President Javier Milei has declared that the public university system “is not under discussion,” but he says he won’t give in to multiplying student protests demanding improved budgets for state higher education institutions.
“The public university [system] is not under discussion here, nor is the fact that it is not fee-paying. That will not be touched,” Milei said in an interview with the LN+ television channel on Tuesday.
But “it's not free, someone is paying for it, those who don't go pay for it,” he added.
A fortnight ago, Milei vetoed a bill that would have increased funding for state universities, saying in the process that it would jeopardise “fiscal balance” – the cornerstone of his budget-slashing economic policy.
The Congressional Budget Office, however, estimated its impact at just 0.14 percent of GDP.
“I am not going to give in,” warned the President, when asked about improved salaries for teachers and lecturers earning below the poverty line.
State universities – which account for 80 percent of higher education student enrollment – are seeing mass resignations due to impoverishing wages, warn chancellors.
Students have gone on the warpath since the lower house Chamber of Deputies ratified the President’s veto last Wednesday, despite massive marches in support of the bill, which had already been approved by both chambers of Congress.
On Tuesday, National Treasury attorney Rodolfo Barra signed a ruling declaring the National General Audit Office (SIGEN) would serve as an auditing body for state universities.
Spending audit
Milei has focused his ire on spending at state universities, demanding an audit of their outgoings and casting a pall of suspicion over the allocation of the use of public funds they receive.
“This fuss is taking a noble cause, like the university, and hiding the crimes of criminals,” said the La Libertad Avanza leader in his interview.
“Why so much trouble because we want to audit them? Who doesn't want to be audited? The one who is dirty,” he concluded.
Argentina’s public universities currently operate internal audits, though the Office of the Auditor General of the Nation (AGN) has a review plan it has yet to introduce.
The programme must be approved by a parliamentary commission whose composition has not been agreed. There is no law that establishes the frequency with which the AGN office must audit university spending.
Milei has challenged Congress to reallocate other budget spending to finance university demands if it wants to improve wages and funding.
“They can discuss the budget and put whatever number they want. As long as they respect the zero deficit, I don't care,” said the President.
“‘Let them say who they take from,” he added.
The Milei administration has extended the current university budget, defined in 2023 for this year despite an annual inflation rate of 209 percent year-on-year – one of the highest rates in the world.
Next year’s budget assigns state higher education institutions half the funds that chancellors say they need to continue functioning.
Student occupations
As the dispute rages on, protests against Milei’s veto are multiplying.
Earlier on Tuesday, students at the University of Buenos Aires voted to continue their occupations of facilities, staging sit-ins of between one and three days at eight UBA faculties.
Law students also announced that they will march to the Plaza de Mayo on Tuesday.
The Frente Sindical de Universidades Nacionales union also confirmed a 24-hour strike next Thursday.
Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni last week criticised the students’ reaction to Milei’s veto.
“It is a crime to take over a university as it is to take over any building,” he said. “The space to discuss university funds is the 2025 Budget. That is the framework.”
He assured that the courts will have to analyse whether to move forward with the potential evictions of the buildings occupied by students, teachers and non-teaching staff.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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