Hundreds of students are on strike at the Universitat de les Illes Balears in Palma de Mallorca. Since September 2008, some 40 to 60 students are living in protest on campus, having occupied the entrance hall of the main building with their tents and sleeping bags. Various pleas by the UIB‘s rector to leave peacefully have so far been ignored.

The student protest is held in opposition to the new guidelines that are meant to bring Spanish universities in line with the new European Higher Education system, the so called Bologna accords.

Student protest actions are also known to be held in Barcelona, València, Màlaga, Granada, Sevilla, Salamanca, Madrid and virtually all the other universities that there are in Spain.

The Bolonya process, as it is called here, will make university education in Spain more expensive, more stringent and, in a way, more elitist. I can see what the young people are worried about.

The photo was taken near Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: February 25th, 2009. The time was 14:09:43.