RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) announced that it does not intend to join the “Future-se” program, a project launched by the MEC (Ministry of Education) on July 17th, under its current terms.
In a meeting held on Thursday, August 8th, the University Council, UFRJ’s highest-ranking body, took the decision and issued a note in which it criticizes the program. UFRJ is the largest federal university in Brazil.
Under the pretext of conferring greater financial independence upon universities and federal institutions, the program provides that social organizations (OSs) will now be involved in the management of these units’ funds.
Established in 1998, OSs are private non-profit organizations that may act in areas such as education, health, and culture. The ‘Future-se’ is also intended to encourage institutions to raise funds of their own to help in their maintenance.
In the text, the university states that the interference of OSs could reduce university independence.
“Due to its current configuration, the Future-se is unwilling to foster the enhancement of university independence. Conversely, it may point to a regression to the progress of the national legal system guaranteeing the best perspectives for the socio-economic, scientific and cultural development of the country, which emerge from the IFEs (federal educational institutions). The Program’s provisions, in this original context, tend to break the constitutional framework that protects the administrative, educational and financial management independence of the IFEs, which would henceforth depend on and be managed by the OS”, says the note.
The UFRJ further criticized the proposed form of financing
“The so-called Knowledge Fund, proposed in the program, is also teeming with loopholes. There is no definition of what kind of assets would serve as the initial contribution, there is no discussion on the maturation period of a fund of this nature and how the IFEs would be financed during this transition, there is no mention of the criteria for choosing the fund manager and how he or she would be compensated, in particular during its launch and consolidation period. If the fund fails, the return of the assets is provided to MEC without specifying how the eventual contributions made by the IFEs will be handled,” states the text.
In this text, the university proposes removing the ceiling on expenses and states that there are risks for the institutions that adhere to the project.
“The Future-se project should propose the removal of IFEs from the spending ceiling, ensure the budget without contingencies and encourage development to promote domestic scientific production and the training of staff,” the note recommends.
“We are open to ongoing discussion to bolster public education, free-of-charge and of high quality; however, we believe that there are risks in the Future-se Program related to the possibility of future change in the legal status of IFEs, which are currently federal agencies with the privilege of self-governance, and risks to our administrative, educational, scientific and asset integrity.”
Federal Government
The MEC report said that “it is proposing the upgrading of universities and creating conditions for them to focus on their purposes, that is, teaching, research, and outreach.”
According to MEC, it is not a question of privatizing public education, but of devising a new way to finance it. The government has rejected charging tuition fees.