The UBA declared a budget emergency and joins the Federal University March

The Superior Council of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) declared this Wednesday the budgetary emergency and adhered to the Federal University March, called for Tuesday, April 23, against the austerity of the government of Javier Milei in the education sector. In the current conditions, the possibility of maintaining any activity aimed at guaranteeing educational quality, the continuity of research, extension and the care function is seriously affected,” explained the Superior Council in the resolution. In this sense, they stressed that “it is the non-delegable responsibility of the State to guarantee education at all levels, and no one can neglect this obligation, especially taking into account the importance of education as a pillar for cultural and social progress.” Situation of public universities in ArgentinaThe Government of Javier Milei decided to extend the 2023 Budget in a context of annual inflation of 276%. In 2024, he announced that he was going to increase the budget of public universities by 70%. However, this amount does not cover the liquefaction of the corresponding items. From UBA they explained that “the budget currently allocated, including the partial update announced by the National State in March, constitutes a cut in real terms of 80%, that is, for every 10 pesos that our University had in March 2023, today it has 2”. Faced with this scenario, the Superior Council also decided to join the Federal University March that will take place on Tuesday 23 of this month and called on the entire educational community to participate, accompanying the decision of the National Interuniversity Council (CIN) and teachers’ and non-teaching union organizations, the University Federation of Buenos Aires (FUBA) and the Argentine University Federation (FUA). Rectors of public universities from all over the country have called for a march on April 23 in defense of education and the university system. The representatives of the 73 public universities that are members of the CIN met at the National University of San Martín (UNSAM) in the 91st Plenary of Rectors, where they presented the situation of higher education establishments and made the decision to call the demonstration was made by the authorities. In addition, they provided details about the meeting with the Secretary of Education, Carlos Torrendell, to whom they requested the request for economic assistance and urged the deputies to declare a budget emergency. The protest will take place simultaneously throughout the country and will be accompanied by the Argentine University Federation and the Trade Union Front of National Universities.

Original source in Spanish