The Government begins to process the new university decree after the Supreme Court overturned it and 44 days before the elections

With 44 days to go before the general elections, the Government has begun the processing of the new royal decree on universities after the Supreme Court overturned the one that was approved last year due to "lack of justification in its urgent processing." The Ministry led by Diana Morant has opened a public consultation process between now and the 30th to modify a 2021 project on the creation, recognition and authorization of campuses, better known as the anti-beach bar law.

Last week, the High Court dealt a blow to the Executive by annulling the rule intended to tighten the requirements for creating and authorizing private universities in Spain. The Contentious-Administrative Chamber considered that the Government prepared and approved the decree by emergency means without being "duly justified." He ruled that his intention to publish it to come into force in the 2025/2026 academic year was due more to "a political will" than "an objective cause that accredits an urgency."

Furthermore, the prior consultation process was omitted, which is why it "lacked the legally required protection," according to the Supreme Court. Now the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities has taken care to publish the public consultation on its website, although it insists that "the need for regulatory intervention is pressing" and that "the approval of this reform does not allow for delay." Because?

"If the current regime is maintained, university projects that do not sufficiently accredit the academic, teaching, research and institutional sustainability requirements that should characterize a university could continue to be recognized and authorized," he says.

Ministry sources do not specify whether the new decree will also be processed urgently, like the previous one, or what changes they will make. They insist, however, on urgency and emphasize that "the Supreme does not enter into the substance, but into the form." When the Supreme Court ruled, they announced that they were working on a new rule to be able to approve it as soon as possible, "within the framework established by the judicial resolution and with all legal guarantees."

This decree was controversial from the beginning because it was understood as a way to put an end to private centers. Even the former President of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero mediated with the Government to soften it and it was approved in October 2025 with many problems by the Ministries of Economy and Labor, as well as by the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC). The Council of State also warned that it could violate the free movement of workers and the freedom to provide services. The majority of autonomous communities were also opposed, not only those of the PP but also the Basque Country (PNV) and Castilla-La Mancha (PSOE).

Being a royal decree, it does not have to be validated by the Congress of Deputies.