Ministry of Science (Spain) explained

Agency Name:Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
Nativename:Spanish; Castilian: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
Picture Width:250px
Picture Caption:Headquarters of the Ministry of Science
Formed: (as Ministry of Universities and Research)
Preceding1:Ministry of Education and Science (before 1979)
Preceding2:Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (2012-2018)
Jurisdiction:Government of Spain
Headquarters:Paseo de la Castellana, 162
Madrid, Spain
Region Code:ES
Employees:23,475 (2023)[1] [2]
Budget: 7.7 billion, 2023[3]
Minister1 Name:Mrs. Diana Morant
Minister1 Pfo:Minister
Chief1 Name:Juan Cruz Cigudosa
Chief1 Position:Secretary of State
Chief2 Name:Eva Ortega Paíno
Chief2 Position:Secretary-General for Research
Chief3 Name:José Manuel Pingarrón Carrazón
Chief3 Position:Secretary-General for Universities
Chief4 Name:Teresa Riesgo Alcaide
Chief4 Position:Secretary-General for Innovation
Chief5 Name:Carlos Marco Estellés
Chief5 Position:Under-Secretary
Agency Type:Ministry
Website:Ministry of Science (in spanish)

The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) is the department of the Government of Spain responsible for developing and implementing the government policy on scientific research, technological development and innovation in all sectors. In particular, MICIU is responsible for the exercise of research, technological development and innovation competencies in space matters, including representation and participation in European Union and International organizations.[4] It is also responsible for the university policy.

MICIU is headed by the Minister of Science, who is appointed by the Monarch at request of the Prime Minister. The Minister is assisted by five main officials, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities, the Secretary-General for Research, the Secretary-General for Universities, the Secretary-General for Innovation and the Ministry's Under-Secretary. The current Minister is Diana Morant.[5] [6]

The first predecessor of this ministry was established during the regency of Maria Christina of Austria with the creation of the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, formed by Royal Decree of the April 18, 1900. The first minister was Antonio García Alix. This ministry included an area for the "promotion of science".[7]

History

Origins

At the very beginning, like many of the current ministries, the Ministry of Science responsibilities were integrated in the Ministry of Development when it was created in 1832.

The first attempt of separating the responsibilities on education and science from the Development Ministry happened in 1886. This year, in order to give more autonomy to the education matters it was passed the Royal Decree of May 7, 1886,[8] which divided the mentioned ministry into two ministries: Ministry of Public Instruction and Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts —with competencies on public and private education, education staff, inspection and promotion of knowledge, promotion of sciences, promotion of writing and fine arts, archives, libraries and museums, the economic and infrastructure issues on these matters, astronomy, statistics, meteorology and metrology, astronomical observatories, population movements and censuses— and the Ministry of Public Works, Agriculture, Industry and Trade —with competences over public investments in infrastructure and transport, agriculture, fishing, food, industry and commerce—. However, this royal decree that divided the Development Ministry into two ministries did not come to pass, as the necessary credits were not approved by the Cortes.

Ministry of Public Instruction

Fourteen years later and inspired by the decree of 1886, the Budget Act of 1900 approved the necessary credit to split the Ministry of Development into two new ministries, and the science responsibilities were transferred to the new Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts which assumed the competencies provided for in the decree of 1886.[9]

In 1907, the Count of Gimeno, Minister of Education, created the Board for the Extension of Studies and Scientific Research (JAE). This new institution was heir to the principles of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, and with it was intended to end Spanish isolation and link with European science and culture, as well as prepare the personnel in charge of carrying out the necessary reforms in the areas of science, culture and education. In this way, the effort to reform, to regenerate the country, became a national enterprise, independent of the political swings, in which intellectuals of different ideology were involved.

The JAE created dozens of laboratories, research centers and gave hundreds of scholarships for research abroad as well as connecting intellectuals from Spain and the rest of Europe. Since its inception was chaired by the Medicine Nobel Prize winner Santiago Ramón y Cajal.[10]

Dictatorship and CSIC

During the Civil War, Franco created the Technical Board of the State (1936–38) to rule the country and the science responsibilities were assumed by the Commission of Culture and Education. With the Civil War over and the Ministry of Education restored, the science responsibilities were maintained in the Education Ministry. In 1939 it was created the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) which assumed the research centers and laboratories from the Board for the Extension of Studies and Scientific Research, from the Foundation for Scientific Research and Reform Studies and from the Institute of Spain. Minister José Ibáñez Martín was its first President.

Without permanent staff, the first years of the CSIC was limited to consultative responsibilities to the Government, but in 1945 it was approved the first permanent scientific positions, limited to technical research and agriculture.[11]

The last years of the dictatorship were the most relevant to science. In 1966,[12] the Ministry of National Education was renamed Ministry of Education and Science being this one the first time that the word "science" appeared in a Ministry and remained like that until 1979 when for the first time the responsibilities on universities and research got their own ministry named Ministry of Universities and Research.

