© MARCELO KNOBEL AND PETER SCHULZ
The financial crisis that state universities in São Paulo have been facing in recent years, largely caused by the serious economic crisis the entire country is going through, has led to the multiplication of opinion articles and comments both in the press and on social media, coming from different sectors civil society and public opinion. Different voices proclaim the need for reforms, de-bureaucratization and cuts. They also point out inefficiency and oversights in the public-private separation of the management of these universities. The symptoms of these university administrations would be patrimonialism, clientelism, cartorialism and corporatism.
Furthermore, the heralds of paid public higher education leave between the lines that the privatization of universities would be the solution to all ills. Occasionally, the large number of technical-administrative employees is also blamed, which far exceeds what would occur in private universities. And it is not uncommon for social networks to disseminate the idea that university bureaucracy grants itself benefits and privileges.
The serious financial crisis that São Paulo state universities, USP, Unicamp and Unesp, face is known to everyone and recognized by the administration of these universities. However, the idea is that little has been done in recent years to address this situation.
In fact, the current administration of USP, which ends in January, has promoted severe measures to face the crisis, as continually reported by the press. In the specific case of Unicamp, the Rectory that took office in April 2017 took important measures to reduce costs and budget equalization. However, university administrations in São Paulo are sometimes accused of doing little other than demanding an increase in the percentage of the ICMS share of 9,57%, the main source of resources for our universities.
In this context, public opinion needs to be informed about what actually happens with the 9,57% ICMS and the alleged management problems.
With regard to undergraduate education, for example, the number of vacancies at Unicamp grew from 1.990 to 3.320, an increase of 66%, since the percentage of 9,57% was established in 1995. Significant increases in vacancies are also found in the other two universities in São Paulo in the same period.
It is also important to remember that an important portion of Unicamp's budget is allocated to the health sector to serve a population of 6 million people through the Unified Health System (SUS). SUS payments have been frozen for some years now, which implies an increasing commitment of the share to the promotion of health, a public good that joins knowledge in the mission of public universities.
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Public opinion must be informed about what actually happens with the 9,57% ICMS
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According to Unicamp's 2017 statistical yearbook, the number of technical-administrative employees is 8.178, of which 3.680, that is, 45% of the total, are precisely in the health area. This data is necessary for a more adequate assessment of the role and functioning of this highly complex system of public interest, such as the group of state universities in São Paulo.
Public opinion also needs to be informed about the alleged benefits in managing these universities. The day after the current Rector of Unicamp took office, all senior management benefits were cut and among the recent measures, a 30% cut in all university position bonuses was approved. The budget deficit forecast for 2018 was reduced and contract reviews have already resulted in savings of R$14 million, among other actions that resulted in savings of R$25 million and can be seen as a whole in a text published on the Unicamp portal , whose content highlights that “all these measures have as their backdrop a new University administration model, based on planning, shared decisions, transparency, recognition of merit and studies of external economic scenarios”. These measures are part of a set of structuring actions for this new administration model, which cannot be built overnight and opposes the lack of transparency and inefficiency in university management.
The environment for discussion and implementation of these measures and changes has its remote origins in university autonomy, provided for in the 1988 Constitution and implemented at USP, Unicamp and Unesp in 1989. Its importance can be translated into numbers.
During this period, the number of places offered by Unicamp for its undergraduate courses doubled and similar results were also observed at USP and Unesp. The scientific production of universities in São Paulo is today ten times greater than in 1989 and its impact on a global scale is continually growing and higher than the Brazilian average. The three state universities in São Paulo also appear today among the main patent applicants in Brazil, in addition to occupying prominent positions in university rankings at national and continental levels.
Finally, it must be said that São Paulo's state universities are a heritage of the population of São Paulo and all of Brazil, with historical contributions, which in the case of USP can be appreciated in the book USP 70 Years: Images of a Lived History, by Shozo Motoyama. For the present and the future, it is worth remembering the fundamental role of the three universities in the technology-based economy. As an example, we have the more than 500 companies that were born from research and development carried out at Unicamp, responsible for 28 thousand jobs and a turnover of RS 3 billion annually, greater than the share of ICMS that the university receives.
❖ DEATOR AND COMMUNICATION SECRETARY OF UNICAMP RESPECTIVELY
Published on January 26, 2018, O Estado de S. Paulo, page 2, Espaço Aberto
