University: What are the reasons to choose between public and private

When it comes to venturing into the university world, there are a multitude of questions that come to the fore: which career to choose, what investment will it require, which modality will be better (face-to-face or distance), which is the best university…

Precisely, in relation to educational institutions, one of the most common doubts is what is worth more: the public or the private university? Currently, according to data from the Ministry of Education, there are 83 universities in Spain, 50 public and 33 private. Of the 1.3 million students in the 2018-2019 academic year, 85% were studying at public institutions.

As with everything, there is no categorical answer as to which option is the best, but it is true that each of these modalities has its advantages and disadvantages. In elEconomista we review the main ones.

access method

One of the main differences between both university models is the way to access them. In the case of public centers, suitability is measured through a specific cut-off mark for each career. For example, in studies such as Medicine, although it varies depending on the university and the autonomous community, students must generally obtain more than 12 points.

In the case of private centers, each one establishes its own admission requirements. Among the most common are a general knowledge questionnaire, another on knowledge related to the requested career, a personal interview, a personality test, an English test, an assessment of skills/skills…

Cost of studies

The price. This is one of the main aspects that comes up when comparing the two types of university. In the public ones, the rates are regulated by the Government, although each autonomous community can modify them within a range. Hence, studying a degree does not entail the same cost in Andalusia as in Madrid.

As stated in the Data and Figures of the Spanish University System 2019-2020 report, the average public price for the first degree enrollment in the 2018-2019 academic year was from 14.0 euros per credit for the minimum experimental up to 21, 2 euros per credit for the maximum. By autonomous communities, the average price of the credit in Bachelor’s degrees ranged between 11.89 euros in Galicia and 33.52 in Catalonia. Therefore, continuing with the example of Medicine, the first course can have a cost of around 830 euros in Galician territory or 1,660 euros in Catalan.

With regard to public prices per credit for Master’s degrees, a distinction must be made between qualifying degrees, where the average price per credit was 23.6 euros, and non-qualifying degrees, with an average price per credit of 32, 4 euro.

“The economic resources allocated to the public university system constitute, without a doubt, one of the most profitable investments, from any point of view, that the State can make. It is so not only because the university returns to society in terms of added value ( and in a strictly economic sense) up to four times what is dedicated to it. It is also because public universities are one of the fundamental instruments available to the State to build a free, democratic and more egalitarian society in social terms”, points out Francisco Morente, vice-rector for Academic Staff at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).

Of course, Morente recognizes that the public university “should be more accessible for the daughters and sons of working-class families, who are still underrepresented in it. It should eliminate the situations that persist of job insecurity. It should be more agile and flexible in its operation, with less administrative hurdles than those that now waste precious time for its teaching and research staff”.

In the case of the private one, the cost of the first Medicine course can oscillate between 10,000 and 22,000 euros. However, from the European University they recall that they have “an extensive program of their own scholarships for undergraduate, master’s and postgraduate training, higher-level training cycles, doctorates and courses. For example, students with high academic performance can benefit up to a 70% discount on your teaching fee”.

Precisely, with regard to scholarships, in January the Government announced that for the 2021-2022 academic year there will be an additional 128 million euros to respond to the drop in income caused by the pandemic.

Curriculum

Another difference between the two types of university is in relation to the student’s study plan. In the public ones, the student has greater autonomy when it comes to facing their studies, while in the private one, greater personalization is defended.

“At Universidad Europea, the student is the center of the educational model. We offer a personalized education. The student chooses, for example, how to attend class, what he wants to specialize in, the extra content and leveling courses he wishes to access. Teaching in small groups, with an average of 24 students per class, favors personalized learning and the student-teacher relationship”, the European University highlights.

Resources

As far as resources are concerned, public centers suffer from a greater lack of them in relation to private ones. As Francisco Morente explains, “many of the Spanish public universities can be successfully compared to most of the European ones, with fewer economic resources than them. The enormous social, environmental, health, political and cultural challenges that our society require to be addressed with full involvement of our public universities. It is time for our rulers to become aware of this and act accordingly”.

In this sense, Morente recognizes that public universities “should have more means, more resources, more autonomy in management and organization, accompanied by the essential and rigorous accountability to the society that makes it possible.” Of course, they dedicate more resources to research, as indicated by the vice-rector for Academic Personnel of the UAB: “public universities are the main center of scientific research in Spain and for that reason alone they deserve better treatment than they are used to receiving from political power “.

Furthermore, Morente continues, they are “generators of scientific and humanistic knowledge, an agora for open debate and reasoned criticism without which nothing can advance, spaces for the apotheosis of imagination, inventiveness and creativity. The place where effort , capacity, intelligence and collaborative work are always rewarded”.

On the other side of the scale, private centers usually have better facilities and resources, adapted to reality. Proof of this is the Universidad Europea, where they have, for example, a Simulated Hospital on the Villaviciosa de Odón campus with an 800 m2 space available to students and teachers with the aim of strengthening the development of good clinical practice. . Likewise, in 2018 the XR Lab was created, an innovative virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality laboratory for students to develop transversal skills and abilities through immersive environments.

Other facilities that stand out from this university are the Industry 4.0 laboratory, a state-of-the-art wind tunnel, the radio workshop, a television set, post-production rooms, or the Human Performance Research Lab, a multidisciplinary environment in which that coexist Sports Training and Motor Skills, Exercise Physiology, Biomedicine and Genetics, Biomechanics, Sports Vision, and Competition Analysis laboratories. The objective, as they point out from this university, is “to practice with the latest simulation technology, AI and virtual laboratories available even outside of class hours. Tools that give the student what the real world cannot so that they can gain flight hours” .

job projection

With regard to job prospects, the figures support the good results of private universities. According to data from the Ministry of Education, the affiliation rate, that is, the percentage of university graduates who are registered with the Social Security, is 58.7% in the case of private one year after graduating and 44.7% in the case of public universities (those who work abroad or those who contribute to a mutual are not included in this framework). In the fourth year after graduating, the figure rises to 76.1% in students from private universities and 71.6% in public ones.

From the European University they maintain that “all the study plans are configured according to the needs of the business world. In fact, the demand for scientific and technological training in the business field has led the European University to renew the portfolio of programs , with 91 new qualifications in the last two years. On the other hand, more than half of the professors at the Universidad Europea are active professionals: 60% of the professors combine teaching work with professional work in companies”.