Democracy

This new ministry assumed the functions of the Secretary of State for Universities and Research that had been created in 1977[13] within the Ministry of Education and Science, and other administrative bodies of scientific competence, as well as some bodies dependent on the Office of the Prime Minister.[14] In 1980 the National Museum of Science and Technology was created and in 1986 the Carlos III Health Institute and the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research.Without reaching two years of life, the Ministry was merged again with the Education Ministry and, with different denominations, remained so until in 2000, when the Premier José María Aznar, created the Ministry of Science and Technology that grouped the competences on scientific research of the Ministry of Education, and the competences on technological development of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, including telecommunications; retaining the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport the universities responsibilities.[15]

After four years without much success, the ministry was reinstated in the Education Ministry by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero who recovered the old name of Ministry of Education and Science. However, in his second term Zapatero again granted ministerial rank to scientific competencies with the Ministry of Science and Innovation in order to depend less "on the construction and more outstanding services of knowledge, invest more in science and technology, help to companies to innovate and coordinate universities and research centers». However, the dependence on construction did not stop and with the outbreak of the property bubble and the subsequent economic crisis made the following government, led by Mariano Rajoy, in an effort to reduce public spending, reduced the size of the Administration merging the Ministry of Science and Innovation with the Ministry of Economy.[16] During the premiership of Rajoy, the State Research Agency was created.

Already with a better economic situation, the new government of Pedro Sánchez recovered the Department of Science including not only the scientific and innovation competencies, but also recovering for this Ministry the responsibilities on universities that the Ministry already had under the premiership of Adolfo Suarez, naming as Science Minister astronaut Pedro Duque.[17]

In 2020, the department lost its power over universities due to the creation of the Department of Universities. In November 2023, and after years of insistence by the scientific and university community, the University Ministry was abolished and its functions returned to this department.[18]

Organization chart

The Department of Science and Innovation is structured in the following bodies:

Agencies

List of officeholders

Office name:

PortraitName
Term of officePartyGovernmentPrime Minister
Luis González Seara

1979

1981
UCDSuárez IIIAdolfo Suárez

[19]
[20]
Juan Antonio Ortega y Díaz-Ambrona

1981

1981
UCDCalvo-SoteloLeopoldo Calvo-Sotelo

[21]
[22]
Anna Birulés

2000

2002
IndependentAznar IIJosé María Aznar

[23]
[24]
Josep Piqué

2002

2003
PP[25]
[26]
Juan Costa

2003

2004
PP[27]
[28]
Cristina Garmendia

2008

2011
IndependentZapatero IIJosé Luis
Rodríguez Zapatero


[29]
[30]
Pedro Duque

2018

2020
IndependentSánchez IPedro Sánchez

[31]
[32]
[33]

