The National University of San Luis (UNSL) celebrated 50 years of training professionals and contributing scientific contributions to the community of the province of San Luis, located in the Argentine region of Cuyo.
However, this year, the university is going through a complex situation, like so many other academic units in Argentina. The cut in the sending of funds and the stagnation of the annual budget put the authorities on alert, who fear that they will not be able to continue with activities as basic as teaching classes.
The lack of funds and the budget frozen at 2023 values challenges the university authorities, who must keep the institutions functioning, in an economy with high inflation rates that, according to the most recent data from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec ), inflation in March 2024 was 11%, while the year-on-year figure was 287.9%, keeping Argentina at the top of the countries with the highest inflation.
In that sense, the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ) warned in a report that the budget for public universities assigned in 2024 is the lowest on record since 1997.
“The decision of the Executive Branch to extend the 2023 budget places national universities in a critical economic situation,” the organization noted.
According to ACIJ, the budget for the “Higher Education Development Program (main university program) is 72% lower compared to the previous year.”
For his part, the rector of the National University of San Luis (UNSL) and president of the National Interuniversity Council (CIN), Víctor Moriñigo, confirmed in dialogue with the Voice of America that the university has “the same budget as last year to apply this year and the prices are 300% more (higher)”, to which is added “a very harsh electricity and gas rate that is impossible to pay.” ”.
In the report published by ACIJ, they explained that “the budget allocated to the higher education system is made up of different items” with the Development of Higher Education being the one that involves “more than 90% of the total expenditure.” In addition, “other less important programs are the PROGRESAR Scholarships, University Infrastructure and University Evaluation and Accreditation – CONEAU.”
The report details that the 2024 budget allocates approximately 690,000 Argentine pesos per student (around $790 at the official exchange rate), “which represents a reduction of 72% compared to the previous year and 82% less than in 2013. when the maximum level of spending per student was reached.”
Meanwhile, Moriñigo warned that they are “making every effort” possible but that with the current budget items “we are warning people that we are going to inevitably lower quality, and that is an issue that we are not willing to do.”
“This university will never close its doors”
The scientific research and contributions in different crisis contexts of Argentina's public universities are undoubtedly of incalculable value. Moriñigo maintained that “Argentine universities have a very special role in the development of a country.”
And for the rector of the UNSL and president of the CIN, “at the university there is also research and there are laboratories, there is a scientific world and development, there is equipment.”
Recently, UNSL introduced a mosquito repellent, a product developed by its own researchers, amid the dengue emergencywhich according to the national Ministry of Health, the country registered 269,678 infections and 197 deaths until April 14.
At the beginning of April, the University donated 300 repellents, prepared by professionals from the Department of Pharmacy of the Faculty of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacy and which were delivered to areas most sensitive to infections, within the province of San Luis.
“Talking about what the university's response is in the context of crisis to show scientific things, like in this case the repellent for the epidemiological issue of dengue, we have the opportunity to show people science that they can touch,” Moriñigo reflected. .
And he added that: “Argentina is the country of the five Nobel Prize winners, of Argentine science and of the public university. When people have access to these things that save lives, it happened in the pandemic, it happens now with dengue and it will happen with many products, it is like there is an embrace and a reconciliation between what the Argentine people invest through their taxes for the research and scientists who feel recognized by their home.”
Pandemic and hunger: other scientific contributions that sought to provide solutions
UNSL has been highlighted for other contributions and research that contributed to emergency situations. The most recent was during the coronavirus pandemic, where a team of researchers created sanitizers and bars of soap, which were distributed by different institutions, and were even delivered to other provinces.
“Talking about what the university's response is in the context of crisis to show scientific things, like in this case the repellent for the epidemiological issue of dengue, we have the opportunity to show people science that they can touch,” Moriñigo reflected. .
And he added that: “Argentina is the country of the five Nobel Prize winners, of Argentine science and of the public university. When people have access to these things that save lives, it happened in the pandemic, it happens now with dengue and it will happen with many products; It is like there is an embrace and a reconciliation between what the Argentine people invest through their taxes for research and the scientists who feel recognized by their home.”
That is why, for the rector of the university, “there is a beautiful discussion about what Argentine universities contribute to the country” and he considered that “many fall into the conclusion that universities are a monoproduct, that they are only dispensers of degrees.” and we are measured only by the number of graduates we have based on who enters,” and they leave aside social and scientific contributions.
In 2018, the University presented baked goods with nutrients, capable of responding to the nutritional deficiencies of vulnerable sectors. Through the manufacture of whole-grain baked goods fortified with soy flour and bovine plasma proteins, we work to combat malnutrition in sectors of the Argentine population in a state of poverty and destitution.
Laura Rodríguez Furlán, doctor in Chemistry and Food Engineering, specialized in the development of foods for people with specific requirements from the UNSL, explained to the VOA that “this malnutrition comes as a consequence due to poverty, lack of economic access and foods of high nutritional value.”
In that sense, this project arose with the “idea of addressing those needs, mainly in children, who if they do not receive the necessary nutrients in the first stages of their life, begin to have deficiencies in growth and psychomotor development,” according to the specialist's explanations.
These baked goods, intended for the consumption of vulnerable populations, have “the same amount of protein as meat.” “Eating three or four cookies is the same as taking calcium from a cup of milk and at the same time has the fiber and micronutrients you need from vegetables and fruits,” explained the project leader.
And he added that: “low-income people generally consume very refined products, high in carbohydrates but lacking in everything else: proteins and vitamins,” which is why “with those cookies, which is a small dose per day, children can get the nutrition they need.”
Finally, Furlán analyzed that, in Argentina, where around 40% of the population is poor, this invention could not remain only “in a published work, in a paper”, otherwise, it had to become “something that is useful for society and that can generate from us a change in society for the better, for people, to improve their quality of life.”
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