On October 9th, the fifth Brazil-South Cone meeting of the Union of Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean (UDUAL), a network that brings together higher education institutions in the region, took place. Unicamp hosted the event, which aimed to discuss issues pertinent to higher education, such as university autonomy and the virtualization of teaching in the pandemic scenario, and define future actions.
The meeting took place throughout the day, with the presence of rectors from Latin American universities. At the opening table, Marcelo Knobel, rector of Unicamp and president of the Brazil region of UDUAL, highlighted the health, political and economic difficulties of the moment and highlighted the importance of the UDUAL network. Also participating in the opening were the president of the Southern Cone region of UDUAL, Hugo Juri, the president of the National Association of Directors of Federal Higher Education Institutions (Andifes) and rector of the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), Edward Madureira, and Roberto Escalante, general secretary of UDUAL.
In addition to the discussions, the heads of educational institutions defined a work plan for the next period, which involves activities and strategies for cooperation and action between universities.
Autonomy: a fundamental principle under attack
The main conference of the meeting, entitled “University Autonomy in Brazil: Challenges and permanent threats to public Higher Education" was given by professor at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT) Paulo Speller. The professor, who was previously vice-president of UDUAL and secretary general of the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), highlighted the attacks on university autonomy in Brazil and outlined, in addition to the historical overview of the principle, the challenges surrounding the topic. In his view, there are two main elements relating autonomy and that define the strategic role of universities: choice of leaders and budget, both of which are under threat.
“I'm talking about concrete things, not abstractions that would be difficult to understand. We are talking about appointing deans, we are talking about how the internal mechanisms are established to choose the rector, and we are talking about budget”, she emphasized.
To date, Jair Bolsonaro's government has already appointed six rectors who were not the most voted by the academic community or who were not even on the list. Although Brazilian legislation leaves appointments to the president, since the country's redemocratization only one rector not elected by the community has been appointed.
Referring to these attacks, the professor recalled that the Federal Supreme Court (STF) is judging a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) regarding the matter. Two STF ministers have already voted to respect the triple list and to appoint the first place. They mainly support the fact that nominating another candidate, or a name not on the list, violates article 207 of the Federal Constitution. In this article, the Magna Carta states that universities enjoy didactic-scientific, administrative and financial and asset management autonomy.
In terms of the budget, Paulo highlighted the attack regarding resource cuts. At the federal level, the government sent a budget proposal to the National Congress with a 17% reduction in the budget of federal universities and institutes for 2021. At the level of the state of São Paulo, there was an attempt by the state government to appropriate financial surpluses from universities in São Paulo (USP, Unicamp and Unesp), and from Fapesp, which was overturned after coordination between academic communities. He highlighted the importance of these surpluses, which end up functioning as strategic reserves for the planning of university administrations and to overcome moments of crisis, such as what we are going through with the pandemic.
The professor also emphasized the challenges relating to the budget of higher education institutions in Brazil. In his opinion, it is problematic that there is no legal definition of the percentages allocated to financing federal universities and institutes. As a consequence, budgets are at the mercy of government decisions. In the case of state universities in São Paulo, Paulo positively evaluates the fact that they have fixed financing, which arises from the collection of Tax on the Circulation of Goods and provision of Services (ICMS). As a negative point, he assesses, they end up subject to the current economic situation.
“More revenue, more budget. Less revenue, lower budget. But in the case of federal universities, there is no definition of parameters that define the percentage. There is no clear rule. This creates a situation in which the federal government repeatedly intervenes both in the appointment of rectors and in cuts and distribution of university budgets”, he compared.
According to Paulo, the pandemic emphasized the strategic role of universities and governments, federal and state, should follow the example of Catalonia, which increased the budget of its universities despite being in an economic crisis. “The Catalan government gave an addendum of 100 million euros to universities, and Spain is also experiencing a tremendous economic crisis. Revenue is falling and yet the autonomous region of Catalonia has decided not to cut the budget and recognize the responsibilities of universities. When the strategic role of universities is recognized, new budgetary contributions are feasible so that universities can fulfill their role”.
In this way, he said, it is necessary to go beyond resistance, as the evidence of everything that universities are doing shows that they have a strategic role, which serves society. “Preserving the university and going beyond its possibilities for technological development, innovation, training, research, extension: this is the strategic role that is reaffirmed today and therein lies the importance of autonomy. The university is not to serve this or that ruler, it is to serve society”.
Virtualization of teaching
The challenges of teaching virtualization were also addressed at the meeting, in a panel discussion. The debaters were Francisco Cervantes, rector of the University of la Rioja in Mexico; Alma Herrera, rector of the Rosario Castellanos Institute, Mexico; Orlando Delgado, executive director of the International Assessment and Accreditation Council (CEAI) of UDUAL, and Manuir José Mentges, dean of Undergraduate Studies and Education at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS).
The teachers exposed the pandemic scenario as an accelerator of virtualization and highlighted the challenges and opportunities of this process. Within the scope of the challenges, the need to guarantee access to the tools and machinery involved in this type of teaching was raised. Furthermore, the overload of teaching work and the need for permanent training of teachers so that they can work virtually with quality were highlighted.
As positive points and opportunities, the possibility of transitioning from an epistemological model based on a closed scientific community to a model in which there is co-construction of knowledge was highlighted. The expansion of universities' teaching coverage networks and the prospect of consolidating interinstitutional educational offers in virtual environments were also highlighted. As examples of networks that have already been developed, the Diploma in Technologies and Didactics was cited, which is offered jointly by the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the Private Technical University of Loja (UTPL), in Ecuador, and the International University of La Rioja (UNIR), from Spain.
Work plan
UDUAL's general secretary, Roberto Escalante, presented UDUAL's work and action plan for the second half of 2020. The closer relationship with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the training of teachers for the virtual teaching and carrying out major research to understand the reality of universities will be priority focuses.
Check the minutes and agreements of the meeting here.
