Once again, the CYD Foundation presents the CYD Report, which analyzes, diagnoses and proposes lines of improvement for Spanish universities. In this new edition, it highlights the emergence of artificial intelligence, which it considers to be the greatest challenge that the university has faced in 2023 and which opens up endless opportunities and challenges. But also, in one of the most notable dramas for society as a whole, that those who made an effort to pursue higher education work in positions inferior to their training. According to this work and collecting data from Eurostat, Spain has the highest percentage of employed people aged 20 to 64 with higher education who work in low-skilled occupations (35.9%). In the EU this figure is 22.2%.
But overqualification is not the only clearly negative point. Also employability. In 2022, Spanish higher education graduates will have the second lowest employment rate of the 27 countries of the European Union (83% compared to 87.4% in the EU) and the second highest unemployment rate (7.1% compared to to 3.5% of the EU).
And, according to this report, there is a mismatch between the demand for studies and employment opportunities: the percentage of STEM graduates in Spain (18.8%) is lower than that in the European Union (25.1%), while in Spain there are, in proportion, twice as many graduates in the field of education.
What can be done to reverse this situation? The experts who have worked on this study are clear that "the mismatches between the training offer and the labor market must be reduced, improving orientation and informing about job prospects."
But how to anticipate the needs of the labor market? Here comes a possible application of artificial intelligence. As argued in the report, AI could be used to analyze the labor market, economic trends, technological advances and sociocultural changes, in order to stay ahead of the demands of the future. "This would allow graduates to be directed towards areas of high demand and growth potential," he says. Similarly, this information would allow academic training to be directed towards these areas and skills.
The CYD Report analyzes the situation and evolution of the seven strategic priorities for the university, among them, the aforementioned need to improve employability. One of them is the incorporation of artificial intelligence, which has accelerated the digital transformation at the university. "This must be seen from three perspectives: learning with it (using tools), learning about it (how it works), and preparing for it (understanding its impact on human life and activities). Thanks to this three-pronged approach, you can help personalize teaching, streamline research and automate management," the report states.
CYD insists that the use of artificial intelligence is both "promising and complex", as it introduces both ethical challenges, such as the need to train professionals and invest in technology, "challenges that must be addressed with planning, management and resources".
Resources is one of the most recurrent demands of Spanish universities and a necessary measure to reduce the gap with respect to the international context. According to the OECD's Education at a Glance 2023 report, spending in Spanish higher education institutions is $14,361 per student, 20.7% lower than the OECD average. The distribution between public and private sources also differs, with more participation of the private sector in higher education spending: 32.5% in Spain, 29.9% in the OECD and 20.2% in the EU.
Promoting quality training and research not only requires more resources, but also new business models. As the CYD 2023 Report points out, greater investment should be accompanied by maximum confidence that said allocation of resources is thoughtful, based on an impact justification system and adjusted to the strategic needs of each institution.
Another priority of universities is to attract talent and ensure the generational change of teaching and research staff and promote internationalization. At this point, he points out that the majority of Spanish universities have integrated the international dimension with more or less intensity into their operation and seek to expand their reach abroad.
Spain receives more students than it sends abroad: in the 2021-2022 academic year there were 135,474 international students in the face-to-face university system and 54,163 Spanish students were enrolled in mobility programs. Public universities welcome more foreign students (91,985), but in relative terms, there is a higher proportion of international students in private universities (18.82%) than in public universities (7.85%).
The new Law on Universities (LOSU) contemplates measures to promote internationalization, such as the creation of alliances and joint programs between universities, the implementation of which is in the hands of communities and universities, "but fails to specify an agenda and the support that will be for this," the report states.
Another challenge is to increase the relevance of the knowledge generated for society. Spanish universities generate 77.5% of scientific publications, but there is little interaction with other actors in the science and innovation ecosystem, which can lead to the knowledge generated not being accessible and, consequently, not being used and valued.
And improve access and equity. Women are the majority among bachelor's and master's degree holders (60.5% and 57.2% respectively, academic year 2021-2022), but as the level of studies and academic career increases, their presence decreases: only 26. 3% are professors and 25% are rectors. Its presence is linked to areas of study such as education (77.7% of those enrolled in the degree are women), health and social services (72.2%) and its presence is lower in engineering, industry and construction (30.3% ) and computing (14.9%).
According to Ángela Mediavilla, head of the technical office of the CYD Foundation, “the university must lead the social transformation: we must persist in equality policies, improve equitable access and promote its role as a social elevator.”
