“Throughout 2024, the area of High Inspection in Education in the Government Delegation in La Rioja exceeded its previous figures of direct attention to citizenship and legalization of academic and professional documents abroad, demonstrating one more exercise its usefulness as a public service for citizenship,” said the Government delegate, Beatriz Arraiz Nalda.
The delegate, together with the director of this area, Emilia Fernández Núñez, has presented the report of activity of High Inspection in Education, integrated in the Government Delegation, although it is functionally dependent on the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports. Arraiz Nalda has explained that the High Inspection of Education is the instrument available to the State to ensure respect for the constitutional competence order, as well as to guarantee compliance with current basic legislation.
In addition, they provide a service to all citizens as public offices competent in the processing of administrative procedures for the approval and validation of foreign non-university studies, legalization of documents, among others.
Therefore, the delegate has pointed out that we find an important public service for citizens, with a demand that goes up every day and from which they are served without an appointment in person, as well as by telephone and telematics.
Evidence of this public utility, he has specified, is the considerable increase in direct care, which amounted to 6,416 -2,403 face-to-face consultations 2,602 made by telephone and 1,411 by email- in 2024 compared to 3,787 in the previous year -1,034 face-to-face consultations, 2,494 consultations made by telephone and 259 by email-.
To this figure from last year we must add the processing of 26,010 legalizations of documents, an amount that has also increased by registering 22,930 in 2023.
Another of the subjects in which the High Inspection of Education is competent is that related to the Master Plan for the Coexistence and Improvement of School Safety in the educational centers their environments, which coordinates their development in this area and which are 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, in the academic year 2023-2024, 519 talks were held aimed at 13,624 recipients of educational centers in Rioja.
In addition, during this course, the training objectives were expanded and the Traffic Headquarters of La Rioja gave 49 talks, aimed at 1,580 students.
Activity 2024
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 citizens without prior appointment since October 2023.
Fernández Núñez has clarified that the elimination of the requirement to request a prior appointment has meant a considerable increase in the number of face-to-face visits by citizens, reaching even 20 attentions per day, a figure higher than the 14 maximum attentions that could be made when the request for a prior appointment was mandatory.
In this regard, the director has reported that, in most cases, these visits focus on requesting information, managing homologation files, collecting university degrees, etc.
With regard to the approval/validation of foreign non-university degrees and studies, a procedure that verifies that they comply with all the legal requirements established by the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports to be approved for the corresponding Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate degrees, Fernández Núñez has commented that 695 credentials were proposed for the approval of foreign non-university studies last year, a figure considerably higher than 545 in 2023.
Of the total approvals in 2024, the director of High Inspection in Education has detailed that the vast majority of them are requests from people from South America, more specifically, 32.34% were from Colombia, 10.78% from Venezuela, 9.43% from Peru and 6.03% from Morocco, among other countries.
Another of the competences of this Area is the management of reception and delivery of university degrees, which in the last year also increased with respect to the previous one (478 in 2024; 454 in 2023).
Financial support for education
On the other hand, he added that the High Inspection Area of Education collaborates and cooperates with other administrations and entities, a fact that favors the quality and equity of the Spanish educational system.
He has set as an example of this collaboration the Scholarship Program of a general nature and grants for students with specific need of educational support, for which the Government of Spain will allocate in the academic year 2025-2026 a record budget of 2,544 million euros, “a historical maximum that favors that all students can be trained regardless of the territory in which they live and their economic resources”.
“This is the eighth consecutive increase in the amount allocated by the Government of Spain to scholarships and study grants, which has increased by more than 1.1 billion euros since 2017; more than 80%,” he added.
In the academic year 2022-2023, the last academic year for which data are available, 3,004 non-university scholarships were awarded in La Rioja, with a total amount of 5.9 million euros. Regarding university scholarships, 4,307 beneficiaries, with a total of 11.6 million euros.
It has announced that the general call for scholarships for the 2025-2026 academic year will open on March 24. Grants for post-compulsory studies can be requested until May 14 through the electronic office of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports. Thus, students who are going to study Baccalaureate, Vocational Training, artistic, sports, language or university studies, among others, will be able from Monday to apply for their scholarship for next year.
Fernández Núñez has indicated that the amount associated with the residence improves again for the next year with an increase of 200 euros, which places it at 2,700 euros (in the call for applications 2023-2024 it went from 1,600 to 2,500 euros). The forecasts are that around 101,000 students, most of them from rural areas, will be able to travel outside their municipalities to continue their studies thanks to this aid.
In addition, in this call, students of higher artistic teachings will be equated to university students. This will benefit some 7,000 young people. Fixed amounts also increase by 25% for those university students or students with higher artistic education who demonstrate a disability of 25% to 65%; a measure that complements the measure already applied to students with disabilities equal to or greater than 65%.
Finally, the academic requirements are made more flexible for those older people who prove that they are victims of sexual violence, to equip them for minors in the same situation and for victims of gender violence.
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