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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019
For the last fifteen years I have taught final year law students at a Spanish state university on a regular basis. While it is extremely difficult to generalize about matters such as the following, I believe that the typical profile of the different groups of students I have taught over the years has been relatively homogenous in terms of quality and performance. Along with a minority of highly motivated and able students, at the beginning of every academic year the classes are mostly made up of silent students who are a priori reluctant to accept individual responsibilities in the learning process. Having presented this seemingly harsh appraisal with no preamble, one of the aims of this essay is to set out a series of arguments that enable us to go beyond the glib self-righteousness of blaming the students for all their woes. In my opinion, it is the Spanish higher education system that is the mainly to blame for many of the factors currently holding law students back. The following factors contribute to this outcome.
1 Zaragoza, Universidad De, Notas mínimas de ingreso. Grados (2013–2014), http://wzar.unizar.es/servicios/acceso/admisgrado/corte/grados13_14.pdf (explaining, for example, the minimum admission mark at the University of Zaragoza in the academic year 2013–2014 was 5/10 for the Law School, 9.54/10 for nursing, and 8.75/10 for medicine).Google Scholar
2 See Las notas de entrada para las facultades de todas las universidades públicas españolas, El Pais, http://www.elpais.com/especial/universidades/.Google Scholar
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15 Gómez, Katia Fach, Ventajas del Problem Based Learning (PBL) como método de aprendizaje del Derecho Internacional, Bordón 5 (2012) (providing an example of this kind of experience carried out in my International Law classes).Google Scholar
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17 Gómez, Katia Fach, Why Does Legal English Sound Like Gibberish to Many Spanish Law Students?, 43 A.B.A. Int'l Legal News 16 (2014).Google Scholar
18 The 2014 Spanish Parliamentary Agreement on I+D+I R&D&I is promising in this sense, see Carta por la Ciencia (Dec. 19, 2013), http://conimasdmasihayfuturo.com/2013/12/19/firma-del-acuerdo-parlamentario-por-la-idi-un-compromiso-historico-por-el-futuro/.Google Scholar
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21 See Academic Ranking of World Universities 2013, http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2013.html.Google Scholar
22 Tallantyre, Steve, Spain's “Lost Generation” Give up Work and Study, The Local (June 26, 2013), http://www.thelocal.es/20130626/study-shows-surge-in-spains-lost-generation.Google Scholar
23 Young and Educated in Europe, but Desperate for Jobs, New York Times (Nov. 16, 2013), http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/world/europe/youth-unemployment-in-europe.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.Google Scholar
24 See Fátima Báñez llama a la fuga de cerebros movilidad exterior, Publico (Apr. 17, 2014), http://www.publico.es/espana/453846/fatima-banez-llama-a-la-fuga-de-cerebros-movilidad-exterior.Google Scholar
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29 See Antonio Jiménez Barca, La generación de los mil euros. Retrato de unos jóvenes hipercualificados, que pasaron por la Universidad pero están condenados a vivir con unos sueldos precarios, El Pais (Oct. 23, 2005), http://elpais.com/diario/2005/10/23/domingo/1130038892_850215.html.Google Scholar
30 Noa De La Torre, Así se reinventa la Universidad, El Mundo (June 7, 2014), http://www.elmundo.es/comunidad-valenciana/2014/07/06/53b9669622601de71c8b456f.html.Google Scholar
31 Clara Eugenia Núñez, Universidad y Ciencia en España (2013) (interesting in this sense, this book is written by a university professor who has also held political positions in the education field in Spain).Google Scholar
32 See Pain, Elisabeth, Research Cuts will Cause Exodus from Spain, Science (Apr. 13, 2012), http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6078/139 (In this sense, this article published in Science acquired great notoriety in Spain.).Google Scholar
33 See Rivera, Alicia, El éxito científico de España ha caído por la falta de financiación, El Pais (Apr. 22, 2014), http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2014/04/22/actualidad/1398192507_757284.html (The words of Dr. Bourguignon, President of the European Research Council are paradigmatic in this sense.).Google Scholar
34 See Moro-Martin, Amaya, Despedida de una científica que está hacienda las maletas, El Pais (Aug. 19, 2013), http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2013/08/19/actualidad/1376935600_483731.html; see also, Alicia Rivera, El sistema de ciencia español no responde a las necesidades del siglo XXI, El Pais (Feb. 11, 2014), http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2014/02/11/actualidad/1392154716_227536.html (A letter addressed to the President of Spain written by a Spanish scientist who left the country and went to the United States acquired great relevance.).Google Scholar
