Milei destruyó la ciencia y la educación pública
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Executive summary
Javier Milei’s first years in office have enacted sweeping budgetary cuts, structural proposals and rhetorical attacks that have sharply weakened Argentina’s public science and higher-education ecosystem, provoking mass protests and warnings from national and international scientists [1] [2] [3]. Whether these actions amount to “destroying” public science and education depends on definitions and timeframe: reporting shows severe contraction, funding collapses and policy shifts that risk long-term damage, but not yet the complete disappearance of public institutions [4] [1].
1. Budgetary “chainsaw” and measurable cuts
The administration carried out a dramatic fiscal contraction that the press framed as a “chainsaw” to the state, including a roughly 30% reduction in the federal budget that hit education, science and university funding especially hard, and official bodies warning that investment in science and technology is at its lowest since 1983 [1]. Independent reporting and union claims document acute income losses for national universities — one investigation states the 66 national universities faced a 68% reduction in income — and public protests by thousands of academics and students in response to salary erosion and program cuts [3] [2].
2. Researcher exodus, enrollment drops and grassroots alarm
Scholarly analyses and academic outlets report a fall in university enrollments and an exodus of highly skilled researchers leaving Argentina, alongside wages for research staff reported as hovering near or below the poverty line, a situation that universities and national networks describe as producing an unprecedented migration of scientific talent [4] [2] [5]. Mass mobilizations and street protests by students and faculty have been a sustained response to these material changes, signalling broad sectoral alarm [6] [2].
3. Policy shifts: privatization, vouchers and curriculum decentralization
Milei’s proposals and omnibus legislative initiatives aim to shrink the state’s role in education, including talk of cutting subsidies, introducing voucher-like schemes, allowing fees for non-resident students, and abandoning a unified national curriculum in favor of provincial control — measures the government argues will increase parental choice and reduce central bureaucracy while critics say undermine the free public nature of Argentine higher education [7] [8] [9].
4. Political rhetoric and institutional hostility toward academia
The president’s public denunciations of “so-called scientists and intellectuals” and explicit framing of universities as part of a corrupt “political caste” have deepened mistrust between the executive and academic communities, and have been cited in accounts of increased online harassment and institutional sidelining of grants and projects despite available international funds [5] [2]. International voices — including Nobel laureates and scientific academies — have publicly urged preservation of science funding, underscoring the reputational stakes [2].
5. Defenders of the reforms and stated fiscal rationale
Proponents — including some commentators and international conservative allies — applaud the administration’s fiscal judiciousness and rapid reduction of deficits, framing cuts as necessary to tame hyperinflation and reform an inefficient state; conservative conferences have celebrated Milei’s actions as a template for shrinking government [10]. IMF staff reportedly cautioned that sustaining progress requires improving the quality of fiscal adjustment, pointing to the political economy trade-offs in rapid retrenchment [6].
6. Verdict, nuance and limits of current reporting
The available reporting presents a picture of severe dismantling: major budget reductions, program suspensions, wage collapse, declining enrollments and researcher departures that together constitute systemic harm to public science and higher education [1] [3] [4]. However, sources also show continuing institutional resistance (legislative attempts to guarantee university financing) and note that schooling funding often sits at the provincial level, which tempers blanket claims of total destruction; the long-term outcome hinges on policy reversals, judicial and legislative checks, and whether international or provincial buffers can mitigate the cuts [3] [11]. Reporting limitations prevent a categorical claim that Milei has “destroyed” public science and education in absolute terms today, but the evidence confirms deep, likely long-lasting damage that places Argentina’s historic public-university and research strengths at acute risk [2] [1].