education

The Catalan executive and radical left pro-independence CUP are negotiating the fiscal law, the so called Accompaniment Law, for the 2017 budget. The draft is set to include tax reforms as well as the introduction of new taxes especially oriented toward avoiding property speculation. One of the main hurdles has to do with the reform of income tax, which foresees the elimination of tax relief for property purchase for those who earn more than 30,000 euros per year. By applying this modification the Government could collect 11 MEUR in 2018, negotiators estimate. CUP also aimed to increase income tax for those who earn more than 60,000, but this proposal is not apparently on the table.

The Catalan Secretary of Universities and Research, Arcadi Navarro, and the President of the European Association for International Education (EAIE), Laura Howard, have a meeting next Friday September the 16^th to discuss the candidacy of Barcelona as the venue for EAIE 2020. This annual event is the largest higher education conference in Europe and its 28^th edition is currently taking place in Liverpool. Indeed, the meeting is going to be held within the framework of EAIE 2016. A Catalan delegation has set up a pavilion at the fair to improve the visibility of the Catalan higher education offer, from primary degrees to Master’s degrees and doctorates. 

The Catalan government spokeswoman, Neus Munté, criticised on Monday the agreement between the conservative People’s Party (PP) and liberal Ciutadans (C’s), which includes a compromise to exchange the immersion education system in Catalonia, in place since the regaining of democracy, for a trilingual model. In a TV interview, Munté said that Catalonia won’t change “a single comma” of its school system, which she reminded is entrusted by law and attracts a “very broad consensus” in the country. According to Munté, C’s “changes its principles depending on which way the wind blows” in Spain, but has always kept intact its aim to “kill the immersion system” in Catalonia.

 The quality of Catalan beaches and ports has increased. This year the International Jury awarded Catalonia 9 more flags than last year and the area now has 98 distinctions for beaches and 24 for ports. The province with the most awards is Tarragona with over 40 flags, followed by Girona with 30 and Barcelona with 28. Barcelona has recorded the biggest increase and has won 8 more flags for its beaches than last year. The President of the Environmental Education Association (ADEAC), José Ramón Sánchez, praised the increase of Blue Flags, assuring that in Catalonia there is "an excellent situation regarding education and environmental information". Indeed, Spain is at the forefront of the world rankings with eight more blue flags than in 2015.

Three Catalan business schools were ranked in the fifty best in the world category, according to the the 18^th edition of the elaborate analysis by the Financial Times (FT) Executive Education 2016. The three schools that received the highest scores were the Iese Business School (in first place), the Esade Business School (in eighth place) and the Eada Business School Barcelona (in 44^th place). The final analysis was a composite of two separate rankings, a combination of Customised Programmes and Open-Enrolment Programmes. The Iese Business School was placed as number one in the Customised Programmes Ranking and number two in the Open-Enrolment Programmes Rankings, “coming closest of any school since the survey was launched in 1999 to topping both rankings”, according to the Financial Times. 

Four out of the ten Spanish universities included on the 2016 Times Higher Education (THE) list of the top 150 universities under 50 years old are native to Catalonia. The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) was named 12 out of 150, with Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) ranked 15^th. Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) as well as the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) were included among the rankings. Though the universities are young, THE’s editor-at-large and the editor of THE’s World University Rankings, Phil Baty, cites Catalonia’s “strong sense of civil engagement” as a driving force in the universities’ growth and stand-out performance in this year’s rankings among educational institutions both young and old. 

The members of the new Catalan executive took office this Thursday, more than three months after the 27th of September Catalan Elections resulted in the victory of pro-independence forces. Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, called them to be “aware” of the citizens’ assignment “without renouncing anything”. ERC’s leader Oriol Junqueras has been designed to assume the Vice presidency and led the Department of Economy and Tax Office, one of the key areas of the new executive. Another novelty is the creation of the department for Foreign Affairs, which will be led by former MEP and ‘Junts Pel Sí’s top member, Raül Romeva.

Barcelona's candidacy has convinced UNESCO's directors, international experts and the Creative Cities Network and has this Friday joined the list of UNESCO Cities of Literature. From now on, the Catalan capital will have to promote literature, integrate culture into its economic and social development plans and collaborate with the other Creative Cities. The Catalan capital presented the richness of its literary heritage in both the Catalan and Spanish languages and the international power of its editorial sector as some of its main assets. However, the celebration of Saint Jordi, Catalonia's patron day, when Catalans exchange books and roses with their loved ones, has been the focus of the candidacy. In fact, UNESCO's World Book and Copyright Day is celebrated on the 23^rd of April, the same day as the Saint Jordi celebrations.

Current Catalan Minister for Home Affairs, Jordi Jané, warned that the jihadist threat in Catalonia is "grave" and insisted that the Government is "offering its hand" and is "willing to collaborate with everyone" in order to fight terrorism. Although he called on citizens to "carry on with their normal lives" Jané announced some measures partly due to the terrorist attacks in Paris. In the short term, the controlling of road access to the main Catalan cities is to be reinforced, as is the level of surveillance in public spaces. In the longer term, Jané announced a protocol to "detect in time the Islamic radicalisation phenomenon" at school and "avoid allowing a terrorism that wants to change mind-sets" to spread. The protocol has already been designed and will be launched shortly. The aim is to work closely with the education community to identify which pupils are more likely to radicalise. 

