Article 50 et seq. of the Law on the Organisation of the University System of Aragon regulates that the financing model of the University of Zaragoza, providing for an evaluation of the same every four years. This evaluation requires the existence of a specific report from the Agencia de Calidad y Prospectiva Universitaria de Aragón.
In 2009, the Government of Aragon requested the ACPUA to prepare the aforementioned report based on the application of the 2006-2009 model, so that it could serve as an analysis for the design of the new model.
After the appropriate negotiations between the Government of Aragon and the University of Zaragoza, the Agreement for the Programming of the Financing of the University of Zaragoza was signed on March 23, 2011. This Agreement sets out the conclusions of the report drawn up by ACPUA:
- "The basic financing model must be catalogued as an important element within the financial sufficiency of the university, since it gives the University and the Government of Aragon a stable framework regardless of the current economic situation.
- The financing model bears great resemblance to the proposal made by the Financing Commission of the University Coordination Council, a positive circumstance since it includes the recommendations of a group of experts.
- The territoriality coefficient has a very small impact on core funding.
- There is a mismatch between university teaching costs (associated with groups) and income (associated with the number of students). This leads to difficulties in times of a reduction in the number of students, a situation that should be addressed through the development of specific instruments - contracts, programmes for low-demand degrees but of social interest?
- The model does not contain any reference to academic performance.
- The model must be completed with other types of financing linked to objectives that reward continuous improvement and have the capacity to discriminate between ordinary and extraordinary results, as is already the case in many university systems. The weight of this target-related funding should increase, as recommended by experts and the most advanced practices in university management.
- The reference to GDP should not be a primary element to be introduced in a core financing model, since it is an indicator that is too closely linked to the economic situation and therefore variable. Convergence in GDP to the effort of other regions should be considered as an objective to be achieved, but the model should consider supply and demand elements as main calculation variables.
