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Student Statute

The Cabinet Meeting held on December 30 of 2010 ratified the University Student Statute (Real Decreto (Royal Decree) 1791/2010) published the next day in the BOE (Nº 318, 31-12-2010), coming into effect on the first day of 2011.

Its articles could be reviewed in several blocks of content:

1. Compilation of Rights and Obligations of the university student
   1. Gathering of Rights, separating those shared by the collective and those specific in terms of educational level (undergraduates, graduates, doctorates and trainees). Regarding the collective Rights, it would be appropriate to highlight: non-discrimination; accreditation/validation of the knowledge, competences and professional experiencies acquired previously to university; and conciliation between studying and their families and jobs. Regarding the specific Rights, it would be appropriate to highlight: protection of intellectual property of the papers due for each educational level (end-of-degree paper, master dissertation, doctoral disseration as well as the previous ones for each case) and the student participation in verification reports and quality evaluation processes (in the case of undergraduate and graduate studies).
   2. The exercise of these Rights takes into consideration the need to provide students with any disability with the appropriate resources and adjustments in the University area.
   3. Enumeration of the Obligations resulting from the commitment to study and participate in a dynamic and responsible way.
2. Regulation of basic guidelines regarding: development of the academic activity (admission, mobility, tutorships, teaching and evaluation planning, internships and grants) and the comprehensive education that university teaching should embody (encouraging coexistence, sport activites, teaching in values, social participation activities, development aid).
   From all of this, it stands out the consideration of the student support services as an essential complement during their education, and the development of information and orientation functions coordinated with tutorial action systems and other university services.
3. Promotion of student participation and representation
   1. Encouraging a greater involvement and participation of the students is easily recognizable throughout the entire Statue. Some topics are explicitly guaranteed, such as the Teaching and Evaluation planning (with their contribution to the verification reports, monitoring of degrees and the agreement on the examination calendar) or the grants (collaborating in the design of planning and selection criteria).
   2. Regarding representation, the Statute pays attention to principles such as equality of opportunities (seeking the participation of students with disabilities) and the principle of parity (similiar number of women and men). This chapter settles rights and responsabilities of those students that exercise the said representation.
4. Creation of the university Student Committee of Spain.
   This is one of the main innovations that can be found in the Statute and it reflects the encouragement of student participation. It consists of an organizing body for the deliberation, consultation and participation of students before the Spanish Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educación). Among its many roles we could highlight: informing about criteria of political proposals regarding university students, defending student rights, enforcing the appropriate action of the university govening bodies under those rights, participating in the design of the grants plans of the government, presenting proposals and complaints, and making declarations on relevant matters within this framework.

The endorsement of this Statute is a consequence of the compliance with the mandate stated in the Ley Orgánica 4/2007, of April 12, which modifies the Ley Orgánica 6/2001, of December 21, of Universities (14th additional resolution) .

Slide by the Spanish Ministry of Education presenting the Statute [ES]

Complete Statute as it appears in the BOE [ES]