2020

2021
Sánchez II
Diana Morant

2021

2023
PSOE[34]
[35]

2023
IncumbentSánchez III

See also

Notes and references

  1. It includes the number of employes of the UNED. In the other hand, Spain has more than 230,000 university employees although universities are independent.
  2. Web site: 2023 . Personal al servicio del Sector Público Estatal . 16 June 2024 . www.igae.pap.hacienda.gob.es.
  3. Web site: 1 January 2023. 2023 State Budget. 8 January 2023. www.boe.es.
  4. Web site: Royal Decree 472/2024, of May 7, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities is developed. . 2024-05-08 . www.boe.es . es.
  5. Web site: Spanish PM appoints 11 women and six men to new cabinet. Jones. Sam. 2018-06-06. the Guardian. en. 2018-06-16.
  6. News: ESA astronaut Pedro Duque appointed to new Spanish government. esa. European Space Agency. 2018-06-16. en-GB.
  7. Web site: Instituto de Formación del Profesorado, Investigación e Innovación Educativa (IFIIE) - Gobierno de España - Ministerio de Educación. 2011-11-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20111108051339/http://www.educacion.gob.es/cide/jsp/plantilla.jsp?id=arch03a&contenido=%2Fespanol%2Farchivo%2Fdocheducacion%2Fadeducativa%2Fadeducativa11.htm. 2018-06-16. 2011-11-08. dead.
  8. Web site: Royal decree abolishing the Ministry of Development from July 1 next, which will be replaced by two others that will be called Ministry of Public Instruction and Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts and Ministry of Public Works, Agriculture, Industry and Trade..
  9. Web site: Royal decree suppressing the Ministry of Development and creating in its place those of Public Instruction and Public Works..
  10. Web site: Junta para Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Junta para Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas. www.jae2010.csic.es. 2019-04-14.
  11. Web site: las primeras reformas - csic.es. www.csic.es. 2019-04-14.
  12. Web site: Law 35/1966, of May 31, on change of name of the Ministry of National Education for Education and Science and restructuring of Section 18 of the General State Budget.. boe.es. 2019-04-14.
  13. Web site: Royal Decree 1558/1977, of July 4, by which certain organs of the Central State Administration are restructured.. www.boe.es. 2019-04-14.
  14. Web site: Royal Decree 708/1979, of April 5, by which certain organs of the Central State Administration are restructured.. boe.es. 8190 . 2019-04-14.
  15. Web site: Royal Decree 557/2000, of April 27, on the restructuring of ministerial departments.. www.boe.es. 16445–16446 . 2019-04-14.
  16. Catanzaro. Michele. Spain cuts science ministry in government changeover. Nature News. en. 10.1038/nature.2011.9725. 2011. 159821556.
  17. Moro-Martín. Amaya. 2018-07-13. Spain's good news. Science. en. 361. 6398. 111. 10.1126/science.aau6630. 0036-8075. 30002229. 2018Sci...361..111M. 51620817 .
  18. Web site: Silió . Elisa . 2023-11-21 . Fusionar de nuevo los ministerios de Universidades y Ciencia: la petición diaria de rectores y científicos . 2023-11-23 . El País . es.
  19. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 83. 6 April 1979. es. Real Decreto 711/1979, de 5 de abril, por el que se nombran Ministros del Gobierno. 0212-033X. 8192.
  20. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 50. 27 February 1981. es. Real Decreto 259/1981, de 26 de febrero, por el que se dispone el cese en sus funciones de los miembros del Gobierno. 0212-033X. 4430–4431.
  21. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 50. 27 February 1981. es. Real Decreto 256/1981, de 26 de febrero, por el que se nombran Ministros del Gobierno. 0212-033X. 4430.
  22. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 57. 7 March 1981. es. Real Decreto 325/1981, de 6 de marzo, por el que se reestructuran determinados órganos de la Administración del Estado. 0212-033X. 5096–5098.
  23. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 102. 28 April 2000. es. Real Decreto 561/2000, de 27 de abril, por el que se nombran Ministros del Gobierno. 0212-033X. 16448.
  24. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 164. 10 July 2002. es. Real Decreto 668/2002, de 9 de julio, por el que se dispone el cese de doña Anna María Birulés i Bertrán como Ministra de Ciencia y Tecnología. 0212-033X. 24993.
  25. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 164. 10 July 2002. es. Real Decreto 678/2002, de 9 de julio, por el que se nombra Ministro de Ciencia y Tecnología a don Josep Piqué i Camps. 0212-033X. 24994.
  26. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 212. 4 September 2003. es. Real Decreto 1117/2003, de 3 de septiembre, por el que se dispone el cese de don Josep Piqué i Camps como Ministro de Ciencia y Tecnología. 0212-033X. 33333.
  27. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 212. 4 September 2003. es. Real Decreto 1122/2003, de 3 de septiembre, por el que se nombra Ministro de Ciencia y Tecnología a don Juan Costa Climent. 0212-033X. 33334.
  28. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 65. 16 March 2004. es. Real Decreto 449/2004, de 15 de marzo, por el que se declara el cese de los miembros del Gobierno. 0212-033X. 11575.
  29. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 90. 14 April 2008. es. Real Decreto 436/2008, de 12 de abril, por el que se nombran Ministros del Gobierno. 0212-033X. 19762.
  30. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 281. 22 November 2011. es. Real Decreto 1743/2011, de 21 de noviembre, por el que se declara el cese de los miembros del Gobierno. 0212-033X. 123537.
  31. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 138. 7 June 2018. es. Real Decreto 357/2018, de 6 de junio, por el que se nombran Ministros del Gobierno. 0212-033X. 58729.
  32. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 11. 13 January 2020. es. Real Decreto 8/2020, de 12 de enero, por el que se nombran Ministros del Gobierno. 0212-033X. 2882.
  33. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 165. 12 July 2021. es. Real Decreto 521/2021, de 10 de julio, por el que se dispone el cese de don Pedro Francisco Duque Duque como Ministro de Ciencia e Innovación. 0212-033X. 82895.
  34. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 165. 12 July 2021. es. Real Decreto 533/2021, de 10 de julio, por el que se nombra Ministra de Ciencia e Innovación a doña Diana Morant Ripoll. 0212-033X. 82907.
  35. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Boletín Oficial del Estado. 278. 21 November 2023. es. Real Decreto 835/2023, de 20 de noviembre, por el que se nombran Ministros del Gobierno. 0212-033X. 154695.

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