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University audits begin: SIGEN has chosen which one will be the first to be reviewed - Infobae
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Arrancan las auditorías a las universidades: la SIGEN eligió cuál será la primera en revisar
El síndico Miguel Blanco dio detalles del proceso de control del presupuesto gastado por las facultades. El Gobierno cuestiona el uso de los fondos públicos, mientras docentes y estudiantes exigen un mayor incremento presupuestario
www.infobae.com
October 16, 2024
The trustee Miguel Blanco gave details of the process of controlling the budget spent by the faculties. The Government questions the use of public funds, while teachers and students demand a greater budget increase.
According to Sigen, audits will begin in public universities next week (Leo Galletto)
Amidst the university protests that are spreading throughout the country, the Government will move forward in the coming days with its plan to audit public universities , with the aim of controlling the use of the funds they receive from the State. The director of the General Comptroller's Office of the Nation (SIGEN), Miguel Blanco , revealed details of this task, which was at the center of the controversy after the presidential veto that repealed the University Financing Law .
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"We will first work on the work program that will be fundamentally about controlling the use of public funds received by universities," said the trustee, whose organization this week regained the power to review the accounts of universities .
Blanco recalled that SIGEN had already audited universities in the past, but that there was a cessation of this activity following an opinion by the former Treasury Attorney, Carlos Zannini , in 2022, during the Frente de Todos administration.
According to the accountant, audits will begin next week “ with some cases such as the University of La Matanza ”. For the rest, audit teams still need to be assembled and then priority will be given to which universities to follow “based on the volume of funds and quality of agreements”.
Regarding the scope of the audits, the director stressed that the organization is primarily responsible for looking at the “internal control system, studying the processes and controls that exist in each of the departments and then, through a sample, reviewing the use of funds,” he said in statements to the program No hay plata , which is broadcast on Radio con Vos . And he clarified that they will not intervene in issues related to university autonomy , such as the designation of authorities or the selection of careers and professors: “ That is not within our scope .”
Miguel Blanco, the director of SIGEN
Blanco said that the reports will be available to the public through the mechanisms for access to public information and could be published on the organization's website. "What needs to be done is to look at the faculties," he said. According to him, one of the points that will be under review are the signed agreements . Specifically, whether the work entrusted to the universities is carried out with their own resources or whether, as has happened on some occasions, they are subcontracted to third parties.
"If there is any suspicion of corruption, if there are any symptoms, it will be referred to the Anti-Corruption Office and the Administrative Investigations Prosecutor's Office so that they can follow up on the matter," warned Blanco.
The audit plan comes at a time of maximum tension between Milei's government and university authorities. Both the rectors of the National Interuniversity Council (CIN) , as well as the Trade Union Front of university teachers and the student movement, grouped in the Argentine University Federation (FUA) and the student centers, demand an increase in the budgetary allocations adjusted to the inflation accumulated since December 2023. With the allocation of the resources that Milei allocated to higher education, teaching and non-teaching staff lost 30% of their purchasing power .
Miguel Blanco with the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello
A particular conflict front on this issue concerns the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) . The government chose the authorities of the institution - the largest and most prestigious in the country - as the main adversary in the discussion on the use of resources . In this context, Blanco recalled that in the past there was resistance on the part of the university's management to being audited.
“I know that there have been legal challenges in the past in which the University of Buenos Aires has asked not to be subject to auditing,” commented the director of SIGEN, although he was optimistic about the current situation. “It was the only university where this occurs. Not only did I study at the UBA, but I also went to high school at the Carlos Pellegrini school , and I was also a teacher at both. The UBA is my alma mater and I believe that, as it is the most important university in the country, it should set an example of transparency,” he reflected.
In an interview with Infobae , the vice-rector of the UBA, Emiliano Yacobitti , responded to these criticisms by pointing out that the internal controls of the institution are public . “The only thing the Government did was attack the universities. Society must be reassured that, within the national State, public universities have internal and external audit systems . Externally, the General Audit Office of the Nation has been auditing the universities and will audit them next year, it has already approved the next program. That is important, because it is the control that the universities do not have on themselves.”
