Jose Ramon Bengoetxea (UPV): "Our only beauty is university politics"

UPV/EHU Rector Joxe Ramón Bengoetxea has confirmed that there have recently been "discrepancies between two different processes" between the Basque Government and the UPV/EHU that "have been reflected as a clash in the media."

According to Euskadi Irratia, the meeting held last Friday with the Basque Council for Science, Universities and Innovation, Juan Ignacio Pérez Iglesias, "went well". He explained that both were also "obliged" to seek a rapprochement, to determine where the differences have been so far and to seek solutions for the future.

In his words, what lies behind the events that have recently been interpreted as tension is that "two elements have coincided over time": "One, the budget proposal made by the Government, and the other, when we were finalizing the analysis and diagnosis of our needs. These are two different things," says Bengoetxea. "Of course, a diagnosis of our needs is made with the intention that it will then be reflected in the budgets, but we were aware that the times are different."

He points out that the Rectorate is obliged to identify the needs well 'That is what we have been doing and we are doing, because that is an open exercise'. Faced with this has been the proposal for the budgets of the Government, 'which is usually a closed proposal, which will then be submitted to Parliament, so that it can make the final decision'.

Bengoetxea wanted to make it clear that "there has been no political intention" at the press conference to call for a budget increase. "Our only policy is university policy, which is based on the achievement of excellence, on the one hand, and on the compatibility of that excellence with the care and well-being of people."

He recalls that since 2008 there has been no political affiliation, that there are multiple sensitivities in the candidacy and that there is no intention to use the university for political purposes, which he believes "would be very damaging to all."

He has stressed that the group's intention is to "always seek improvements" and that it will also go to parliament to seek, as far as possible through amendments, increases in budget allocations in order to respond to the main needs of the university: the digitisation of the system, the area of care (health care, psychological care), risk prevention and the improvement of the working conditions of newly incorporated teachers, among others.