The Governing Council of the Canary Islands has approved this Wednesday, on the proposal of the Ministry of Universities, Science and Innovation and Culture, the agreement to present a prior request to the central government regarding the new Royal Decree 905/2025, of October 7, which modifies the regulations on the creation, recognition and accreditation of universities and university centers.
This decision is adopted after the State has neither attended to nor responded to the allegations made by the regional Executive last April, when the Department of Universities, Science and Innovation and Culture warned that the text violates regional powers and does not recognize the archipelago reality or the population specificity of the Canary Islands, as contemplated in the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy.
The Executive recalls that, in its statement of allegations, the Canary Islands had already warned that several of the requirements included in the new regulation, such as setting a minimum number of students in the first years of operation, the obligation to offer degrees in different branches of knowledge, or the imposition of having accommodation for part of the student body, are discriminatory for fragmented territories with lower population density, such as the Canary Islands.
The Minister of Universities, Science and Innovation and Culture, Migdalia Machín, emphasizes that "the State cannot legislate as if all territories shared the same geographical, population or economic conditions. The Canary Islands are an archipelago, with a distributed university system and very different realities between the islands. Ignoring this circumstance means ignoring our singularity and putting at risk the principles of balance and territorial cohesion."
Machín recalls that the Canary Islands "have always shown their willingness to collaborate with the State in all initiatives that strengthen the Canarian university system, but within the respect for the framework of competences and the decentralized model that recognizes territorial diversity." Along those lines, he adds that "this requirement is not a gesture of confrontation, but a legitimate defense of self-government and equal opportunities in access to higher education."
The Canary Islands Government also warns that the new Royal Decree poses a risk of encroachment on powers by seeking to give binding status to the reports of the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA), even in regions that have regional agencies registered in the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR). In the case of the Canary Islands, the Canary Islands Agency for University Quality and Educational Evaluation (ACCUEE) has this European recognition, which certifies its technical solvency and its full capacity to evaluate university programs and institutions in accordance with the international standards of the European Higher Education Area.
The agreement approved by the Governing Council constitutes the preliminary step to filing a contentious-administrative appeal before the Supreme Court, in accordance with current legislation.