Catalan President, Artur Mas, appeared this Thursday before the court, after being summonsed by Catalonia's Supreme Court for organising the 9-N symbolic vote in 2014. "The success and international impact of the 9-N consultation is what motivated this lawsuit" he stated "this summons responds to the Spanish Government's anger rather than legal reasons". Mas arrived at Barcelona's Courthouse by foot and was joined by the 400 Catalan mayors from the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) and the entire Catalan Government. Right in front of the Court, thousands of people displaying Catalan flags rallied around the President and openly showed their opposition to Catalonia's Supreme Court's decision to summons Mas, which has been regarded as a political decision. Mas appeared before the court two days after Catalan Minister for Education Irene Rigau and former vice-president Joana Ortega and right after attending the commemorative events for the 75^th anniversary of President Companys' execution. 

The first two public figures summonsed by Catalonia's Supreme Court for organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014, Catalan Minister for Education, Irene Rigau, and former vice-president Joana Ortega, have appeared before the court today. Outside Barcelona Courthouse, around 500 citizens, brought together by civil society associations such as pro-independence Catalan National Assembly, showed their support for both of the summonsed and openly expressed their opposition to Catalonia's Supreme Court's decision, which has been regarded as a political judgment against Catalonia's right to decide its political future. Members of pro-independence unitary list 'Junts Pel Sí', liberal party CDC, left wing pro-independence party ERC, radical left CUP, Christian-democrat 'Unió' and alternative left coalition 'Catalunya Sí que es Pot' also took part in the protests, which are considered "a direct attack on justice's independence" by Catalonia's Supreme Court. 

Catalonia's Supreme Court (TSJC) has ruled against the petition filed by the Spanish Ministry of Education that asked to reopen the enrolment process for the next school year in order to use registration forms in which parents could explicitly choose whether they wanted their children to be taught in Spanish as an instruction language. In the last few years, the Spanish Government has been undertaking a judicial battle to change Catalonia's school model, which has been developed with an extremely wide consensus over the last 35 years and completely guarantees the knowledge of both Spanish and Catalan, as results show. The model is based on the linguistic immersion principle, through which children are mostly taught in Catalan, although many flexible measures are included. However, the Spanish Government would like to have Spanish as an instruction language as well, despite most of the pedagogic experts considering that if this were the case, many children from Spanish-speaking environments would not have a proficient knowledge of Catalan and would not be bilingual.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reviewed and improved its economic growth forecasts for Spain, going from a 2.5% growth rate for 2015 forecast in April to a 3.1% one foreseen this June, and from 2% to 2.5% for 2016. However, the IMF has also issued recommendations and warnings, emphasising that Spain will have to carry out "additional fiscal efforts" and "structural reforms" in order not to jeopardise the country’s economic recovery. The IMF recommends that Spain reduce the costs of public healthcare and education by making users pay for part of the services. According to the international organisation, Autonomous Community governments – such as Catalonia's – should have greater fiscal responsibilities in such systems since they exclusively manage them. In this vein, the IMF has praised the fiscal consolidation efforts undertaken over the past few years by regional governments and has asked for an increase in their funding and fiscal powers, as well as for the adapting of the deficit targets to their needs.

The Barcelona-based business schools IESE and ESADE have been ranked among the 10 best business schools in the world according to the Executive Education Ranking 2015 by the ‘Financial Times’. For the 17^th year, the British newspaper rated the best 85 customised programmes (tailor-made for corporate customers) and the top 75 open programmes (available to all working managers) in the world. With regard to the customised programme ranking, IESE came top worldwide while ESADE (part of the Ramon Llull University) is ranked 12^th. As for the classification of the open programmes for executives, IESE ranked 3^rd globally while ESADE was 7^th. Among the top 100 educational institutions in the ranking, one can find another Catalan business school as well: Barcelona’s EADA is in 61^st position for its customised programmes, and in 56^th for the open ones.

The Spanish Minister for Education, José Ignacio Wert, has been recorded stating that "the situation of Spanish in the education system of Catalonia, limited to being used as a non-tuition language, like any foreign language, is comparable to the situation of Catalan in the times they like so much to remember", referring to Franco's dictatorship. Wert made the statement on Wednesday with a group of journalists and one of them recorded it. His words were immediately replied to by many Catalan parties, and Wert had to clarify a few hours later that he had expressed himself in a wrong way. He then said that Catalan was persecuted during Francoism "in a ruthless way" and that such persecution was "abominable". However, his previous statement is to be added to a long list, such as when in October 2012 he said that "Catalan pupils must be Hispanicised", defending the cultural homogenisation promoted by Spanish nationalism for the last centuries.