Navarra establishes the new remuneration system for the contractual teaching staff of the UPNA

The Government of Navarra has established the new remuneration scheme for the contractual teaching and research staff of the Public University of Navarra (UPNA) through Foral Decree 65/2026, of October 21, published in the Official Gazette of Navarra number 221, of November 5, 2026 (pp. 39074 to 39083, reference BON-2026-221). The regulation establishes the salaries for each category, regulates supplements linked to individual merits, and repeals foral decrees 36/2009 and 37/2009, both of April 20. Its economic effects are retroactive to January 1, 2026.

The statement of reasons for the decree is based on Article 87.1 of Organic Law 2/2023, of March 22, on the University System, which assigns the determination of the remuneration scheme for contractual staff to collective bargaining, within the framework of regional legislation. The text was approved by the Foral Executive in the session of October 21, 2026, upon the proposal of the Councilor for University, Innovation, and Digital Transformation, Juan Luis García Martín, with the opinion of the Council of Navarra, and is signed by President María Chivite Navascués. The repeal of the 2009 foral decrees responds to the adaptation to the new state framework, which redefined the hiring modalities for university professors.

Annual salaries by category

Annex I sets the annual salary amounts, an equal amount for all staff in each category:

• Permanent contractual professor: 37,145.29 euros.
• Assistant professor (PhD): 30,315.91 euros.
• Associate professor type 1 (4 hours): 6,093.64 euros; type 2 (4 hours): 7,469.84 euros; type 3 (4 hours): 9,316.02 euros, with proportional amounts for fewer hours.
• Substitute teaching professor (8 hours): 13,263.63 euros.
• Predoctoral and postdoctoral researcher: according to the call, with the minimum of the assistant professor for the postdoctoral.
• Project assistant: 21,822.90 euros; project collaborator: 26,544.10 euros; type 2 doctoral project collaborator: 39,679.50 euros.

Basic remuneration consists of salary, a seniority supplement for every three years of service, and two extraordinary payments, in June and December.

Eight brackets and 2,270.28 euros per bracket

Chapter III creates three modalities of personal supplements for individual merits: teaching, research and transfer, and institutional management. The structure allows for a maximum of eight brackets (three for teaching, three for research and transfer, and two for management), expandable to a ninth, called the excellence bracket, for those who have been recognized with the fourth research bracket.

• Each tier is remunerated with 2,270.28 euros annually, updatable according to the general increase of the Navarrese administrations.
• Teaching tiers are requested at 6, 12, and 18 years of activity with a positive evaluation.
• In management, two tiers are assigned per rectorate, one and a half per vice-rectorate or general secretariat, and one per deanery, center direction, department, or institute, with a minimum of three years of performance.
• The assignment corresponds to the Social Council of the UPNA, upon proposal by the Governing Council, and the supplements are received from January 1st of the year following the request.

Equalization with tenured faculty between 2027 and 2029

The decree deploys a convergence calendar. Permanent labor faculty will receive a “collective agreement supplement” in 2026 and 2027, which Annex 2 figures at 678.62 euros in 2027; from 2028 onwards, their salary, destination supplement, and general component of the specific supplement will be equalized with those of tenured university faculty. In 2027, they will also receive 50% of the supplements for teaching merits and productivity of those civil servants, a percentage that will be 100% from 2028. Those holding the I3 certificate will receive, until equalization is complete, a personal supplement for the salary difference.

Assistant doctor, associate, and substitute staff will receive the “collective agreement supplement” in 2026, 2027, and 2028, an amount that in 2029 will be integrated into the salary of each category. The assistant and teaching substitution modalities from the previous regulations are maintained until extinction, with a salary of 24,814.44 euros for the assistant.

Evaluation, consolidation, and entry into force

The evaluation of teaching activity will correspond to the Public University of Navarra itself, while the research and transfer evaluation will fall to the National Evaluating Commission for Research Activity. Supplements already received are consolidated, and the corresponding merits cannot be re-evaluated, and the UPNA will have one year to design the procedure for recalculating teaching activity periods.

The decree enters into force the day following its publication, although its economic application is retroactive to January 1, 2026, which requires the regularization of the year’s payrolls. The scope of the regulation is broad: it affects all labor categories of the Navarrese public university and orders, for the first time in a single text, the salary, seniority, merit supplements, and professional career of contracted faculty.

Source: Official Gazette of Navarra, No. 221, of November 5, 2026, section 1.1.2. Foral Decrees, pp. 39074-39083 (official reference: BON-2026-221 / F2613763).