Educational staff responsible for guidance in public universities

Article 7 of the University Student's Statute establishes information and vocational, academic and professional guidance among the common rights of university students. Public universities provide psycho-pedagogic and professional services which aim to optimise the process of adjustment to university life for students and their later access to the workforce, by offering them information, resources, aid and training.

Professionals working at university guidance services are usually the following:

• pedagogues, psychologists and/or educational psychologists;
• guidance and work placement technicians;
• economists, lawyers and sociologists;
• administrative and services personnel (PAS);
• interns.

The Statutes in each University define the professionals in charge of carrying out tasks related to health and psychological issues and occupational risk prevention. These personnel develop the planning for the prevention and healthcare of the staff and students, and are integrated, mainly, by doctors specialised in Work Medicine, psychologists, nurses and Advanced Technicians in Health and Safety.

Technical, management, administrative and service staff at public universities

According to Article 89 of Organic Law 2/2023 of the University System (LOSU), the technical, management and administration and services staff of the public universities is made up of civil servant staff and sufficient employment staff to adequately carry out the services and functions of the centres. These staff are specialised in one or more of the different areas of university activity. The universities determine the functions and profiles of these activities, as well as the qualifications required to ensure their fully effective and efficient performance, within the framework of the corresponding collective bargaining.

Technical, management and administration and services civil servants are governed by the provisions of the LOSU and the revised text of the Law on the Basic Statute of the Public Employee, as well as by the pacts and agreements provided for in Article 38 thereof. In the case of the Autonomous Community of Navarra, the regulations are applied in the terms established in Article 149.1.18 and the First Additional Provision of the Constitution and in Organic Law 13/1982 on the reintegration and improvement of the Autonomous Regime of Navarra.

Technical, management and administration and services staff (contracted personnel) are governed by the provisions of the LOSU, by the revised text of the Workers' Statute Law, as well as by the revised text of the Basic Public Employee Statute Law, other labour legislation and applicable collective agreements.

Likewise, these civil servant or labour staff are governed by the provisions of the statutes of the universities.

In addition, universities may hire other staff with external funding or funding from public calls for applications for public grants on a competitive basis in their entirety for scientific-technical management, in accordance with the provisions of the revised text of the Workers' Statute Law and Article 23 bis of Law 14/2011 on Science, Technology and Innovation.

Pursuant to Article 90 of the LOSU, technical, management and administrative and service staff at public universities may develop their professional careers by progressing through grade, category, scale or level, without the need to change jobs and with the remuneration corresponding to each of them, based on their professional career and performance, the quality of the work performed, the knowledge acquired, accredited training and the evaluation of their performance.

They may also develop their professional career by promotion in the job structure, based on the assessment of their merits, their degree of specialisation and aptitudes due to the specificity of the function they perform and the experience they have acquired.

Their selection, regulated by Article 91 of the LOSU, is carried out by passing the selective entrance examinations, under the terms established by the applicable regulations and by the university statutes and, in all cases, in accordance with the principles of equality, merit, capacity, transparency, publicity and competition. The filling of technical, management and administration and services staff posts at the universities shall be carried out by means of a competitive examination system and may be open to their own staff, staff from other universities, as well as, under the conditions established in the regulations, staff belonging to public administration bodies and scales in accordance with Article 92 of the LOSU.

In the filling of vacancies, universities must attend to the needs of the service and guarantee the principles of publicity, transparency, equality, merit and capacity.

The technical, management and administration and services staff of public universities are paid from their budgets. Article 93 of the LOSU establishes that the remuneration system for civil servant staff, within the maximum limits determined by the autonomous community by means of collective bargaining and within the framework of the bases established by the State.

The rector of each university is responsible for taking decisions on the administrative situation and disciplinary regime of the technical, management and administration and services staff of the public universities, with the exception of dismissal, which is agreed by the competent body in accordance with civil service legislation.

Likewise, it is the rector who must apply the disciplinary regime when it comes to the contracted personnel.

Non-teaching staff in private institutions

Non-teaching staff belonging to Private University Educational and Research Centres (non-profit entities) is regulated in the 13th State-wide Collective Bargaining Agreement for university education and research centres. It consists of the following categories:

• research personnel:
  • researcher: experienced doctor who directs research work and projects as a principal researcher;
  • collaborating researcher: doctor who collaborates with professors or researchers in carrying out research projects;
  • research assistant: graduate or undergraduate student who begins research by collaborating with researchers or collaborating researchers.
• Administrative and service personnel: it includes the following sub-groups:
  • Qualified personnel: higher degree (Graduate, Bachelor, Engineer, Higher Architect) and intermediate degree (Engineer or Technical Architect, Expert, Quantity Surveyor, Health Technical Assistant, Social Assistant, Social Graduate);
  • administrative staff:
    • administration: senior chief, first officer, second officer and assistant;
    • information and telecommunications technology (ICT) personnel: analyst, ICT technician and operator;
    • library staff: librarian-practitioner, qualified assistant librarian and library assistant;
  • service and trade personnel: general service manager, trade specialist technician, first and second drivers, first and second officers of auxiliary or laboratory trades, assistant of auxiliary or laboratory services, first and second assistants of general services and cleaning personnel.

Non-teaching staff in private universities, private university centres and postgraduate training centres (for profit) are regulated by Article 9 of the 8th National Collective Agreement for Private Universities, Private University Centres and Postgraduate Training Centres, as subsequently amended. It is made up of the following categories:

Non-teaching staff in Private Universities, Private University Centres and Graduate Training Centres (profit-oriented entities) is regulated by Article 9 of the VIII National Collective Agreement for Private Universities, Private University Centres and Postgraduate Training Centres, as subsequently amended. It is made up of the following categories:

• qualified staff: 3 or 5-year university degree holders, and technicians not in charge of teaching;
• research personnel: doctor in charge and director of a research project, and degree holder participating in a research project;
• management support personnel: IT advanced technician, technician in charge of orientation duties in university residences, employee with a university degree in charge of technical tasks in laboratories, advanced technician, employee in the IT department with a VT degree in IT cycles, administrative personnel or any other specialty, employee in charge of the functioning, handling and maintenance of the IT systems, and employee helping with any administration or maintenance duties and reporting to an expert employee;
• other staff: surveillance, support or maintenance personnel , and other similar personnel.