Maria Montoya
Pamplona (EFE).- The re-elected rector of the Public University of Navarra, Ramón Gonzalo, who will begin his second and last term in June, has as one of the challenges of this legislature the implementation of the new Organic Law of the University System, in the one that warns of deficiencies but the one that encourages to take advantage of “opportunities” and even to foreclose with its own law.
It is about advancing the objective of the UPNA, which “is here to support Navarra in its social and economic development”, as Gonzalo (Logroño, 1972) has pointed out in an interview with EFE, on the occasion of his recent re-election as rector of the UPNA, a position from which he will take possession in an act on June 2.
He himself was a student at the center, where he later obtained a doctorate in Telecommunications Engineering, to finally occupy the chair of Signal Theory and Communications in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Communication Engineering.
– Question: Do you consider the election with 80.9% of the votes a support for your management or support for the only candidate presented?
– Answer: I am happy with the result, because since there was only one candidate, it was necessary to get the university community to participate. I made a candidacy project that I have been explaining to those who have wanted to come to listen to me what the idea of a university was for the next four years.
I think that in general they have responded quite well, although in the student body the participation has been very low. But it is very difficult to reach the students. From the participation of the rest, I am happy, and even the teaching staff at absolute levels there have been more people who have voted yes than the previous time.
– Q: Why has it been presented again, what was pending?
– R: The last legislature has been a bit complicated by the pandemic, although we have done many things. It is true that we still had the whole issue of electronic administration, which we were able to accelerate with the pandemic, but many aspects have to be finished. Another issue in progress is the development of a program that allows us to make decisions based on the data we have from the university.
As for people, we are consolidating the structure of the teaching staff, and practically everything will be stabilized in just over a year. In addition, an important objective is the Administration and Services Personnel (PAS), we must analyze and then try to adapt the structure that was created 30 years ago to current times.
And then there is the new Organic Law of the University System, which we must fully implement and make new statutes in two years. Here we have a very important challenge.
– Q: How do you assess this Organic Law?
– R: It is an advance in some things, but because we had a law with more than 20 years. In addition, it includes many aspects that we have already been doing, related to sustainable development, social inequalities, student participation or even psychosocial care for students.
But if the question is whether it is the law that I expected, the answer is no. My idea was more of how universities should be 20 years from now, and I would have been more ambitious in many aspects. In some, this law does solve problems, but in others it creates many more, especially in day-to-day operations. But well, we will have to take advantage of the advantages and new opportunities that it gives us.
Now we must think about the model of university that we want and, when we know it, develop statutes that adapt to it, always within the margin that the Law gives us, because there are some things that it leaves quite closed. Then, you have to convince the university community, which is the one that must approve these statutes. The power of rectors is quite limited.
– Q: Are you planning to offer more degrees in these four years?
– R: I don’t think there will be much news. At most we will work on trying to implement a dual degree, but on degrees that we already have and that can be done in cooperation with companies.
Where we are going to make an effort is in master’s degrees, something that we have already done in this legislature, with a lot of work with the centers to detect possibilities and demands that exist in society. In addition, the master’s degrees are very attractive and, if we manage to attract talent to this training, it is easier for these students to remain in the social and economic fabric of Navarra.
– Q: New in this legislature will be the operation in 2025 of the new Health Sciences building in Pamplona. What does it mean beyond new facilities?
– A: It will be able to boost the public biosanitary system a lot, because we are going to create a pole there not only for science, but also for research (in this we work with the University Hospital of Navarra and with the Navarrabiomed research center) and transfer of results. And then you have to ensure that all that is done there is transferred to the patient.
– Q: For years they have demanded multi-year funding from the Government of Navarra and finally they have it. What do you ask for now?
– R: More funding (laughs). I am very happy with the Government’s commitment, firstly because it has a University department, with which the treatment is also exceptional, and having an interlocutor who understands you is very important.
Then, the multi-year financing agreement of the UPNA is a very good agreement and has helped us a lot in recent years, especially because it helps to set medium-term objectives already with financing.
Logically, what I am going to ask of the Government of Navarra now is to continue with this commitment, especially to implement the new Organic Law of the University System. Sit down with them and work on it, because without their help it’s going to be very difficult. And I’m not just asking for resources, but also, because an important objective would be to make a University Law in Navarra for the first time, instead of having regional decrees that regulate our operation.