The government has decided to carry out a revision of all the programs the former science ministry funded and terminate those not included in the sectors the Milei administration has marked as strategic. These include sectors like agroindustry, mining, and the knowledge economy. Universities warned that initiatives related to social sciences and the environment will be the most affected.

The decision was made via a resolution signed by Chief of Staff Guillermo Francos that was published in the Official Gazette last Thursday. Given that President Javier Milei eliminated the science and technology ministry upon taking power, its functions fell under Francos as part of the Innovation, Science, and Technology Secretariat.

These programs were mostly carried out in universities and funded by the national government. They included hard sciences, like engineering and biology, as well as social sciences and humanities. The funding was devoted to many activities, from promoting scientific pursuits among young people to building laboratories and buying equipment. It was not devoted to scientific research nor scholarships. 

A source at the secretariat said that all of its programs add up to 70. This office will have the power to terminate them or renegotiate their conditions unilaterally. This means that it will not matter whether the contract is overdue or not, if they have started carrying it out, if they already spent the money, or if they received the money but haven’t spent it. In the latter case, the institution or organization will have to return the money within a month or otherwise be subject to legal actions.

The source pointed to irregularities discovered by the government as a reasoning for the move. For instance, they said that some of these programs were destined for building works but that “nothing had been built.” They added that others are not related to the secretariat’s purview and should have instead been carried out by other ministries. 

“The secretariat also wouldn’t have been able to pay for all of the existing programs.”

According to the text that appeared in the Official Gazette, the decision is in line with the economic emergency included in Milei’s flagship reform bill known as Ley Bases, which was approved by Congress in June. The resolution points to “reducing public spending to reach fiscal balance and control inflation,” eliminating “unnecessary, inconvenient, and non-urgent expenditure.”

The resolution also stated that these programs will be evaluated based on a criteria that mandates developing knowledge and technology destined for “economic growth and the country’s strategic development,” fundamentally in “agroindustry, energy, mining, knowledge economy, innovation, and health.” 

“The government believes social sciences are a waste because they are not a priority for the country,” Víctor Moriñigo, president of the National Inter-University Council (CIN, by its Spanish initials) and president of the San Luis National University, told the Herald.

Moriñigo also said that programs related to climate change will be affected. 

“It is not on the government’s agenda, and the president even believes it is an international lie.” He mentioned that ocean studies carried out by universities is another program that could be eliminated.

According to Moriñigo, this resolution is in line with  a decree issued in December by Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger, which banned direct contracts between the national state and public universities.

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“Universities are no longer a qualified and priority provider, and all consultancy contracts must now go through a bidding process first,” he explained.

Moriñigo acknowledged that the use of direct contracts and lack of oversight may have led to the “wrongful use” of some programs, but pointed out that this decision wipes out everything, including many programs that were useful.

“This government demolishes everything, and now we can’t do this anymore. It would have been good to fix it, instead of eliminating it.” 

He also mentioned that all programs that were directly under the scope of the former Science Ministry were already on stand-by throughout 2024, but with this new resolution they will be permanently eliminated. Those programs included building and renovating labs and research institutes, as well as buying equipment.

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