Buenos Aires, Argentina — Thousands of professors, administrative staff, students and alumni marched across Argentina on Tuesday to demand that the government comply with a university funding law approved last August.
This was the fourth ‘March on Federal Universities’ held since Javier Millais took office as president in 2023 due to ongoing budget cuts in higher education and science. Since then, government budget allocations to national universities have decreased by 45.6%, the Council of National Interuniversities (CIN) reported.
Under current law, the government adjusts professors’ salaries and operating costs to account for inflation, which has led to a surge in resignations and forced other teachers to look for additional jobs. Congress passed a public college funding bill in August 2025, but Mailay quickly vetoed it, citing his commitment to a zero-deficit policy.
Read more: Despite massive protests, Argentina’s Javier Millais vetoed the university spending bill.
By September, lawmakers in both houses overrode the veto and officially signed the bill into law.
Nonetheless, the president effectively delayed implementation through decree, insisting that the law be put on hold until specific funding sources were identified.
In late March, a federal judge ordered the government to comply with parts of the code that allow for pay increases for university staff, considered the most urgent item in the bill.
The government appealed to the courts to avoid its obligations, and a lower appellate court granted the government’s request to refer the case to the Supreme Court and halt enforcement of the law in the meantime. The final decision on the matter now rests with the country’s highest court.
Despite Tuesday’s massive mobilization, which drew more than 600,000 people in the capital Buenos Aires and nearly a million across Argentina, the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) said the government had decided to double down.
“There may be 100,000, 1 million or 5 million people on the streets, but budget constraints will continue,” said Alejandro Álvarez, undersecretary for university policy.
A day before the march, which gave Miley the slogan “Follow the law and don’t mortgage your future,” the president’s administration cut more projects, including 5.3 billion pesos (US$3.8 million) for university building maintenance and 2 billion pesos (US$1.4 million) for science scholarships. In education, science, technology, and direct transfers, the administration has cut more than $US110 billion (US$79 million).
Before Milei took office, higher education funding accounted for 0.72% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023. It is currently about 0.47% of GDP.
The impact is stark, and some of Argentina’s best public universities are now in crisis, according to faculty. Universities have complained about aging facilities, rationing of electricity, cuts to faculty salaries and fewer extracurricular activities, among other things.
Historic lows and ‘brain drain’ threat
According to a report by the Iberoamerican Center for Science, Technology and Innovation (CiiCTi), higher education budgets are currently at their lowest level in 20 years, below the levels seen during the hyperinflation crisis of 1989 (0.44% of GDP) and close to absolute lows recorded during Argentina’s military dictatorship.
One of the most pressing medium-term challenges is retaining teaching staff. After Milei, staff salaries were cut by 32%. progress of freedom About 10,000 people have resigned since the administration took office, according to CIN data.
The exodus has left professorships vacant in sectors considered highly strategic to the government’s own economic model, including areas such as energy, technology and mining.
The Department of Exact Natural Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires alone reported the deaths of 438 professors and researchers from December 2023 to April 2026.
“We are losing one person every two days,” said one professor, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal. Argentina Report. Engineering departments experienced an additional 342 attrition.
Historic setback: Funds fell below 2002 and 1976 levels.
The situation is equally critical in science and technology, where analysts warn that the country’s research matrix will virtually disintegrate.
The CiiCTi report noted that federal spending on science and technology is expected to decline 39.3% during the first quarter compared to the same period in 2023, resulting in a real decline of 47.7% by the end of the three-year cycle.
These ongoing budget pressures will reduce the sector’s funding to 0.149% of GDP, the lowest level since historical records began in 1972.
To get an idea of the scale of the fiscal adjustment, current funding levels cut through the bottom of the worst phase of the economic collapse in 2002 (0.177% of GDP) and the beginning of the military dictatorship in 1976 (0.194% of GDP).
These official figures also confirm that the government has missed the target set by the Deferred Science Funding Act, which legally requires it to invest 0.520% of GDP in the sector this year.
Ideological debate surrounding the role of public education
Beyond the 40.3% decline in the purchasing power of salaries and scholarships at Argentina’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET) since November 2023, the funds needed to revitalize research projects have been virtually paralyzed.
that R&D&I AgencyThe country’s main innovation and development agency has suffered a severe 86.3% cut over the past three years.
This is further exacerbated by the financial strangulation of cutting-edge institutions. Argentina’s National Council for Space Activities (CONAE), key to its participation in NASA’s Artemis mission, faces a 61.2% cut, while the National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) have seen their budgets slashed by nearly 47%.
Featured Image: Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Buenos Aires and other parts of Argentina on May 12 to protest budget cuts to the higher education system.
Image source: Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof via X.
