It is part of Argentina’s prestigious public university system. The faculty’s central hall is covered with dozens of banners protesting President Javier Milei’s spending cuts. Students have called an assembly to announce the occupation of the university, a traditional form of protest in Argentina meant to raise public awareness and pressure the government.
They say they will take over the building for a day. Many students and professors here are concerned about the impact of Milei’s austerity policies on public universities and say the future of free higher education is at risk. With salaries that cannot cover their basic needs, they are leaving for private universities,” Emiliano Gato, a physics student who is part of the group, told Al Jazeera.
It’s a prestigious school. But now, with this austerity plan, I don’t know what will happen.” Public universities in Argentina have become a major battleground of Milei’s austerity plan. Students and professors are protesting the lack of funding and the erosion of salaries, which they say is a major threat to the country’s public education.
Milei is implementing one of the harshest austerity plans in Argentina’s history. Since taking office in 2023, he has laid off thousands of state employees, shut down ministries, reduced subsidies and cut government-funded programmes. The measures were meant to fight high inflation, which was a major problem in Argentina.
Almost three years later, inflation has fallen to around 2 percent a month. Milei says his plan is going well. We have now recorded 27 consecutive months of sustained growth, and today the country is expanding at four times its historical rate.
This growth is being felt across almost every sector of the economy,” said Milei during a recent visit to Washington. His plan is also having a profound impact on public education, welfare plans for people with disabilities, pensioners and others who depend on state support. The opposition has tried to block many of Milei’s reforms.
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