Reducing education will affect classes beginning in August, federal universities say | education

Five universities said they had accumulated debt by the end of 2018, and 9 are projecting to accumulate debt by the end of 2019, including UFRJ, which already has $ 283 million outstanding in 2018 and needs to end the year with $ 307 millions in negative.

The study was done by G1, which contacted 68 institutions (including advanced campuses) and received responses from 37 of them (read more about the methodology below).

Deprived and facing funding cuts since 2015, the institutions plan to further deepen their actions in the second half, such as community health in hospitals and psychology and nutrition clinics, for example, or even hanging bags reduce community-oriented courses like college and Enem entrance exams and even training of specialists in primary education, we know which is one of the priorities of the MEC itself, according to a document Committed to Primary Education published in July.

• Understand the abbreviations of federal universities

Contingency in education

The Ministry of Education has been the target of two emergencies this year, identified by the federal government as a way to deal with the economic crisis. $ 5.8 billion was blocked in March. In April, the MEC announced a 30 percent blockade of university funding and said it could free up money if the economy was restored or the pension reform was adopted. In July, another ordinance blocked $ 348.47 million from the portfolio.

The cuts, according to the government, are applied to non-compulsory costs such as water, electricity, outsourcing, works, equipment and research. Compulsory expenses, such as student support and salaries and retirement benefits, are unaffected.

This week the deans met with Education Minister Abraham Weintraub, demanding the release of the funds. They said the minister had made it possible that the blockade would begin to be lifted from September, according to the National Association of Federal High School Leaders (Andifes), but had not set a date.

Against the backdrop of the shortage scenario, MEC launched the Future-se program in mid-July, a proposal to increase the financial autonomy of universities. The MEC points out that the program could bring in $ 100 billion to institutions, but has criticized university autonomy and social organizations' adherence to the project.

Lack of resources can affect the progress of second semester classes in 10 of the 36 universities that have responded G1, Others 7 did not specify a date, but confirmed that students' daily lives are at risk.

Classes may be suspended at the following universities by:

• August: UFCSPA (already appearing) and UFPR (end of August)
• SeptemberStk #: UFAC; UFPE; UFFRJ; UFRRJ; UNIPAMPA; and UFPel
• October: UFG (Jataí) and UFRJ

21 universities said they would affect research: UFAC; UFSB; UFG (Jatay and Catalun); Unifal; UFJF; UFTM; Unifei; UFV; UFSJ; Unifesspa; UNIVASF; UTFPR; Unila; UFRN; UFRGS; UFCSPA; UFPel; UFABC; UCT; and Unifesp.

Most cite the lack of resources for laboratories. At Unifei, for example, there will be a shortage of research resources using a nitrogen liquid that cannot be maintained due to a lack of resources. Research in key areas such as energy efficiency and material properties is also affected.

20 universities said expansion activities would be achieved: UFABC; UFAC; UFCSPA; UFG (Catalan and Jatay); Ufop; UFPel; UFPR; UFRGS; UFRJ; UFRN; UFSB; UFSC; UFTM; UFV; Unifal; Unifesp; Unifesspa; UNIPAMPA; and Univasf

• Training courses for entrance exams and Enem (UFAC, UFPel and UFT),
• Health care from the community (Unipampa, UFPel and UFG – Jataí);
• Suspension of the purse extension (UFG – Jataí and UFT);
• Reconstruction of the University Restaurant at Maraba and Singuara Veterinary Hospital (Unifesspa);
• Startup development (UNIPAMPA);
• Training for professionals basic education (Unipampa);
• Advice for victims of violence (UFCSPA)
• At UFSC, all services will be suspended

To overcome the scarcity of resources, universities have outlined measures that are being taken to avoid going red. With little room in the budget for more redundancies, these measures are such as outsourcing, water and energy cutting, work stoppage, food (university restaurant), transportation and travel.

At least five universities have already entered in 2019 with the outstanding balance. Univasf says 2018 ended with $ 4 million in debt, followed by UFV (R $ 6 million); UFSC (R $ 11 million); Unirio ($ 36.1 million) and UFRJ (R $ 283 million).

By 2019, ten universities predict they may be in the red if resources are not released by the MEC. The situation is more critical at UFRJ, which estimates the close of the year with a debt of $ 307 million, followed by UFF ($ 55 million), UFV ($ 16 million), Univasf ($ 10 million), Ufop (R $ 9 million) , UFSB ($ 6.2 million), UFG – Jataí ($ 4 million), Unila ($ 2.7 million), UFG – Catalan ($ 2 million) and UFT ($ 15 million).

Institutions that participated in the survey by G1 They were contacted in early August by telephone and email and answered a questionnaire addressing five major emergency situations: 1 – Teaching; 2- Extension; – 3 – Research; 4 – Management; 5 – Debts. There were closed and open questions. Open answers were later tabulated by common elements.

In the areas of teaching, research and extension, the questions focused on continuation of activities during the second semester, unless there was a redirection of funds to the institutions. The answers were split between Yes, No and Undefined. An explanation was also given as to what type of activity would be interrupted or discontinued.

Governments have responded spontaneously to governance issues and common denominators have been reported in the report. Cleaning, security and gardening services are considered "Third Party" and the purchase of books, supplies and magazine subscriptions are considered within the Materials group.

"Transportation" refers to the university's own services, which often move between campuses across the states, while "Travel" is an exceptional relocation of students and congressional faculty, and references were also found in the responses as "tickets."

Energy had repeated references to reducing the use of air conditioners and lifts in institutions, but it also included a more rational use of this feature and a reduction in the consumption of electric light.