Ser Grado es ser Ingeniero y ser del Grupo A1

·55 min·4 clips

Why are graduate engineers in Spain still classified as second-tier professionals, facing discriminatory barriers to top administrative positions?

1. Conecta Ingeniería, described as the only engineering program in Spain, broadcasts on Capital Radio, hosted by Alberto Pérez. 2. Panelists are José Antonio Galdón (dean, Official College of Industrial Engineering Engineers of Madrid and president of IRGITE), Carlos Dueñas (vice-president of IRGITE, based in Valencia), and Luis Miguel Chapinal (dean, Official College of Technical Telecommunications Engineers). 3. The episode's central issue is the Spanish Senate's approval on May 20th of a motion from the Popular Parliamentary Group asking the government to allow technical engineering degree positions in the civil service to reclassify from subgroup A2 to subgroup A1. 4. Luis Miguel Chapinal explains the historical origin: a 1964 decree under Franco created 'technical engineers' as a three-year qualification so Spain could demonstrate enough engineers to receive World Bank reconstruction loans, effectively creating a Cold War-era classification that persists today. 5. The distinction between 'technical engineers' and 'superior engineers' has been legally obsolete since the 1970 General Education Law declared all university degrees superior, yet the terminology and its career implications continue in practice. 6. The Bologna Plan of 2010-2014 harmonized Spanish university degrees with Europe, replacing all technical engineering titles with four-year degree programs — but the Third Transitory Disposition of the 2007 Basic Public Employee Statute kept degree engineers in civil service group A2. 7. The Spanish Supreme Court has ruled that the Transitory Disposition Third is obsolete since all university studies were generalized to degrees by 2014, but the administrative reclassification has not followed. 8. Carlos Dueñas presents 2023 convocation data: the public works engineering body offered 124 positions but only 42 were filled; the roads body offered 150 positions with only 57 filled; internal promotion rounds produced near-zero placements. 9. José Antonio Galdón argues that every Spanish university graduate — journalism, economics, veterinary, pharmacy — enters civil service group A1, making engineering graduates the sole exception in the country. 10. The panel frames this as discrimination: engineers graduate from regulated university programs with direct professional responsibility under Law 12 of 1986, yet are barred from director-level civil service positions open to any other degree. 11. Luis Miguel Chapinal connects the classification to brain drain: engineering graduates leave Spain because they are paid more and valued more abroad, and he states Spain currently needs 250,000 engineers without a clear plan to produce them. 12. José Antonio Galdón notes a 'low cost' professional strategy: because any Spanish university degree can qualify for civil service group A1 (including tax inspector roles), he jokingly advises engineers to apply as tax inspectors, where bonus pay is higher. 13. The panel identifies university complicity: some engineering schools created degree programs stripped of core content specifically to funnel students into master's degrees, leaving graduates without the competencies to sign projects or access regulated professions — what Galdón calls 'black hole degrees.' 14. Carlos Dueñas argues the administration's failure to attract engineers will force the state to hire private companies to perform technical work normally done in-house by ministry engineers, at greater expense and less accountability. 15. The panel calls for a comprehensive Engineering Law that updates all decrees and regulations to match European and global engineering practice, ending the current 'mess' of overlapping degree names and unclear professional competencies. 16. José Antonio Galdón announces a meeting with engineering students on the 24th of the month and a request for a meeting with the Ministry of Universities, citing the engineering school directors as allies. 17. Carlos Dueñas notes that in Valencia, DANA reconstruction works worth €2 billion have been awarded but companies don't know how they'll execute them due to a shortage of engineers, managers, and technical officials. 18. The episode's second major segment covers the Community of Madrid's TUCAN 6 project: €15M investment in drones that create temporary 6G mesh networks for emergency services in rural or coverage-dead areas, led by the INDEA Networks Institute, with a pilot training center and drone airports in La Cantueña, Fuenlabrada. 19. Spanish engineers, engineering students, civil service career planners, and policymakers tracking Spain's workforce and technology infrastructure will find both segments directly relevant. 20. Listeners outside Spain or unfamiliar with the Spanish civil service classification system and the Bologna university reform will need background context to follow the career-classification debate.

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