The University of Alicante (UA) has set the reservation fee at 100 euros starting next academic year, while the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) will request 150 euros. These amounts will be deducted from the final tuition fee if the student enrolls, but will not be refundable if they ultimately do not matriculate.
The University of Valencia and the Polytechnic University of Valencia have already announced that they will require 300 euros as a pre-registration fee. The Jaume I University of Castellón has had this measure in place for years. The goal is to prevent students from pre-registering for multiple programs and then withdrawing, which creates vacancies that cannot be reassigned to other applicants.
Academic institutions seek to 'hold' places for students in a growing field and put an end to a very common problem caused by those who reserve in many options and then discard those that suit them least.
The Ministry of Education is working on modifying a decree to provide legal certainty for this measure, responding to the universities' interest in ending these practices. The abuse of cost-free pre-registrations particularly affects master's degrees with long waiting lists, such as the teaching master's. For example, the UA, with over 2,000 master's students, offers 500 places for the teaching postgraduate program but receives between 2,300 and 2,500 applications.
At the UMH, where these studies are more recent, 400 places are offered, and this academic year has received 1,368 pre-registration applications, compared to 933 last year and 1,065 the year before.
This measure is part of other reforms by the regional administration for the university sector. Another significant initiative is the free first year of study for students who pass all subjects, announced by the Consell. This tuition refund will benefit students from both public and private institutions, aiming to ensure that scholarships do not depend solely on postal code or parental income. The measure, announced in the inaugural speech of the regional president, is still awaiting decree approval.
Additionally, the department of the minister still needs to develop the Pluriannual Financing Plan, approved last year, which aims to provide stability to universities but has not yet specified the budget for campuses. The Generalitat also needs to detail the additional funding for objectives, an issue that academic leaders have requested. Finally, the Consell must finalize the details and deadlines for the employment network announced in its first meeting with rectors, to adapt the degree offerings to social demands.
