Education fees for foreigners: what is the position of the universities?

Firstly, the advertisement does not specify which students it would consider given that in order to enroll in a public university It is necessary to have temporary residence documentationwith the possibility of extension, which would exclude “non-resident foreigners.”

At the same time, according to the study “Synthesis of Information University Statistics 2022 -2023” of the current Ministry of Human Capitalof the 2,720,531 students who carry out undergraduate, graduate or postgraduate studies in public universities only the 4.3% are of another nationality. According to the INDEC 2022 Census, 4.5% of the country’s permanent inhabitants are foreigners, so there is an underrepresentation of migrants who attend universities and, as residents, are taxpayers to the state treasury.

Fees for education for foreigners: position of universities

Among the academic authorities who spoke after the announcement was Victor Moriñigo, holder of the National Interuniversity Council (CIN)who in dialogue with Radio Provincia lamented because “We do not have a substantive debate on education in Argentina. It seems that the only topic there is to debate in education is related to money.” “They have a great lack of knowledge on the subject,” he said and recalled that ““To pay for education, the law and immigration policy must be modified.”

For his part, the rector of the National University of Rosario, Franco Bartolacciremarked that “Precision is needed in the advertisement“: “The first thing that should happen, if the Government is willing to move forward with this decision, is that it present a project to be able to discuss clearly and rigorously what the measure, scope and impact it could have are.” “A measure of this nature does not solve the problem of university financing“, he stated on Aire Digital.

Lastly, the UBA Teachers’ Union (FEDUBA) issued a statement considering that the ruling party’s announcement is “a new example of political barbarism.” “The measure not only constitutes a discriminatory action but also violates the Magna Carta and current laws.“, they expressed and described the current educational positions as “fascist and ultra-reactionary ideologies.”

Tariffing of education for foreigners: the Government’s announcement

The presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni announced that the Government “it will promote a series of modifications in the immigration regime”. Among them, it will be established that the national universities “may charge fees to non-resident foreign students” and the end will end “free medical treatment for foreigners as we know it until now”explained the official.

The presidential spokesperson assured that “an old desire that many of us have for the Argentine resident to be above in a lot of aspects“. Along these lines, Adorni detailed that the Government will modify certain guidelines for access to health and education for foreigners which, according to what he stated, will be services that can be charged to non-residents.

Manuel Adorni Press Conference

Manuel Adorni announced the tariffing of services for foreigners in his morning press conference.

Mariano Fuchila

Regarding education, the official stated that national universities will be enabled to “charge fees from non-resident foreign students.” The objective of this modification is that the study houses can obtain another “financing source” through this charge.

Despite the end of the period of ordinary sessionsone of the references of Freedom Advances in it Senate, Bartolome Abdaladetailed how the Government’s announcement will be institutionalized. On his social networks, he indicated that the National Executive Branch “will send a project to Congress so that foreigners pay for education in National Universities and also for the attention in the system of health“.