Popular Legislative Initiative requesting a tuition fee reduction on Catalan universities presented in UAB
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) held the presentation act for the Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) on 14 February. This initiative aims to obtain a 30% tuition fee reduction in Catalan universities.
During the act, which started at 1 p.m. and counted on several musical performances, Aida Sanuy, representative of this initiative, reminded that university fees increased by 66% in Spain since 2012, Catalonia being one of the most expensive regions within the country and within Europe.
Student activism in 2016 proposed a motion in the Parlament that requested a 30% discount on fees. This motion had the support of most of the Catalan chamber, but it was never applied because it was not binding. For this reason, students organized a 50.000 signatures collection, which will start in two weeks, in order to spread the ILP all the way to the Parlament, where it should be approved.
During her speech, Sanuy also explained that the Spanish state offers each Autonomous Community the possibility to regulate up until a 25% the tuition fee. This ILP requests to charge between 0 and half of this 25%, which would be a 12.5% reduction. This initiative is not only aimed to reduce fees but also to collect signatures that will allow to socialize the bachelor’s degrees issues and to prove that this is a “legitimate, cross-wise claim that involves the majority of the Catalan society”.
UAB Rector, Margarita Arboix, also took part in the ceremony. She reaffirmed the support of the university’s Governing Team for the initiative and committed to try to encourage other rectors from public Catalan universities to join the call. Nonetheless, the rector defended that this discount cannot imply a reduction of funding for public universities and encouraged students, teaching staff and the administrative and service staff to double the 50.000 signatures.
The presentation also counted on the presence of the representative of Sindicat d’Estudiants del Països Catalans (SEPC), Laia Casas; the representative of Coordinadora d’Assemblees de Facultat (CAF), Ana Belén Flamit; Bàrbara Roch de Som 27 i Més; the representative of Asemblea Nacional das estudantes Galegas (ANEGA), Ana Fidalgo; the general secretary of Confederació General del Treball (CGT), Ermengol Gassiot; the representative of Sindicat de l’Ensenyament de Catalunya USTEC·STEs (IAC), Ramon Font; Politics professor in UAB, Ricard Gomà; and Parlament members of En Comú Podem, Elisenda Alamany; from Esquerra Republicana (ERC), Ruth Ribas, and from CUP, Maria Sirvent.