Canarias is the fifth autonomous community that allocates the least public money to its public universities in comparable terms, with 8,884 euros per student, far from the more than 11,000 euros invested by both Cantabria and La Rioja.
At the bottom of all regions in investment allocated to public universities is the Community of Madrid, which does not reach 7,000 euros per student.
The 2025 Knowledge and Development Foundation (CYD) report, which analyzes the evolution of universities as a whole through different indicators, such as funding or employability, once again points to significant imbalances in the transfer of resources from communities to their universities.
He points out that in 2023, funding levels remained around 10% lower than in 2009
Taking into account the wealth of each region, per-student spending in the 2023-2024 academic year was 11,680 euros in Cantabria, 11,283 in La Rioja, 10,075 in the Valencian Community, 10,767 in the Basque Country, and 10,588 euros in Navarre.
Below, Madrid stands out (6,975 euros), Extremadura (8,069), Catalonia (8,362), Murcia (8,460), the Canary Islands (8,884), and Castilla-La Mancha (8,832 euros).Current and capital transfers per student stood at 27.8% of the state average, and while Cantabria, Andalusia, Valencian Community, or Asturias were above 35%, the Madrid community was at 16%"Closing these gaps requires moving towards a more stable, diversified, and results-oriented financing model, which combines greater private sector participation with strategic, evidence-based public allocation," the experts in the report point outIn this regard, the five public universities with the highest funding per student are the Polytechnic University of Cartagena, the University of Cantabria, the University of La Rioja, the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.And among the seven with the lowest values are three from Madrid (Rey Juan Carlos, Alcalá, and Complutense), three from Catalonia (Girona, Rovira i Virgili, and Pompeu Fabra), and the Sevillian Pablo de OlavideOn the other hand, the fees and public prices per student are also disparate, and while in Galicia they stood at 1,000 euros per student, in Madrid they amounted to more than 2,000 euros
At the undergraduate level, the highest prices are in Navarra (19.29 euros per credit for first enrollment), Madrid (18.55 euros), and Catalonia (18.15 euros), while the lowest correspond to Galicia (11.95 euros per credit), Asturias (12.34), the Canary Islands (12.50), and Andalusia (12.62).
This implies that the total cost of a 240-credit degree ranges from 4,629.6 euros in Navarra to 2,868 euros in Galicia
The four Madrid universities (Carlos III, Autónoma, Politécnica, and Complutense), along with the universities of Barcelona, Politècnica de València, and Politècnica de Catalunya, are among those with the highest income per student.
Teaching and Research Staff (PDI) Grows, Driven by Private Institutions
From the 2015-2016 academic year to 2023-2024, teaching and research staff (PDI) has grown by 20% to 141,887, driven by private universities, where growth has been 64%, compared to 13% in public ones.
58% of the PDI work full-time, and 60% have permanent positions. In public universities, 61% are full-time, but less than half are permanent. In private universities, these figures are reversed: less than 40% work full-time, but more than 85% have permanent contracts
Researchers recommend financially incentivizing "universities that effectively manage their professor replacement positions in the coming years... following models such as ICREA in Catalonia or Ikerbasque in the Basque Country".
The improvement in talent management has increased - they point out - but it is mainly driven by the strong advance of private universities, which are slightly above public ones in average efficiency.
Private institutions have incorporated younger profiles with greater contractual stability compared to the public sector, where a more aged teaching and research staff predominates
The new edition of the CYD Report 2025, which measures university governance, funding, talent, scientific and social impact, employability, internationalization, and equity, indicates that the 'Global Efficiency of the Spanish University System' has grown by 3.87% in three years, more in private universities (4.42%) than in public ones (3.83%).
"Although the growth is moderate, it indicates a sustained trend of improvement in the average performance of the system," explains the analysis, which indicates that the indicators measuring equity and employability show the highest levels of efficiency along with the transfer of knowledge to societyOn the contrary, internationalization shows a lower level of efficiency and becomes one of the main weaknesses. Between 2020-2021 and 2023-2024, the internationalization index decreased by 9.6% and student mobility remains concentrated in short stays.
