According to the latest report from the IUNE Observatory of the A4U Alliance, 92% of scientific publications within the Spanish University System (SUE) originate from public universities, while only 8% are produced by private institutions. The report, developed by the INAECU Institute (a collaboration between the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, UAM, and the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, UC3M), provides a comprehensive analysis of the performance of Spanish universities using nearly fifty indicators related to teaching, research, and knowledge transfer.

“The ongoing debate (in Spain) about the need to regulate the approval of private universities that fail to meet minimum quality standards underscores the importance of a publicly accessible information system that offers a transparent and rigorous overview of both public and private university performance,” stated Elías Sanz-Casado, Professor of Library and Information Science at UC3M and General Coordinator of the IUNE Observatory.

Spain’s Organic Law 2/2023 on the University System (LOSU) outlines three core missions of universities: teaching, research, and the transfer and exchange of knowledge. For an institution to be recognized as a university, it must meet adequate standards across all these areas. “The problem is that, unlike public universities, private institutions typically allocate very limited resources to research,” explained Sanz-Casado.

As of the 2024–25 academic year, Spain has 50 public and 41 private universities, according to data from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

The IUNE Observatory serves as a vital tool for monitoring the scientific activity of institutions across both public and private sectors. Its annual reports assess university R&D&I through 42 indicators grouped into eight key dimensions: scientific output, analysis by subject area, emerging research activity, training capacity, competitiveness, funding, innovation, and academic staff. “To my knowledge, no other country has such a comprehensive and publicly accessible observatory for university scientific activity,” Sanz-Casado added.

Academic staff in public and private universities

The number of tenured faculty members in public and private universities has evolved significantly over the past decade. While staffing growth in public universities (including civil servants and permanent contract holders) has slowed, private universities have experienced annual increases of around 6%, reaching a peak of 11.73% in the most recent period.

In terms of scientific productivity per faculty member, public universities steadily increased their output until 2021, reaching 1.15 publications per professor, before seeing a slight decline to 1.02% in 2022. In contrast, productivity at private institutions has remained stagnant at approximately 0.4 publications per professor, despite staff increases. “This trend reflects both the steady rise in output and the lack of faculty renewal in public universities,” the report notes.

Scientific publications

The overall annual growth in scientific publications has slowed from an average of 5.92% to 4.86%. Similarly, the average productivity of the Spanish University System—measured as publications per professor—has decreased from a growth rate of 6.32% to 5.47%.

“These figures confirm a downward trend in recent years, driven in part by declining faculty numbers at public universities, which have decreased at an average rate of 0.6% annually in the current decade,” the report states. “Spanish universities—especially public ones—are the main drivers of research in the country and serve as a backbone for the national scientific system. Strengthening collaboration between universities and other key stakeholders in the system is essential,” the report concludes.

The IUNE Observatory is supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, as well as by a large number of institutions such as the (Spanish) National Quality Assessment and Accreditation Agency (ANECA, in its Spanish acronym), the Spanish University Rectors’ Conference (CRUE, in its Spanish acronym), the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI, in its Spanish acronym), the Catalan University System Quality Agency (AQU Catalunya, in its Spanish acronym) and the Basque University System Quality Agency (Unibasq, in its Spanish acronym).

More information: https://iune.es/