The Government defended the audits of the universities and denied that there was definancing

The conflict between educational community and the Government add a new chapter of tensions: the Undersecretary of University Policies of the NationAlejandro Alvarez criticized the statement from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), He defended the audits and denied that there was a lack of funding in national universities. “There are precedents from the General Sindicature of the Nation (SIGEN) on the UBA and on the rest of the universities,” said the official.

Previously, the UBA had criticized the Government’s decision to authorize SIGEN to carry out audits on educational institutions, ensuring that this body “has no powers to control them, nor does it have the power to control the Legislative Branch or the Public Ministry.” Given this, Álvarez turned to the background of this conflict and stated: “What we did was return to normal.“.

The Government’s response to the SIGEN audits

In the midst of the conflict over the financing of education and after President Javier Milei’s veto of the university financing law, the Government signed an opinion, through the Attorney for the Treasury of the Nation, Rodolfo Barra, to allow SIGEN to function as an audit body for national universities. This aroused strong criticism from the UBA, from where An attempt to intervene was reported and it was announced that they would take the discussion to court.

Faced with the constant push and pull, the Undersecretary of University Policies of the Nation stated in radio statements that the decision of the ruling party consisted of “returning to the natural order of things.” “In 2011, SIGEN carried out a complete audit on the issuance of degrees from the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the UBA and there was no suggestion of anything“Alvarez justified.

According to the ruling party official, until 2022 the SIGEN could carry out audits of the universities, without major difficulties. “Suddenly they realized in 2022 that there was an open door to transparency. In an agreement between Yacobitti and Kirchnerism through Zannini, who was the treasury attorney, they made an opinion from the attorney general, closing the door to the SIGEN audit.

“It is a double control that exists because they are two different powers of the State. The AGN belongs to the legislature and the SIGEN is the internal control of the entire State. It is something natural, obviously there are political intentions“Alvarez warned.

Thus, the Undersecretary of University Policies of the Nation defended the plan that he launched last week the state body to audit national universities.

The government denied that there is defunding in universities

In addition to defending expense control, Álvarez also referred to complaints of defunding in the midst of the 2025 Budget debate. “All programs that are running are funded. “Someone explain to me where the cut is,” the official justified.

“If you have everything you are doing funded and updated next year, where is the cut?“Alvarez retorted.

When asked about the teachers’ salaries, Álvarez explained: “Very well, that’s salary updatewhich is not included in the budget. That goes for parity. If the position wants to include it by making a forecast, put it in the budget. For this, the republican functioning of Congress“.

It should be noted that it is estimated that up to 90% of the university budget can be allocated to paying teaching and non-teaching salaries. Currently, teachers denounce a 23.7% drop in real wages compared to inflation measured by INDEC.

“I tell them, show me where the cut is, I told the CIN and they couldn’t show me,” concluded Álvarez.