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Abstract
The Royal Studies of Saint Isidro were created in Madrid in 1770 as a substitute for the Imperial College of the Jesuits, who had been expelled from the country in 1767. This new establishment was the origin of the corps of the state academic staff in Spain.
A careful study of the system used for appointing these professors and their assistants and of the competitive examinations shows how the initial meritocratic purpose was impaired by conflicts between the different organisms and people who took part in the process of selection. Examples of this impairment were, among others, the appointments without examinations or the advantageous positions attained by auxiliaries and substitutes of vacancies. The author gives us a series of general considerations about the limits and ambiguities of the meritocratic model of selection within the wider context of the process of the professionalization of teaching.