35 See Spiewak, Von Martin, Forschung aus fairer Produktion, Zeit Online (2014), http://www.zeit.de/2014/11/universitaeten-wissenschaftlicher-nachwuchs/komplettansicht; see also Tomasz Mroczkowski, From Breakthrough to Incremental Innovation Leadership: Lessons from Germany, 5 J. Knowledge Econ. 409 (2014) (highlighting some of the problems of the German scientific environment).Google Scholar
36 See generally Exzellenzinitiative (Jan. 19, 2009), www.exzellenz-initiative.de/start (A good example of this is the German Excellence Initiative, where “politics and science joined together to promote outstanding research projects and institutions at Germany's universities.”).Google Scholar
37 See Rivera, Alicia, Los científicos piden que la inversión en I+D no compute como déficit, El Pais (May 21, 2014), http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2014/05/21/actualidad/1400682593_233247.html.Google Scholar
38 Barnes, Hector G., Los ocho males del profesor universitario: es uno de los trabajos más tóxicos que existen, El Confidenencial (July 7, 2014), http://www.elconfidencial.com/alma-corazon-vida/2014-07-07/los-8-males-del-profesor-universitario-es-uno-de-los-trabajos-mas-toxicos-que-existen_156018/.Google Scholar
39 The solution could be the creation of “teaching awards”—similar to the “sexenios de investigación”—granted by the Spanish Ministry of Education, or the option to allow teachers to choose between carrying out predominantly teaching or research activities. This question is controversial, however, since the report referred to in footnote 44 suggests just the opposite; that is, that the importance of the teaching facet should be reduced when assessing the curricula of university staff in order to grant a possible promotion.Google Scholar
40 Social Sciences and Humanities Scientific Committees, Humanities and Social Sciences in Horizon 2020 Societal Challenges: Implementation and Monitoring, Science Europe (Nov. 2013), http://www.scienceeurope.org/uploads/PublicDocumentsAndSpeeches/SSH_Horizon2020_WEB_fin.pdf (advocating a more prominent role for the Social Sciences and Humanities in Horizon 2020, an opinion paper).Google Scholar
41 Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: European Research Area Progress Report 2013, COM (2013) 637 final (Sept. 20, 2013). In this sense, article 17 of the Regulation 1291/2013 states that: “Researchers' careers: Horizon 2020 shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013, which shall contribute to the reinforcement of a single market for researchers and attractiveness of researchers' careers across the Union in the context of the ERA, by taking into account the transnational character of the majority of the actions supported under it.” Commission Regulation 1291/2013, of The European Parliament And of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing Horizon 2020 - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014–2020) and Repealing Decision No. 1982/2006/EC, 2013 O.J. (L 347/104).Google Scholar
42 Fariza, Ignacio & Silió, Elisa, Ningún campus español entre el centenary con más impacto investigador, El Pais (May 13, 2014), http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2014/05/13/actualidad/1399976549_650954.html (pointing out the poor results of Spanish Universities in international research rankings).Google Scholar
43 Sixto Sánchez Lorenzo, De bestiis universitatis (esos tipos universitarios) (2004) (dealing with the—sometimes pathological—profiles of law professors).Google Scholar
44 Propuestas para la reforma y mejora de la calidad y eficiencia del sistema universitario español (Feb. 12, 2013), http://www.usc.es/export/sites/default/gl/web/descargas/propuestas-reforma.pdf (This report was prepared in 2013 by a committee of scholars selected by the Minister of Education Jose Ignacio Wert.).Google Scholar
45 Antonio Jesús Mora Caballero, El TSJA anula una plaza de catedrático que favorecía a uno de los candidatos, El Pais (Mar. 3, 2014), http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2014/03/03/andalucia/1393849120_949640.html.Google Scholar
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48 See generally Hidalgo, Carlos, Imputada la cúpula de la Escuela de Medicina Legal de la Complutense, ABC (June 5, 2014), http://www.abc.es/madrid/20140506/abci-imputada-cupula-escuela-medicina-201405052139.html (providing more bloodcurdling cases where law professors seem to be involved); see also Imputados por injurias el exrector Abril y el exsecretario general de la Uva Calonge, Ultimero Cero (Feb. 20, 2014), http://www.ultimocero.com/articulo/imputados-por-injurias-el-exrector-abril-y-el-exsecretario-general-la-uva-calonge.Google Scholar
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50 María Matesanz del Barrio, Los retos de la publicaciones científicas españolas en el desarrollo de la Europa del conocimiento, @tic. Revista d'innovació educativa 20 (2010) (pointing out the shortcomings of many Spanish journals).Google Scholar
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52 Resolución de 15 de noviembre de 2013, de la Comisión Nacional Evaluadora de la Actividad Investigadora, por la que se publican los criterios específicos aprobados para cada uno de los cambios de evaluación, Boletín Oficial del Estado (Nov. 21, 2013), http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2013/11/21/pdfs/BOE-A-2013-12234.pdf.Google Scholar
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