The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Salamanca has seen a significant increase in the percentage of students from outside Castilla y León over the last decade. In the 2010-2011 academic year, only 23.30% of students came from outside the region, compared to 55.87% in the 2022-2023 academic year.
The data also reveals that 23% of students are from the province of Salamanca, 5% from Zamora, 0.47% from Ávila, 8.5% from the rest of Castilla y León, and 3% representing international students.
This trend has been a concern for representatives of the University of Salamanca and the Regional Government of Castilla y León, who have been advocating for a unification of criteria for access to the Spanish university system. The issue has not received a response from the government, despite calls for change.
The rector of the University of Salamanca, Ricardo Rivero, has emphasized the need for a unique entrance exam for the Spanish educational system. He pointed out that the increase in the number of places in the Faculty of Medicine has partially alleviated access problems, but a unified entrance exam is still necessary.
The controversy surrounding the opening of a new Faculty of Medicine at Loyola University in Andalusia has also drawn attention to the access disparities across regions.
In addition, the latest results of the PISA Report revealed that students from Castilla y León are the most academically prepared in Spain and rank among the top performers in the EU in mathematics, science, and reading comprehension. The community has achieved the third-best result in the EU and is in the top 10 among the 80 countries participating in the study conducted by the OECD.
These findings highlight the disparities in the education system across different regions in Spain and underscore the need for a more equitable and standardized approach to university access.