Candidate for principal Maria Vicenta Mestre’s team visited, on 16th and 17th February, the Faculty with the most recent facilities of the Universitat and the two Faculties with the most students of the Institution. In addition to her speech, the candidate for principal took advantage of the visit to listen to the needs of the representatives of the Centres, which were mainly related to staff and infrastructures.

On the third and fourth days of the campaign, the Principal’s team of the Universitat de València visited the Faculty of Nursing and Podiatry, on the Blasco Ibáñez campus, and the Faculty of Economics and Faculty of Law, on the Tarongers campus. In the different sessions, the principal recalled the fundamental principles of management during her first term of office, and thanked the collaboration and participation in co-governance of all the decanal teams, and the exemplary behaviour and responsibility of the teaching staff, administration and services staff and the student body during the pandemic.

Furthermore, she took the opportunity to present the problems faced by the institution and which require a strong voice before the national and autonomous government in order to confront them. Specifically, the lack of a funding model, promised for years by the Generalitat Valenciana, is one of them. Calculations indicate that, with a model such as the one announced at the time, the Universitat would have had 50 million euros more each year, funds that would have made it possible to address the compromising situation of the staff and speed up the implementation of the infrastructure policy.

Two other aspects that depend on the autonomous government and which aggravate the situation of the staff are, according to the candidate for principal, the approval of the collective labour agreement and the modification of the remuneration decree, which would make it possible to apply wage improvements and to have the figure of the substitute professor, already approved by the Cortes, but on the lookout for its regulation.

Another limitation referred to by the candidate, in this case stemming from state regulation, is the replacement rate, which severely restricts the University's recruitment capacity. Internal analyses show that 400 more doctoral assistants would be needed to meet the structural needs of the institution. However, as the full university professor of psychology said, hiring without the expectation that the replacement rate will disappear would be irresponsible, given the difficulties in stabilising staff once the five-year duration of this type of contract has elapsed.

The principal, who in the three sessions called for the mobilisation of the university community, being clear in these demands, and explained the series of meetings and conversations held with both the Consellera and the successive Universities Ministers, and the respective work teams, to address difficulties that, today, are the main concern of public universities, and very specifically of an aged university, in staff and buildings, such as the Universitat de València.

Besides setting out the lines that will guide government action during the second term of office, she explained the team structure she is proposing and especially the vice-principals that are changing or newly created. This was followed by the interventions of the participants, who shared their needs and proposals with the candidate.

Nursing and Podiatry: staff needs and podiatry specialisation

In the Faculty with the most modern and up-to-date facilities, the fundamental need addressed at the meeting was that of adequate staff, despite the fact that, as explained by both the principal and Ernest Cano, vice-principal for Academic Regulations and Teaching Staff, confirmed by the Faculty’s dean, Antoni Merelles, the situation is better than it was years ago.

Even so, the director of the Nursing department insisted on the lack of staff, given the strong growth in the number of students at the centre. The director also indicated that it is important to recognise somehow the participation of the teaching staff in the Degree Final Project and Master’s Degree Thesis tribunals.

For its part, a representative of the ADR of podiatry put forward proposals for this degree aimed at greater and better specialisation of students, such as the establishment of facilities to allow specific training in different types of techniques, or the signing of agreements with the Conselleria de Sanitat i Salut Pública so that students can be trained in hospitals, as well as the establishment of SICUE grants with universities such as Malaga, a plausible measure according to Isabel Vázquez, vice-principal for Studies and Language Policy, who was present at the event.

Both Maria Vicenta Mestre and the Faculty’s staff agreed in highlighting the important role of the Universitat de València’s clinics, including the Podiatry Clinic, and the extraordinary service they provide to society.

Economics: infrastructures and research

In the Faculty with the most students at the Universitat de València (more than 7,000), the dean, Francisco Muñoz, thanked the visit of Mavi Mestre's candidacy and the work that reveals the content of the programme which, despite its open nature, contains the general lines that the team which will be formed after the elections on 1st March intends to follow.

However, he wanted to express some concerns, confirmed by those present at the event, regarding the infrastructures of the Faculty and the Campus. The construction of the new West Lecture room, budgeted at 27 million euros according to the Vice-Principal for Economics and Infrastructures, is already an urgent necessity. In most time periods, the lecture room in which the Faculty's degree courses are taught is 100% occupied.

The dean commented that both this lecture room and the humanisation of the Tarongers Campus have been planned for years and it is not possible to wait any longer and take months to call and decide an ideas competition to choose the most suitable solution to create rest areas in facilities that, designed more than two decades ago, require adaptation. He also expressed his concern that other much more recent projects could delay these projects, which have been promised for years.

The candidate for principal assured the dean that none of the new investments announced for the programme, despite budget problems, will delay those designed for Economics.

Another aspect commented on was the need to strengthen the Faculty's research and the means with which it is carried out, since technological progress makes research in economics more complete and requires increasingly complex and expensive means.

Another demand was for a funding model that takes into account the contribution of each Centre to university policies, such as internationalisation or quality.

Furthermore, a greater precision was demanded when defining the new PAS profiles included in the electoral programme, pointing out that the Faculty specifically needs a community manager profile and a quality technician profile.

Professor Mestre indicated that the heterogeneity of the centres of our university and the subjects taught in them make it advisable to formulate these items in an open way that allows each centre to design the most appropriate profiles for its characteristics.

Law: staff needs and service buildings

To conclude an intense morning of electoral campaign, at the Faculty of Law the principal acknowledged the teacher deficit which, in some cases more than in others, affects practically all the departments of the Faculty. She pointed out that progress had been made in terms of teaching staff, but that it was still insufficient. She also indicated that, although the figure of the trainee lecturer is the most appropriate to cover these deficits, the option of resorting, in some very specific situations, to the figure of trainee lecturer could be considered.

The dean of the Faculty, Javier Palao, highlighted the smooth communication between the dean's office and the vice-principal’s office and indicated the convenience of increasing pre-doctoral grants in the areas of this Faculty and making the university attractive to graduates, who for the most part find it easier to seek employability outside the university than to pursue a university career. He also demanded the importance of practical teaching in the subjects studied at the Faculty and the recognition of an adequate level of experience for the degree in Law.

Moreover, other attendees demanded the pending infrastructure actions on the campus, and in this respect, the principal only acknowledged the delay and the urgency of accelerating their execution. In addition to the actions already planned, there was also a demand for a singular building to services and general spaces for the student body, in which there could be a hall suitable for events and conferences, among other uses.

As the candidate for Principal indicated in all her speeches, this is a programme open to contributions from the entire university community, not only during the electoral campaign, but also during the four years of her term of office. Budget constraints and external regulations compel our capacity to act, which is why it is important to call for a high level of participation that gives our University negotiating strength before the national and autonomous governments.