Financiamento das instituições federais de ensino superior sob a hegemonia das políticas neoliberais de austeridade fiscal: o caso da Universidade Federal da Paraíba

Abstract

Contemporary capitalism, characterized by the hegemony of finance capital, is marked by the dispute over public funds in the partition of budget resources between social policies and capital. To favor rentiers, different governments have adjusted public accounts, through austerity economic policies, which result in the submission of a large portion of the population to increasingly difficult living conditions through the dismantling of social rights. In this context, the present study sought to investigate how these policies have been affecting the funding of the Federal University of Paraíba, from 2016 to 2020, by analyzing its budget. This is documentary research with analysis of data extracted from the Management Treasury and UFPB Management Reports (2016–2020) with monetary values adjusted by the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA) for January 2021. It has a qualitative approach, of a descriptive-analytical nature, with a theoretical framework developed from authors who discuss the themes of higher education financing and fiscal austerity. The data showed that, in five years, from 2016 to 2020, the authorized credits (updated allocation) in the LOA for current and capital expenditures, excluding own resources, decreased by 16.02% and 57.16%, respectively. As for the execution, from the expenses settled, the current resources decreased by 23.13%, while capital decreased by 84.83%. Based on the theoretical framework and research results, it is concluded that the decrease in UFPB's discretionary budget is a consequence of fiscal adjustment measures, which were intensified by the limits imposed on primary government spending with Constitutional Amendment 95/2016. Budget blocks and commitment limits hampered the planning and execution of the UFPB budget, in compliance with budgetary and financial programming decrees, bringing risks to the continuity of activities carried out by the university and uncertainties about the future of the institution. It is, therefore, the resistance and the struggle in defense of public higher education through actions that involve various actors of society aiming at changing the direction of government policies so that the right to public, free and quality education is guaranteed to the population.