The General Assembly of Rectors of the Group 9 of Universities (G-9), which met today at the Main Hall of the University of Cantabria (UC), has showed in a press conference its "concern" for the several issues that are affecting the Spanish university system, mainly: the limitations imposed on the rate of renewal of the teaching staff, the delays in the founding of R&D projects and the cutbacks in the Erasmus Program.

José Carlos Gómez Sal, Rector of the UC and current President of the G-9, has demanded more freedom to manage the renewal of the teaching staff with the current budget, since the formation of teachers requires plenty of time: "We demand autonomy to manage our staffs, not more money, because we are aware of the current situation of the country". In this sense, he deemed "worrying" the situation of the Rectors of the Faculties of Medicine.

In relation to the Erasmus Program, the Rectors of the G-9 define it as "an instrument of European social cohesion" and defend that, apart from "maintaining the economic level", "it is necessary that the stays last for a whole year". The reason given is that the limit of 6 months imposed by the Government is not enough to obtain an academic "performance" and learn the language.

Furthermore, he praised the investment made by the G-9 in sharing and using to the fullest, "in these times of crisis", their infrastructures, such as libraries, publishing houses, scientific infrastructures (such as the Scientific-Technical Services) or technological (Such as the Shared Virtual Campus, in which 2,325 students have enrolled for one of the 65 elective subjects offered).

Joint activities

The Group 9 of Universities is composed by the nine campuses that are the sole public universities of their autonomous community. Theses institutions, who amount to 226,000 students, represent 20% of the Spanish university system.

The General Assembly of Rectors included the transfer of the six-month presidency of the Group 9 of Universities, from the University of Castilla-La Mancha to the University of Cantabria, and informed on the meetings of the Sectorial Committees that have recently taken place: Research; International Relations; Cultural and Social Projection, and Teaching Staff and Students.

Other joint activities were also discussed, such as Univalue, the participation on the International Meeting of Students and Teaching Offer, the Inter-University Debate League, the Musical Contest and the PhD Meetings.

The Rectors present in this General Assembly were José Carlos Gómez Sal, of the University of Cantabria; Miguel Ángel Collado Yurrita, of the University of Castilla-La Mancha; Segundo Píriz Durán, of the University of Extremadura; Vicente Gotor Santamaría, of the University of Oviedo; Iñaki Goirizelaia Ondorika, of the University of the Basque Country; Julio Lafuente López, of the Public University of Navarra; José Arnáez Vadillo, dof the University of La Rioja. Fernando Ángel Beltrán Blázquez, Vice-Rector for Academic Policies of the University of Zaragoza; Jaume Carot Giner, Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies of the University of the Balearic Isles, and Jorge Martín Castro, General Secretary of the Group 9 of Universities, were also present at the meeting.