Redaccion
Rueda reiterates the interest in being able to also validate university degrees in the Xunta, which will analyze why the Supreme Court annulled the transfer to Euskadi
The number of homologations of non-university foreign degrees issued by the Xunta doubled in two years, which the government led by Alfonso Rueda interprets as a sign of the «appeal» of the community as a chosen place to work and live for people coming from abroad within the framework of the ‘Estratexia Galicia Retorna’.
Specifically, the number of homologations increased by 94% to reach a total of 18,134 from 113 different countries between 2022 and 2025.
This is evident in a report from the Department of Education, Science, Universities and Vocational Training analyzed in the Consello da Xunta, and which highlights, as Rueda has pointed out, the «agility» in this processing process.
The Autonomous Community has competences precisely to homologate non-university education degrees, while the competences for university degrees fall under the central government.
In this sense, the Xunta emphasizes that users are encountering difficulties in processing at the general State Administration, which «deteriorates» the possibilities of job insertion or further studies for people arriving in Galicia.
RUEDA REAFFIRMS
Rueda, who raised with the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, the possibility of requesting the transfer of the competence for homologation of foreign university degrees and found a good disposition towards it, has emphasized that he maintains the vision, even after the Supreme Court annulled the transfer of this validation granted to the Basque Country a few weeks ago.
«We will study what the circumstances were and if it is possible to reform something to request it,» he stressed, and insisted that he will analyze the situation, even speaking with Euskadi if necessary, to see how the request can be concretized.
«SPEED» IN AUTONOMOUS MANAGEMENT
Meanwhile, the Galician government has insisted that, in the area they already operate (the homologation of non-university degrees) and despite the significant increase in requests registered year after year, «speed is achieved that allows requests to be resolved within a period of between three and five months once the process is completed.»
Thus, while in 2022, 3,656 requests were processed, in 2023 the number increased to 6,019 and rose again to 7,089 in 2024. In the first quarter of 2025, 1,370 were submitted.
75% of the total of 18,134 requests were resolved within a period of three to five months; and by type of studies, the majority of homologations are for high school studies with 13,716 requests (representing 75.6%), followed by compulsory secondary education (1,549), the combination of ESO and high school (1,298) and vocational training (827). There were also requests for artistic education and sports education.
Regarding the origin, Venezuela has the highest number, with 4,452 (24.5% of the total), followed by Colombia (3,081), Peru (2,496), Argentina (1,453), Cuba (1,181), and Brazil (1,019).
TRAINING STAYS IN EUROPE
On the other hand, the Xunta will allocate 600,000 euros to the first call for training stays in Europe for young people in vulnerable situations, a measure that had already been anticipated within the framework of the ‘Strategic Youth Plan 2025-2027’, announced a week ago.
The ‘Galicia Moza con Alma’ program will allow the financing of five projects with a maximum of 30 participants. The Department of Culture, Language and Youth has planned for the next two editions to have a budget of 1.5 million euros each.
This initiative will target young people from rural areas, with disabilities, as well as those who have been unemployed for more than a year and those at risk of social exclusion for these European stays.
SOCIAL ACTION FUND
The Xunta has also announced that it will allocate 2 million euros in aid directed at public employees of the Galician Administration for the care of people with disabilities. These aids, up to 180 euros per month, are part of the Social Action Fund for 2024, whose distribution criteria were approved today in the Consello da Xunta.
The Xunta’s Social Action Fund for the year 2024 has a budget allocation of 2 million euros. Through this fund, the personnel serving the regional Administration can receive a maximum aid of 2,160 euros annually for the care of people with disabilities.
These aids can be requested by civil servants, including teaching staff and religious education teachers, and certain active service or retired staff in 2024. The number of aids granted last year was 920.
AGREEMENTS
The Xunta’s Council has also authorized the signing of three collaboration agreements between the Department of Social Policy and Equality and three social initiative entities working in the field of disability care.
The total amount of these agreements is close to one million euros and is expected to benefit more than 3,600 people through them. The beneficiary entities and the amount of the agreements are: the Federation of Associations of Deaf People of Galicia, which will receive 909,826 euros; the Association of Paraplegics of Galicia (Aspaym), receiving 55,142 euros; and the Galician Federation of Rare and Chronic Diseases (Fegerec), with 33,310 euros.
Finally, the regional government has confirmed that it will continue to collaborate with the Amaranta Solidarity Foundation for the maintenance of the shelter in Ourense. Therefore, 252,000 euros will be allocated to the operation of this center, which housed 23 women victims of gender violence and ten minors last year.
