Royal decree 641/2021, of 27 July, regulates direct concession of subventions to public spanish universities for the modernisation and digitalisation of the spanish university system in the frame of the Plan of Recovery, Transformation and Resilience.
Presentation of the informative session of the Ministry of Universities on the project UniDigital
In response to the situation generated by the international pandemic caused by COVID-19, the European Council, at its meeting on 21 July 2020, agreed on a package of measures aimed at enabling the European Union and its Member States to emerge stronger from this crisis. These measures combine the future reinforced Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 and the launch of the European Recovery Instrument "Next Generation EU". An essential element for the recovery and reconstruction process is the modernisation of the Spanish university system.
The Ministry of Universities has defined various reforms and investments to implement the aforementioned European Recovery Instrument, embodied in component 21 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, approved by the European Commission on 16 June. Component 21 of the Plan is called "Modernisation and digitisation of the education system, including preschool education 0-3 years", and as far as investments are concerned, it aims, on the one hand, at the requalification of the Spanish university system and, on the other hand, at its modernisation and digitisation.
In order to enable the implementation of component 21 of the aforementioned Recovery Plan, Royal Decree 641/2021, of 27 July, which regulates the direct granting of subsidies to Spanish public universities for the modernisation and digitisation of the Spanish university system within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, was approved. It implements investment C21.I5 "Improvement of university digital infrastructures, equipment, technologies, teaching and assessment". This is a multiannual investment aimed at modernising the Spanish university system by promoting projects and initiatives in the field of digitisation.
These grants are aimed at promoting investment in infrastructures, technological developments and teaching innovation projects to improve academic resources in digitisation; reducing the digital divide among academic staff and students; promoting inter-university digital innovation projects of a strategic and interdisciplinary nature; and promoting digital training, with the aim of achieving an increase in the "digitisation index of universities" of at least 10% compared to 2019.
To this end, the beneficiary universities will use the subsidies awarded to implement projects that must be oriented towards digitisation and digital transformation in the field of teaching, management or governance. The digitalisation plan is called 'UniDigital' by the Ministry of Universities. These projects may be developed individually by the beneficiary university itself, in response to its own digitisation and modernisation needs, or through collaborative projects between several universities, likely to generate solutions that may be of general interest to the university system. These projects must be framed within the following lines of action:
· Line 1. Upgrading of digital equipment
· Line 2. Digital Education
· Line 3. Training content and programmes
· Line 4. Digital service platforms
The Order granting the subsidies provided for in Royal Decree 641/2021, of 27 July, indicates the amount allocated to the Universitat de València, which totals €3,210,993.10 (€2,745,117.10 -amount 2021- and €465,876.00 -amount 2022-).
In this sense, the Information Systems Service of the Universitat de València has been awarded the following projects financed with NEXT GENERATION EU funds:
