JU - The pandemic also drastically affected the economy, with a reduction in economic activity and a consequent drop in ICMS collection, the main source of resources allocated to public universities in São Paulo. The economic recession, which was already significant before this scenario, worsened even further. How to preserve the quality of teaching, research and services provided by Unicamp to the community, especially in the health sector, in a context of deepening budget restrictions?
Tom Zé - Brazil has been experiencing a profound economic and social crisis since 2015, which was aggravated, but not caused, by the Covid 19 pandemic. The worsening of the crisis was due to the adoption of mistaken economic policies that went against the policies adopted in the world's main economies. In the period 2016-2020, the accumulated variation in GDP was negative 2,9%. However, it is important to note that the behavior of ICMS in São Paulo did not directly follow the evolution of GDP. In the same period, São Paulo's ICMS grew by 21,4% in nominal terms and 5,6% in real terms (deflated by IBGE's IPCA). Even in the chaotic year of 2020, ICMS collection in São Paulo grew 2% in nominal terms and fell, in real terms, by 1,3%, due to the acceleration of inflation (IPCA of 4,52%).
It is indisputable that, due to the long crisis, Unicamp and the other public universities in São Paulo present a worrying picture of financial fragility, caused by a mismatch between the evolution of State treasury revenues (RTE) and the evolution of expenses, especially personnel. , which required the use of part of strategic financial reserves. It is important to highlight that the financial reserves were created during the period of economic expansion and RTE, with the strategic objective of ensuring the financing of the University in critical moments of contraction or stagnation of revenues, as observed in the period from 2015 to 2020. As we stated in the management program, our guidelines are of social and institutional responsibility. We understand that, in order to value research, teaching and extension activities, it is essential to value the working conditions and well-being of the entire academic community. What made and makes Unicamp a university of excellence are, above all, the qualifications, dedication and professionalism of its employees.
Our scenario for 2021 is not one of deepening budget restrictions. We do not agree with the pessimistic scenario foreseen in the 2021 Budget Guideline Proposal (PDO), prepared by the current administration. It is important to highlight that the 2020 PDO also outlined a pessimistic scenario, which ended up not materializing. Even in the PDO's second budget review, carried out in August 2020, a pessimistic scenario was still maintained with a forecast deficit of R$ 263,4 million (R$ 379,6 million if the resources committed in previous years were used) to the 2020 financial year. However, 2020 ended with stable revenues and balance in the accounts. The construction of excessively pessimistic scenarios to support austerity policies does not contribute to efficient management of the University with a focus on a strategy of professional development for the academic community.
The management "Unicamp: building tomorrow” will adopt realistic and constantly updated scenarios, involving the entire community, to discuss and define the intensity and speed with which policies on career progression, staff hiring, salary replacement, student access and retention conditions and of investments in infrastructure. The current critical moment, with many uncertainties, requires a lot of transparency, dialogue, sensitivity and competence from the university's top managers.
Therefore, our program adopted short and medium-term scenarios for the University's financing conditions and for the implementation of professional development policies. In the short term, there are legal restrictions imposed by Complementary Law No. 173. In this sense, our commitment is to take assertive action within the scope of Cruesp to reverse or mitigate the restrictions imposed by Law No. 173 and, as quickly as possible, resume the policy of professional development.
In a very realistic scenario for 2021, it is possible to achieve a financial balance between income and expenses. This scenario is different from that foreseen in Unicamp's 2021 Budget Guidelines Proposal (PDO), which projects a deficit of R$208 million (or R$79 million, if expenses committed in previous periods are excluded). Our scenario for 2021 considers, on the one hand, the negative effect on the economy and ICMS collection of the likely end or reduction of emergency aid and, on the other, the positive effect of the increase in ICMS rates in the State of São Paulo. The good results of ICMS collection in January 2021 corroborate this argument. The Central Bank's Focus bulletin for December 2020, more updated than the São Paulo Finance Department's PLOA forecast for September 2020, projects a GDP growth rate of 3,46% and inflation (IPCA) of 4,38 .2021% for 2021. The Secretary of Finance of São Paulo projected, in an interview with the newspaper Valor Econômico in February 5, a growth rate of 7,5% for the state of São Paulo. Based on these indicators and information, our expectation is a nominal expansion rate of XNUMX% of state treasury revenues (RTE). Therefore, nOur realistic scenario for 2021 is not one of deepening budget constraints.
In the medium-term scenario, the academic community's pent-up demands for the return of professional career progression, staff hiring and salary adjustment policies should be progressively met in the 2022-2024 three-year period. Within a realistic scenario that projects an expansion of revenues of 2,5% in real terms (7% in nominal terms) based on the behavior of the four-year period 2016-2019, it would be possible to meet the following demands: 1) progression in at least one career level of all teachers in the period 2022-2024; 2) allocation of an equal volume of resources for the progression of servers; 3) hiring 150 to 200 teachers and researchers during the period to partially replace retirements; 4) allocation of an equal volume of resources to hire employees, especially in the health area; 5) salary replacement in the face of inflation; 6) readjustment of food vouchers; and 7) resumption of investments in infrastructure in the HC, in the FOP, in the maintenance of student housing and in teaching units, among others.
In this medium-term scenario, the financing of all Unicamp activities, in addition to the professional development strategy, even in the face of a real increase in revenue in 2022, must rely on a contribution of resources from strategic financial reserves in the order of 20% to 25%. In the 2023-2024 biennium, it is now possible to project a more positive scenario, with improvements in financing all university activities and the intensification of the professional development policy – including recomposing part of the strategic financial reserves. We therefore believe that, with social and institutional responsibility, it will be possible preserve the quality of teaching, research and services provided by Unicamp to the community.
Mario Saad - This is an issue that Unicamp has been focusing on for some time, without significant progress. The pandemic made this budgetary difficulty even more apparent, bringing up very difficult discussions that sometimes bring us closer together than apart. As well explained in the question statement, we are a Public University in São Paulo and, as such, our main source of resources is ICMS, which is always unstable to market fluctuations. But, that is not the problem in itself. We must ask ourselves what the alternatives are to attract new resources to our university given our reality and, faced with viable solutions, work to put them into practice. Bold management and legal responsibility are required, in order to open paths that enable greater interaction with sectors of public power and also the private sector. We need a medium and long-term plan that allows us to strengthen our institutional fundraising mechanisms in all segments of activity. This is not an easy path, and it requires a lot of detachment and willingness to dialogue.
Speaking specifically about the health sector, as proposed in the question statement, the Rectory must play a relevant role in the political process of attracting extra-budgetary resources, aiming to improve both health care activities and Teaching, Research and Extension activities. Our management’s proposals are:
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Stimulate, induce and politically and legally support new forms of financing, with maintenance or, preferably, increase of SUS service. Seek, in an active and professional manner, resources for parliamentary amendments that can have a significant participation in health financing;
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Lead, together with the FCM Board and Congregation, as well as the Management of our hospitals, the search for new forms of legal entities for the Health Area, allowing greater commitment from the State Department of Health (SES) to be achieved with the financing of our hospital complex;
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Institutionally and legally integrate the new Institute of Otorhinolaryngology into the Unicamp Health Area, and participate decisively in the search for public financing and new forms of financing for this new hospital;
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Strengthen the Unicamp Health Area Foundation (Fascamp) aiming for its certification as a charitable entity (philanthropy title), which would enable the management of agreements and contracts with less onerous rates for health care services, given the reduction of employer charges . Such savings will be useful in qualifying the services provided and reducing costs with personnel expenses for the entire Health Area;
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Aiming to increase the number of hospital beds, add new specialty sectors, through the implementation of new hospitals with different administrative models and financed by the Department of Health;
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With the objective of maintaining excellence in teaching, research, extension and assistance activities with repercussions for serving the population, providing the expansion and modernization of technological infrastructure, incorporating new technologies, including artificial intelligence and telemedicine in the Health Area;
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Improve interaction with municipal public authorities, based on agreements for the joint administration of emergency rooms, specialized centers and/or Basic Health Units, strengthening recently implemented agreements and integrating the records of all SUS services for unified management of pathologies and limitation of repeated examinations;
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Expand Unicamp's insertion in the management of new hospitals and AMEs, linked to the SES. Understanding that health management in the region has a direct impact on the qualification of cases that will be correctly forwarded to campus hospitals. Furthermore, with the college health services, the spectrum of complexity of clinical cases is expanded, providing more complete training for students and researchers;
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Definitively consolidate the Hospital de Clínicas (HC), the Hospital da Mulher “Prof. Dr. José Aristodemo Pinotti” (Caism), the Hemocentro and the Gastrocentro as reference structures for complex cases, reducing the referral of low-complexity cases that overcrowd the specialized services on campus;
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Stimulate Clinical Research, making every effort to ensure the proper functioning of the FCM Clinical Research Building;
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Improve physical infrastructure, adapting spaces to contemporary needs, including accessibility;
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Work so that Unicamp, through its Health area, definitively enters the era of minimally invasive surgeries, acquiring equipment for robotic surgery;
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Strengthen Family and Community Medicine activities, aiming for greater insertion of Unicamp in society in different health practice scenarios, encouraging training and professional performance.
Sergio Salles-Filho - The economic crisis in the country, which had been dragging on for around six years and imposing budgetary and financial restrictions on the University, worsened substantially in 2020. In the middle of that year the forecasts were gloomy and the fear of not being able to close The year's accounts were concrete. The internal effort to not put at risk the payment of personnel and other Unicamp funding items was severe.
In parallel, legal restrictions were imposed by the federal government on states and municipalities in return for economic aid during the pandemic. Complementary Law 173 of May 27, 2020 imposed the stagnation of investments in personnel, particularly in promotions, progressions, new hires and even counting time in public service.
In short, we are going through a moment of financial strangulation for which we need urgent actions that, yes, take responsible care of the budget and financial reserves, but that also seek to alleviate the problem and gradually resume investments in the University.
The responsibility with which Unicamp worked on its budget over these years made it possible for us to now, at the beginning of 2021, reach a relatively balanced financial situation. We ended 2020 with reserves close to what we had when we started that year. We paid all salaries and other expenses on time and entered this year with a situation that, although not exciting, is positive.
In parallel to the internal effort to achieve financial balance in the midst of the crisis, there was a recovery in the economy in the last months of last year – although it has not yet stabilized – allowing the preparation and approval of a budget for 2021 that presents a situation of relative financial balance. We still have an accounting deficit forecast for 2021, but at a much lower level than what we have had in recent years. All care remains important, especially because the pandemic continues and uncertainty about the behavior of the country's economy and the state of São Paulo remains high.
Among the possibilities that can be seen at the time this text is written, there are important amounts in the budget that can be applied to personnel and infrastructure. This will be possible under conditions that we do not yet have, but that can be changed: due legal support on Complementary Law 173 (which must be discussed within the scope of CRUESP) and the evolution of the economy's behavior. In other words, we have to prepare ourselves – and the Uma Só Unicamp slate is already prepared – to review the budget and reallocate resources to currently unforeseen expense items.
Specifically, we will have around 133 million reais that were conditioned until the end of January and now confirmed in the Budget Execution Decree. This will require discussion and prioritization at the University, which can be done during budget review moments (May and August, in principle).
As we pointed out in our management program, the priority in a possible review will be the Personnel Group of the 2021 budget, followed by investments in infrastructure.
We know that demands for investment are high, there is a backlog in progression, a lack of hiring, a lack of provision for a career progression system, and urgent needs for infrastructure and works. To meet these demands, we will carry out detailed planning with the University's units and bodies and implement multi-annual budgets in which resources for hiring, replacement of vacancies and progressions of teachers and researchers and investments in infrastructure are planned for four years.
Multi-annual budgets allow you to visualize investments that are not possible to meet in just one year and, made in a coordinated and planned way, allow you to meet an important part of the demands.
We will work with scenarios to plan how to act on fluctuations in revenue, up and down. It is necessary to project values knowing what we should do if there is frustration or an increase in Unicamp's revenue.
It is also necessary to immediately carry out studies on the possible impacts of the tax reform on Unicamp's main source of revenue, the ICMS and the State Treasury, in order to prepare for changes that may require a new pact with the state government.
Monitoring and responsibly managing Unicamp's budget and financial reserves is basic. Unicamp has a long tradition of seeking complementary resources to develop its research activities, but also teaching and extension activities.
This practice exists in all public universities in the country and the world and is mainly due to the actions of teachers, researchers, employees and students. More recently, many universities have started to have an institutional policy for seeking and attracting complementary resources.
We will create at Unicamp an Office for Fundraising and Support for Research, Teaching and Extension Projects, which should amplify fundraising from different sources of financing, open new financing channels for projects and programs, support negotiation of agreements and contracts and guide researchers. Unicamp currently has substantive amounts of extra-budgetary resources (around 650 million reais per year on average over the last 10 years).
Any initiative in this regard must also consider financing the health care offered by Unicamp to a population of around 3 million inhabitants. Today, around 70% of the resources used to provide free public health care to the population come from Unicamp's budget, with the remainder coming from SUS and complementary sources, such as parliamentary amendments.
There is a financial bottleneck that holds back the development of Unicamp's health service areas. We need to eliminate or reduce this bottleneck, allowing us to expand investments and services to the public. In our management program we make several proposals on this subject (https://www.sergioeliana21.com.br/nossas-ideias).
As stated in our program, our management will identify and implement models (legal, managerial and financing) that are coherent with the triple function performed by the areas of health: quality care for the population, teaching and training of professionals and research in various segments of health sciences.
It should be noted that the current situation of financial constraints also affects the learning environment itself for around 1.300 undergraduate students in Medicine, Speech Therapy, Nursing, Pharmacy and Nutrition, 750 health professionals in Medical and Multiprofessional Residency programs, in addition to those specialization and improvement.
