“The situation in the Faculty of Exact Sciences is worrying.”

The moment that higher education is going through as a result of the budget freeze imposed by the government of Javier Miley is a worrying one. Tariffs that hit society directly do not escape national universities, which are already beginning to feel the consequences of common adjustments.

He said: “The situation at the College of Exact Sciences regarding the operating budget is worrying.” Today's diary Professor and Doctor Mauricio Irbin, Dean of the Faculty of Exact Sciences at UNLP.

The school, located at 47th and 115th, received an electricity bill of $14,158,623 in March, nearly three times what it paid the previous period, which equates to more than 15% of the resources the graduate school has for year-round operating expenses.

“It makes it very complicated for us. Like all universities, we were working with the same budget in 2023, and extending the budget basically means that. When reviewing the electricity bill, what we noticed is that the increase was not due to increased consumption, but rather due exclusively to the reduction in national subsidies. This support was in a way an indirect contribution made by the national state to the universities' budget. The teacher pointed out that if it was removed, it would mean that we would receive a lower budget than in 2023.

The uncertainty experienced by universities across the country is nothing new. Since the beginning of the year, the authorities have been warning about what the outlook might be in the coming months, and it has finally happened.

“This situation is not limited to the Faculty of Exact Sciences, but is repeated in all academic units at the university and in other national universities as well. “There are universities that have already declared default on payments,” Erbin said.

It is worth noting that the Supreme Council of the UBA met in the last few hours and unanimously declared a state of budget emergency in this institution. Universities are already showing the first symptoms of collapse. Another clear example is what is happening at Komaho National University, where the authorities can no longer pay for electricity, gas or cleaning services.

students

In response to a question about the experience of the program students with the political situation, Dean Exaktas explained: “We noticed in February, when we started the admission cycle, that unlike previous years, there is always a decline between those who join in November and December of the previous year and those who have already started the admission cycle.” However, this year we noticed that a higher percentage of students did not start classes. “We do not have a study on this matter, but the suspicion is that the economic reality seriously affects those who were planning to start their studies.”

He concluded: “At the college, we used to hold board meetings, where these issues were always expressed in terms of great interest. Student assemblies started yesterday, so this is a situation that the student body is experiencing, I understand, with great concern.