Spain’s higher education minister, Manuel Castells, resigns

The ministry will be led by former Barcelona councilor, Joan Subirats

Spain's higher education minister, Manuel Castells, on April 23, 2020 (by Moncloa)
Spain's higher education minister, Manuel Castells, on April 23, 2020 (by Moncloa) / ACN

ACN | Madrid

December 16, 2021 06:42 PM

Manuel Castells, Spain’s higher education minister, has resigned on Thursday citing personal reasons. 

His replacement will be Joan Subirats, a Catalan politician and former culture councilor for the Barcelona city council.

Castells had been a part of Pedro Sánchez’s cabinet since January 2020 and over these last two years he has mainly worked on a law publicly known as ‘Castells’ law’. 

The proposal, approved by the executive in August, is yet to be voted on in the Spanish Congress. The law would expand student representation by giving them more positions in decision-making committees. However, students believe that this will be a loss for them.

Some student unions also point out that higher education’s current relation with professional sectors would change. Critics warn that universities will be influenced by the markets. 

Joan Subirats, a retired Barcelona politician

Joan Subirats had been a member of Ada Colau’s city council cabinet.

In July 2021, Subirats stepped down in order to retire at the age of 70, when he also left his position as a professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. 

Manuel Castells was put forth by the Comuns party

Castells, born in Hellín, Albacete in 1942, whose name was put forth by the Catalan capital's mayor, Ada Colau of Barcelona en Comú, is a highly-acclaimed sociologist who led the first ministry exclusively in charge of higher education since 1981.

The new minister most recently taught at the Open University of Catalonia, where he also headed the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute for years. An anti-Franco activist in his youth, Castells went into exile in Paris in the 60s, becoming the University of Paris' youngest professor at 24.

Castells participated in the May 68 French student movement before eventually heading to California, teaching at UC Berkeley for 24 years among many other shorter stints at equally distinguished universities including MIT, Oxford, and Cambridge.