Milei against education: Argentina's largest university under threat of closure due to government cuts

Published at: 18/04/2024 03:32 PM

The University of Buenos Aires (UBA), the largest institution of higher education in Argentina, declared itself in an economic emergency as a result of the policy of cutting public spending carried out by the extreme right wing Javier Milei, affecting mainly education and health, whose ministries it abolished.

“I've never seen an adjustment like the one that's being made now. The situation is very distressing,” says the vice-rector of the university, Emiliano Yacobitti, who pointed out that it is still unknown if this house of studies will be able to operate beyond the first semester of the year.

According to the UBA authorities, 90% of the budget granted by the Government of Milei will be used to pay payroll, so there is no budget line for the maintenance of teaching facilities and equipment.

“The currently allocated operating budget represents a reduction in real terms of 80%. In other words, for every 10 pesos counted by the UBA in March 2023, today it has two,” the university explained last week, when it declared an economic emergency.

In addition, this cut in Milei affected the budget of the hospital managed by the UBA, which is estimated to serve no less than half a million people annually. 

 “For the university's health function, the Government didn't even send us the extended budget. We received zero pesos. If there is no prompt response, hospitals will not be able to continue operating in the second semester,” Yacobitti warns.

Currently, Argentina is the country with the highest inflation in the region and is among the three highest in the world as a result of a series of measures to liberate the economy and budget cuts implemented by Milei, which have resulted in the indiscriminate rise in prices and prices of goods, services and food.

At the same time, salaries remain anchored and economic aid for the most vulnerable populations is being eliminated, as well as a wave of layoffs under the premise of the reduction of the bureaucratic State.

Mazo News Team