Throughout 2023, the area of High Inspection in Education in the Government Delegation in La Rioja exceeded its previous figures of direct attention to citizenship, reaching 3,787, and legalization of academic and professional documents abroad, reaching 22,930 last year.
The delegate of the Government in the autonomous community, Beatriz Arraiz Nalda, and the director of the High Inspection Area in Education in La Rioja, Emilia Fernández Núñez, presented this morning the memory of this area, which functionally depends on the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports.
Arraiz Nalda has pointed out that “it is offered as a means of transmission and coordination of the educational policies of the Government of Spain in relation to the autonomous communities to improve the educational system and make more effective compliance with the laws.”
Therefore, he added that we find ourselves with another sample of the necessary collaboration and cooperation between public administrations and entities that favor the quality and equity of the Spanish educational system.
He has given as an example of this collaboration the Scholarship Program of a general nature and of grants for students with specific need of educational support. Specifically, and after the closing of the academic year 2022-2023, a total of 3,004 students benefited in La Rioja for an amount that exceeded 5.87 million euros -4.9 million euros that come from the ordinary call and another 961,600 euros that correspond to the complementary amount approved by the Government of Spain in August 2022 of 100 euros per month for the period between September and December of that year with the objective of strengthening the guarantee of equal opportunities and helping students and their families, so that all the beneficiaries could continue their studies in cases of lack of resources.
Likewise, the university level scholarships amounted to 4,307 scholarship recipients, with funding of 11.6 million euros, 9.9 million euros from the regular call for applications and 1.7 million euros from the complementary aid.
On the other hand, the delegate has highlighted the Master Plan for Coexistence and Improvement of School Safety in the educational centers their environments, which coordinates the High Inspection Area in Education and which is implemented by the State security forces and bodies (Civil Guard and National Police) and the Unit against Gender Violence.
This Plan addresses training for the entire educational community on current issues such as gender and domestic violence, bullying and hate crimes, drugs, alcohol and vandalism and internet risks. In total, 500 talks were held last year aimed at 13,624 students from Rioja’s educational centres.
Activity 2023
The High Inspection of Education, an area composed in La Rioja of three people, is the instrument available to the State to ensure respect for the constitutional competency order, as well as to guarantee compliance with the basic state legislation in force. In addition, they also provide a service to all citizens as public offices competent in the processing of administrative procedures for the approval/validation of foreign non-university studies, legalization of documents, etc.
Likewise, the High Inspection of Education has as its task the monitoring of territorial cooperation programs in this matter, such as Emotional Well-being, Inclusive Education, School Code 4.0 or financing of textbooks and didactic materials, which in 2023 exceeded the distribution by the Government of Spain of more than 26 million euros for La Rioja.
For her part, the director of the High Inspection Area in Education in La Rioja, Emilia Fernández Núñez, has highlighted the intense activity carried out daily from this service, with a direct attention to the citizenry that during the past year amounted to 3,787 people -1,034 face-to-face consultations carried out by telephone and 259 by email-.
In this sense, this service provides direct and objective information to all interested persons, or those who act as representatives of them, both on the administrative procedures and procedures that can be carried out in the Area and on those educational issues whose management corresponds directly to the competence of the High Inspection of Education.
Fernández Núñez has clarified that it must be taken into account that the Area served until October 2023 by appointment, at which time it is decided to eliminate it. This fact has meant a considerable increase in the number of face-to-face visits by citizens, exceeding in many days the maximum possible daily of 14 visits that existed by appointment. In this regard, the director has pointed out that, in most cases, these visits focus on requesting information, managing homologation files, collecting university degrees, etc.
As for the legalization of documents, this procedure consists of recognizing the signatures of Spanish academic documents that have to have effects abroad, both at an academic and professional level. In 2023, 22,930 legalizations were processed, a figure that has become the highest that has been reached since 2014, which was 843.
Another of the most demanded efforts is the homologation/validation of foreign non-university degrees and studies. This administrative procedure verifies that the applicants comply with all the legal requirements established by the Ministry of Education for this purpose. Specifically, the number of files processed during 2023 was 545 approvals/validations.
In the same sense, the analysis of the applications indicates that, by origin of the applicants, the main nationalities served were, mainly, Colombia (185 applications), Venezuela (61 applications), Ecuador (51 applications), Peru (48 applications), Morocco (42 applications), Romania (32 applications), Argentina (31 applications), Bolivia (30 applications), Cuba (16 applications), Brazil and USA (both countries with 15 applications), Ireland (13 applications) and Chile (7 applications).
Also from the High Inspection of Education, the procedures of reception and delivery of university degrees are carried out for graduates residing in a location other than the one where the university center is located. In total, in 2023, 499 university degrees and 3 university degrees of Specialists in Health Sciences were received, and 545 university degrees and 5 university degrees of Specialists in Health Sciences were given to the interested parties.