Martina Jaureguy The University of Buenos Aires (UBA) will go to court over the government’s decision to audit the institution via a public body controlled by the Executive Power, which, they state, would violate public university autonomy.
“We want to be audited according to what the law states,” said UBA rector Ricardo Gelpi during a press conference on Monday.
Two weeks ago, Treasury Prosecutor Rodolfo Barra authorized the Executive Power’s internal audit body (SIGEN by its Spanish initials) to audit universities amid a protracted conflict between President Javier Milei’s administration and higher public education. The president has referred to university authorities as “thieves” and claimed universities refuse to be audited.
In the press conference, Gelpi said that they are “not opposed to audits” but that they understand that “SIGEN does not have the jurisdiction to audit universities.”
UBA argues that SIGEN can not audit or control them because it can only audit the executive branch of Argentina’s government. Universities are autonomous and not a part of the executive. “This is not the university’s opinion, it is the law,” the UBA’s authorities said Friday.
Public universities carry out regular internal audits and publish their results to guarantee transparency. Before the decree placing such tasks under SIGEN’s purview, they were often audited by the General National Audit Office (AGN, by its Spanish acronym), an independent regulator answerable to Congress. The AGN is currently auditing faculties from six public universities — including UBA’s Psychology faculty — although its operations are limited because the Lower House has failed to name three of its seven members throughout 2024.
On Monday, shortly after UBA’s press conference, SIGEN notified UBA that plan to begin their audit soon. The notice was delivered to the UBA rectorate’s front desk after they didn’t respond to digital notices, SIGEN said in a press release.
“We want to be audited, and whatever else is necessary, within an institutional framework,” Gelpi said, questioning the legality of audits being carried out by the SIGEN. “It is our understanding that they are not, but we will respect whatever the judiciary decides.”
UBA will also call for national and international independent experts to audit the university’s internal control system to “continue to bring transparent information to Argentine citizens.”
“Our university publishes all its [internal] audits, and they are available on its website because they are public,” added UBA’s Finance Secretary Matías Ruiz during the press conference. “It’s not just our word, this is something anyone can see, including the Executive Branch.”
On Friday, the SIGEN said that auditing public universities would not go against the institutions’ autonomy, a status which protects them from government interference. The SIGEN audited universities until 2022, when the responsibility for audits changed hands following a ruling by former Treasury Prosecutor Carlos Zannini.
In their statement released on Friday, titled “Yes to audits, no to the Executive Power’s intervention on public universities,” UBA said that they requested the AGN to include the university in its audit plan for 2025.
UBA also accused the government of using the “false” idea of lack of accountability to hide an ideological attack against public universities.
“The Executive Power does not lack information about how the university uses its budget,” they said. “What the executive branch wants is to control what is taught in universities, how it is taught, and who it is taught to.”
