Top Marks for Transparency
The public universities of the Canary Islands are outstanding in transparency. The Transparency Commissioner of the Canary Islands Government has awarded a perfect ten to the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) for the second half of 2023 to 2024, the latest period analysed by the body. This equalises both public institutions, as the Gran Canaria-based university had already achieved this top score in the previous period (2022 and the first half of 2023), while the La Laguna-based institution had then scored 9.18. Both centres are thus consistently improving in an aspect valued not only by different official bodies but by the universities themselves, which work daily to offer maximum transparency—a factor that also enhances the quality of service they provide to society. In this way, transparency becomes a key indicator of quality and good governance.
Steady Improvement Under Regional Law
Despite numerous evaluations by private organisations offering their own assessments across the country, which in some cases may highlight deficiencies in certain areas, the Canary Islands’ public universities are governed by the Transparency Law issued by the Canary Islands Government, and in this regard, they more than comply. The Transparency Commissioner has been evaluating these higher education centres since 2016, and since then, ULL and ULPGC have notably and relentlessly improved their scores. If in 2017 ULL scored 5.65, by 2020 it had improved to 9.69. Meanwhile, ULPGC started 2017 with a 4.86, and by 2021 it was already exceeding 9. The Transparency Commissioner itself acknowledges that the latest results “show significant advances” in the universities, which have reinforced their transparency portals and expanded the available information, increasing their average scores.
The Challenge of Constant Updates
For its part, the collaborative transparency platform Dyntra, one of the leading programmes for studying transparency in different institutions internationally, gives ULPGC a transparency rating of 84.62% and ULL 66.27%. While this specific aspect at ULL falls under the remit of the Rector’s Office, at ULPGC it is examined through the University Social Council. Daniel González is the Deputy Manager for Strategic Planning at the University of La Laguna and is responsible for the institution’s Transparency Portal. Although “we apply the index set by the law and the Commissioner to the letter since 2016,” he acknowledges that the educational centre faces certain challenges to maintain the good grades obtained recently. These challenges relate to the automation of data publication and cooperation between public administrations.
In the case of ULL, “we have been improving over time,” admits González, who states that one of the most costly aspects of the law involves keeping information updated through the information portals. Currently, ULL is turning to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate the uploading of data, which is constantly generated in a community as large as a university. “The citizen must have all the information and we must manage to update it day by day, not just once a year,” he summarises, recalling that the Canary Islands Transparency Law mentions up to 31 times that information must be kept updated on the portals of the examined institutions. “In reality, that is the great challenge for all public institutions,” he adds, and to that he adds cooperation between different administrations, “because that will allow us to have tools that make the work easier for everyone.”
A Culture of Accountability
For his part, Miguel Ángel Acosta is the Secretary of the Social Council of the ULPGC and states that the Gran Canaria centre “is a solid university with a fully integrated culture of accountability.” “The University does not carry out an exercise in transparency as a one-off, but it has been a normal way of working and relating to society for some time,” adds Acosta, who recalls that accountability goes beyond mere transparency, as it not only involves offering all the data but also includes how it has been achieved and what it means for the future of the centre. And with that, since it is taken for granted that public universities are transparent, “the next logical step would be to perfect institutional quality and good governance, always based on mutual collaboration,” he indicates.
The Fundamental Role of Transparency
Those responsible for guaranteeing transparency in the Canary Islands’ public universities highlight the importance of this aspect as it ensures that all data and information are made available to users. “I consider the law a bare minimum,” expresses Daniel González, who acknowledges that ULL should publish much more information to allow students to participate in the day-to-day life of the institution, have all the information about its functioning, and be able to decide with all the data on the table. “There is another fundamental issue which is accountability and the prevention of corruption, especially regarding economic and contract management,” concludes González.
For his part, Miguel Ángel Acosta also speaks of the challenges for ULPGC, which involve “having credibility with the citizenry, and we will achieve that with ethics and institutional integrity.” That is why the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has already established all the bodies related to this issue, and they are embedded within the Social Council, such as whistleblowing channels. In this vein, Acosta speaks of the importance of Social Councils in guaranteeing that transparency and accountability. “The Social Council can be the great institutional ally, because we provide a social perspective that reinforces good governance and the connection of the university with its environment. We are an accountability body,” he concludes.
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