On her tour of the oldest campus of the Universitat de València, the candidate visited the Faculty of Physiotherapy on Friday 18th and the Faculties of Geography and History and Medicine and Dentistry on Tuesday 22nd. In addition to claiming the needs of each centre, the attendees recognised the work done by the Principal's team and expressed their good wishes for the next term of office.

The candidate for Principal of the Universitat de València, accompanied by a large representation of her team, explained the essential points of her proposed university policy and the challenges and actions that are being carried out and will be carried out to address the problems affecting the institution.

As usual, the candidate for Principal began her speech by thanking the work done and the participation in the cogovernance, especially during the pandemic, and explained the main features of the challenges we face, especially the financial needs, which affect the staff and infrastructure, and policies such as the replacement rate or the lack of approval of the collective agreement, among others, which prevent staff planning that puts people at the centre of our objectives.

As part of the Parlem-Treballem-Avancem campaign (which means Talk-Work-Move Forward), and despite representing the only candidate for the elections, the candidate insisted on the need to mobilise the university community in order to strengthen the institution with a significant percentage of the vote. In this sense, she insisted on the possibility of early voting with the means provided by the university.

Physiotherapy: improvement of infrastructures and assessment of clinical training

Mavi Mestre began her speech by highlighting her appreciation for a centre that she has seen grow since its beginnings and that has had to adapt to move from teaching a diploma to a degree and to meet the new needs of the student body.

Among the points he highlighted that need to be addressed are the structural deficit of the faculty's teaching staff, of more than 2,000 hours, as well as the delay in the implementation of some facilities, long demanded, for the use of the student body.

A representative of the teaching staff explained the difficulties derived from the fact that ANECA (the Spanish National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation) did not value clinical activity for accreditation and asked for more spaces in which to carry out internships for the students, which are of singular importance in this degree programme.

The Dean of the Faculty, Sofía Pérez Alenda, supported her colleague, insisting on the clinical training needs of this degree and commented that the faculty has made extraordinary progress in research but needs adequate space. On this point, the vice-dean for infrastructures made a list of necessary actions, some simple and inexpensive in economic terms, such as the remodelling of a room for utilities other than the current ones, and others more complex, such as the increase in height of the interdepartmental building. The Vice-Principal for Economics and Infrastructures provided information on both issues.

All those who took the floor, including the former dean of the faculty, Antonio Alberola, praised the figure of Pilar Serra, who will be Vice-Principal for Sustainability, Cooperation and Healthy Lifestyle, and highlighted her capacity for work and wished her success which, as they pointed out, will be a success for the whole of the Universitat de València.

Geography and History: concern for research staff and reduction of bureaucratisation

In a meeting with a high level of participation in which there was repeated recognition of the work of the Principal's team and good wishes for the future, the attendees shared their concerns about what will happen to the contracts of researchers affected by the labour reform, which eliminates the contract of work and services, when there are still eight months to go before the Science Law is approved, which will allow the figure of the permanent contract to be applied to research staff.

The candidate expressed her disappointment with the Ministry of Finance which, when it received the CRUE's (Spanish for Conference of Principals of Spanish Universities) communication expressing its logical concern about the matter, responded that these contracts would be maintained if they corresponded to European projects, ignoring the fact that only 40% of the projects are in this situation. The CRUE quickly requested that the figure provided for in the Science Law be applied via Royal Decree Law before 30 March, and Mavi Mestre expressed her confidence that the solution would come soon, given that the research system of the whole of Spain and the work and projects of many people, 1,400 at the Universitat de València, are at stake.

Members of the PAS (Administrative and Service Staff) and PDI (Teaching and Research Staff) spoke of the overload of bureaucratic tasks and, in particular, of the quality aspects, a job for which a centre technician was requested, and of the difficulties of older staff in adapting to the demands derived from the new processes of management and registration of activities, a particularly relevant aspect in a centre where more than 20 people are expected to retire in the next four years. The rector agreed with them that more training is needed, but also a rationalisation of these tasks in order to reduce, where possible, those procedures that are not strictly necessary.

The dean of the faculty, Josep Montesinos, reviewed the good relationship and fluid communication between the faculty and the rector's office, recalled the recently renovated infrastructures, such as the Palmireno hall, and insisted on some pending issues, such as air conditioning or the restoration of the façade. Both the dean and other participants praised the important work carried out by Professor Jorge Hermosilla, Vice-Principal of Territorial Projection and Society.

Other issues discussed in a very dynamic meeting were the systems for stabilising research staff, the extension of the system of pre-doctoral grants and the existing options for reinforcing the staff, as well as the possibility of directly incorporating contracted teaching staff without necessarily going through the doctoral assistant phase, a proposal that the candidate agrees with but said that it is difficult to implement due to the replacement rate. The possibilities of the Universitat to stabilise research staff who have exhausted grants such as Margarita Salas, Ramón y Cajal and María Zambrano were also discussed.

Medicine and Dentistry: accreditation of faculty, stabilisation of associates and provision of spaces

A large group of people gathered in the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry to listen to the words of the candidate for Principal, as well as to convey their concerns. Mavi Mestre began by talking about the staffing situation, in a centre with a structural deficit of 12,500 hours in some areas such as stomatology, and the specificity of not being able to use the figure of doctoral assistant in many areas because it cannot be linked. Some infrastructure problems were also addressed.

The candidate commented that in this Centre there had been the stabilisation of 22 associate lecturer posts in recent years, half of the total number of posts at the Universitat, 14 vacancies had been filled and doctoral assistant posts had been created in the areas in which this figure is possible, such as 5 in stomatology and 4 in physiology, but she noted that it is a faculty with an ageing teaching staff and in the next four years 50 people will be retiring. It is therefore necessary to implement an effective staffing policy and to reinforce policies that can make a university career attractive.

The dean, Javier Chorro, took the floor and agreed with the diagnosis presented by Professor Mestre. The dean, and several other speakers, expressed their positive assessment of the work carried out over the last four years.

They also proposed to rationalise situations such as the incompatibility of timetables that limits, in some cases, the compatibility of academic and clinical functions in hospitals, and shared with the rector the difficulties of accreditation of teaching staff in clinical areas and the evaluation of the steps that the CRUE is taking in this respect.

The other issue highlighted was the need for space for research groups, and it was demanded that advantage be taken of the refurbishment of the old Nursing and Podiatry building, where some Medicine departments were located some time ago, and the refurbishment of the Hospital Clínic to provide more space for these research groups. The Vice-Dean for Coordination of Studies expressed her gratitude for the effort that has been made to provide material and staff at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Simulation in Health Sciences, CESIS, which will soon begin to provide practical teaching with cases in which students from all the health sciences degrees will participate in a coordinated and integrated manner.