The Undersecretary of University Policies, Alejandro Álvarez, stated today that the university funding law passed by Congress cannot be applied because there is no 'system' in place for resource allocation. Speaking before the Budget and Finance Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, the official justified the decision not to implement the law on increasing university funding due to a lack of details on financing, as established in Article 5 of the Financial Administration Law. This position was rejected by deputies from the Civic Coalition, Maximiliano Ferraro; from the Left Front, Cristian Castillo; and from the Union for the Homeland (UxP), Leandro Santoro. Ferraro stated that it is a 'flagrant violation of the university funding law, passed by this Congress on two occasions'. 'I listened very carefully to the undersecretary say he came with good news. Since you are not going hungry, Mr. Undersecretary, I would tell you to release the funds as was done before, and it seems that there were no degenerate prosecutors back then, with the 40 billion pesos for the Garrahan hospital, and now the 35% increase in benefits for people with disabilities,' he added. Santoro, for his part, pointed out that the law passed by Congress must be complied with 'since it has an impact of 0.2% of GDP and, with the reduction of the personal property tax, you have managed to lose 0.4% of GDP'. In his address, Álvarez had also stated that '45% of the enrollment has only completed one subject per year'. He also complained about the 'operational immobility' of the university budget, which forces the funding of careers with few students, mentioning as an example that the Harp Licentiature 'has only one student'. The official stated that '300 billion pesos' are spent per month and that in months when bonuses are paid, this budget rises to '550 billion pesos'. 'I'm going to give you some good news: no university has closed; there is no exodus of teachers; the incorporation of all the demands from previous university administrations to fill non-teaching positions has been approved, and there are no adjustments with layoffs,' he expressed. On this point, Santoro had warned that 'if the system is working and universities are not closing, it is thanks to the teaching staff and the struggle of the non-teaching staff'.
