
In this process, part of the interest is in seeing how the supply of positions in the healthcare branch develops, with high demand thanks to professional opportunities, among other issues. Granada, for years, maintained the number of places in the Medicine degree at 252, a figure that did not change even with the transfer to the new Faculty of Medicine of the PTS from Avenida de Madrid.
“Evidently there are needs in the field of health,” the rector conceded regarding how the work is being carried out prior to planning the next course. Of course, to increase the number of places, and in the process prevent students from ‘running away’ to the private university due to the impossibility of entering a public university, Mercado asserted that “we depend, how this year has happened, on whether there is a increase in financing.
The UGR received 1.75 million from the central government to increase the number of positions in the first year of Medicine by 22 places. The measure was approved last July 25 in Royal Decree. This was an increase already announced at the beginning of this year and that responds to the need to increase the number of health professionals.
Despite the increase in places, the cut-off score remained at very high levels in the last admission process, above 13. After the entire process, the cut-off score finally remained at 13.124.
In recent years, the panorama of medical training has had new players following the opening of the medical schools of Jaén and Almería. Huelva has also requested to teach this degree. In parallel, Loyola, a private entity, has developed the procedures to open its own faculty in Dos Hermanas, where classes have been taught since this week. The response from public universities was immediate and the rectors of public universities issued a harsh statement. For his part, the University advisor, José Carlos Gómez Villamandos, acknowledged that the start of Medicine classes at Loyola was “a little premature.” This start of the course occurred just one day following the Governing Council gave its authorization to the teaching of the degree.
Private
Since 2019, two private universities have been approved, the CEU Fernando III and the Tecnológica Atlántico-Mediterránea (Utamed). Two others continue with the process to see the light. This is the European University of Andalusia, which would provide teaching through face-to-face, virtual and semi-face-to-face modalities, will be located in Malaga and would have three centers: the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Sports and the Polytechnic School; and the Alfonso . These private faculties plan to teach degrees with high demand at the UGR, such as Dentistry, Nursing or Physiotherapy.
As for the Jesuit institution, Loyola has a campus in Granada where Theology and Religious Sciences are taught in degree modality, in addition to the DECA, the degree required to teach Catholic Religion in educational centers in Andalusia. The UGR has an attached center, La Inmaculada, where degrees in Educational Sciences are taught, among other teachings.
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