The 94th Plenary Session of the National Interuniversity Council (CIN) was held at the ECU in Rosario. A federal march was scheduled for September.
Some 80 rectors of the country's national universities and institutes met this Friday morning at the 94th Plenary Session of the National Interuniversity Council (CIN) held in Rosario. The venue was the University Cultural Space (ECU) of the University of Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario (UNR), which was packed early in the morning by authorities who arrived to participate in a debate centered on the future of the University Financing Law. A federal march was scheduled for September.
UNR Rector Franco Bartolacci, vice president of the National Research Council (CIN), hosted a session attended by special guests such as Santa Fe representatives Mónica Fein and Germán Martínez, who outlined strategies for the possibility that the President could once again veto the Finance Law approved by Congress on August 21. Also present at the opening of the plenary session were Gisela Scaglia, vice governor of the province of Santa Fe, and Pablo Javkin, mayor of Rosario.
Regarding the plenary's agenda, CIN President Oscar Alpa moderated the discussions, which were mostly focused on the discussion of the 2026 budget for the entire national public university system. He requested an update of the national budget, which also allows for maintaining university autonomy and self-sufficiency.
A CIN statement was approved regarding the situation of university social security funds, which are facing a serious crisis caused by declining income, the lack of income increases for university professors and non-professionals, and the significant increases in medical benefits. The agenda was unanimously approved around noon.
At the closing session, representatives from Rosario's university federations and teachers' unions participated in the plenary session to demand a larger budget, salary increases, and operating funds. Joaquín Carvalho, president of the Rosario University Federation, stated: "If there is a presidential veto, we will hold a university march, the third march, to defend the public university."
Santa Fe Deputies and the Financing Law
Before the plenary session, Representative Germán Martínez explained that the Senate had only yesterday informed the Executive Branch of the complete approval of the Financing Law, meaning that the 10-day period for enactment begins today. "This means that if they stretch the timeframe to the limit, the deadline will expire on September 15th," he said, emphasizing that 170 votes are needed to reject a potential veto. "Last year, 160 voted against the veto; this year, we received 158 votes for the mid-passage. There were 5 abstentions and 18 absentees. Of those 23, one in two would have to vote against the veto. We must seek those votes," he emphasized.
Mónica Fein also called on this task of convincing representatives from different provinces across the country. “Last week, we were able to sustain the disability law with 172 votes, but we couldn't with the retirement law, which we reached with 160 votes and 6 abstentions, which were the votes we were missing. We need intense work from the university community, which was also the only one able to unite the politics that we see today so fragmented. We need that support, that unity, we need your work to achieve a strong political cross-cutting approach, to deepen our commitment to the public university.”
Agenda of the future
The Vice Governor of Santa Fe, Gisela Scaglia, was the first speaker, who first expressed her gratitude for the meeting that took place two years ago, on June 20, 2023, when the city of Rosario was going through difficult times regarding security. At that time, rectors from across the country participated in an extraordinary session in defense of public education and social peace. “We are with you; we want to always defend public universities. As the government of Santa Fe, we stand by you, and we will join forces in any way we can. We believe this is a legitimate demand; the national government must recognize that the university produces professionals who live and work today in the province, in our city, the university that shapes us as people,” Scaglia argued.
Meanwhile, Mayor Pablo Javkin addressed the political and social situation: “We are living in an unprecedented situation. But it will pass because rationality always prevails. We cannot conceive of a country without a budget or a state; we cannot live under the law of the jungle. Today I heard a discussion about whether we have to choose between having set designers or doctors, and we shouldn't have to choose. It's a time to support each other and show solidarity with one another,” he said, calling for work on the agenda of the future. “These situations distance us from what is coming, and we have to work on that, on how we train people for the world of work in the artificial intelligence revolution, on how we solve the climate problem. Furthermore, universities and cities have a lot to offer because we are the first order of business in the development of the democratic individual.”
Second Session of the First Congress on University Innovation
This Friday, the second day of the First National Congress on University Innovation took place at Rosario's University City (CUR). Under the theme "Teaching, Research, Management, and Territory," more than 3.000 professors, researchers, students, administrators, and academic authorities from across the country discussed how to modernize the university system and adapt it to the challenges of the present.
Bartolacci urged us to review curricula, discuss the types of programs and programs we want to build, debate teaching methods, and consider what we do with artificial intelligence. "It can be a problem or an opportunity. What we can't do is look the other way as if nothing is happening, because it puts the entire traditional teaching and learning process at risk."
Journalist: Micaela Pereyra / Photographer: Camila Casero