The Supreme Court annuls the decree against 'dummy' universities following the Government's appeal

PalmaThe Supreme Court has annulled the state decree that last year reinforced the conditions that universities must meet to be created and maintain recognition. The ruling comes following the appeal filed by the Government against this regulation and renders ineffective the tightening of requirements approved by the state Executive in October 2025. The Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court reached the decision unanimously, but not because it considers the requirements incorporated by the decree to be illegal or inappropriate. The court focuses its decision on the way the regulation was processed: it concludes that the Spanish government did not sufficiently justify that it was necessary to resort to the urgent procedure and that this allowed for the omission of the prior consultation process.

The decree, approved in October 2025, modified the state regulation regarding the creation, recognition, and authorization of universities. Among other requirements, it established that universities had to have three doctoral schools, dedicate at least 5% of their budget to research, and obtain a minimum of 2% of research resources through competitive calls. It also set requirements regarding faculty qualifications.

A Government appeal

The Government was one of the regional executives that took the regulation to court. The Community of Madrid also did so, in addition to the CEU group and four foreign universities based in Spain. The Supreme Court has now resolved the Balearic appeal and, by annulling the decree, the decision affects the entire state regulation modified by this rule. The resolution comes at a time when the implementation of new private universities is especially relevant in the Balearic Islands. The Balearic Parliament approved this year the recognition of the University of Mallorca, promoted by ADEMA, as a new private university of the Islands. The project has been the subject of political and institutional debate in recent years, especially due to the requirements it had to meet to obtain recognition and the research and economic capacity of the project.

The annulment of the state decree does not mean that controls on the creation of universities will disappear. The general framework continues to be established by state university regulations and by the powers of the autonomous communities. What is rendered ineffective is the specific tightening introduced with the reform approved in 2025. The ruling does not enter into the underlying debate on whether the requirements set by the Spanish government were too high or insufficient to guarantee university quality. The Supreme Court limits itself to determining that the urgent processing of the decree was not sufficiently justified and that, for this reason, the rule could not remain in force.