The island where no UIB student asks to receive classes predominantly in Spanish
At the Faculty of Medicine, where students claim that 95% of teaching is delivered in this language, 41.8% would like the majority to be done in Catalan
PalmaThe first Barometer of the Social Council of the UIB shows that only 51.2% of students would prefer to mostly receive classes in Catalan, while 40.4% opt for Spanish, in a context of linguistic coexistence but with large differences according to studies and territories. The survey, based on 2,067 responses, also reveals that the use of Catalan in classrooms varies very markedly between faculties and islands, with particularly unique cases such as Formentera, where no student declares wanting to mostly receive classes in Spanish.
In this insular case, 66.7% of students in Formentera want the predominance of Catalan, and the rest (33.3%), of English, with no support for Spanish as a teaching language, despite the fact that currently 16.7% of classes are taught in this language. This behavior stands out within the whole study for its uniqueness and for breaking with the general tendency of Catalan-Spanish duality that permeates the rest of the islands.
Extreme contrasts
At the UIB, Catalan has a very unequal implementation depending on the Faculty. Its presence is especially high in Education (89.9%), followed by the School of Engineering (67.8%), Philology and Humanities (55%), Sciences (54.3%), and postgraduate studies (52.5%). In contrast, it is notably reduced in Tourism (2.9%), Medicine (5.1%), Law (8.4%), Economics (20%), Nursing (29.8%), Psychology (35.2%), and doctoral studies (48.8%).
This imbalance is also reflected in student perceptions. The degrees with less presence of Catalan are, at the same time, those that register the most dissatisfaction with the linguistic model. In Medicine, 34% of students disagree with the current system, where they state that 95% of teaching is done in Spanish. In Nursing, 27.5% also express complaints, with 70% of classes in Spanish. Similar situations appear in Psychology (21.6% against and 65% of teaching in Spanish), Economics (20% and 72%), Sciences (18.6% and 46%), Law (16.8% and 92%), and Tourism (14.9% and 97% of teaching in Spanish).
In Psychology, 51% of students would prefer to receive most classes in Catalan, even though only 35% of teaching is provided in it. In Medicine, 41.8%% also demand more presence of Catalan, and in Tourism, 25.5% do so, in a context where its actual use is very limited. There are also requests for an increase in Nursing (41.6%), Economics (34.3%), Law (31.1%), and postgraduate studies (60%).
On the other hand, in degrees where Catalan is already predominant, there are differences between the centers where students ask to maintain or increase it, and those in which the space for the native language is to be reduced. At the Higher Polytechnic School, 57.8% would like more teaching in Catalan (currently it is 67.8%), while at Science it is supported by 56.3% (54.3% teaching in Catalan) and at Philology and Literature, 46.8% (55%). In the case of Education, the faculty with the greatest presence of Catalan, up to 80% of students want to reinforce the current model (89.9% of teaching is done there).
Civil servant aspirations
Regarding the rest of the university profile, the barometer depicts a predominantly Mallorcan community (75.6%), living with family (65.7%), and who chose their studies out of vocation in 79.4% of cases. However, proximity continues to be the main factor for enrollment (67%).
The UIB obtains a global score of 6.7, and 54.8% of students assure they would choose the same university again. The best-rated services are student support (7.5) and professional guidance (7.4), while the teaching staff receives scores close to 8. In the social and economic sphere, the main concerns are the cost of living (35.6%) and access to housing (21.8%). In the labor sphere, 52.3% see themselves working in public service, and the most valued criteria are salary, a good work environment, and flexible hours.
Finally, digital consumption is very intense: WhatsApp (89%) and Instagram (82%) are the most used networks, and 81% of students use artificial intelligence to study. Email continues to be the UIB's main information channel (65.2%) and also the preferred one (67.9%).