Vice-rector: Rio government's default on payments to UERJ reaches R$ 36 million.
The Vice-Rector of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj), Tânia de Castro Netto, reported that the state government's default with the university is R$ 36 million; classes for the second semester of 2016 were expected to begin this Monday (16), but the Uerj rectorate is unable to function as a result of the lack of funds for the institution's maintenance, the lack of payment of salaries to employees and scholarships for students.
Rio 247 - The vice-rector of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj), Tânia de Castro Netto, informed, this Monday (16), that the state government's default with the university is R$ 36 million. The forecast was that classes for the second semester of 2016 would start this Monday (16), but the Uerj rectorate is unable to function as a result of the lack of transfer of funds for the maintenance of the institution, the lack of payment of salaries of employees and scholarships for students.
This week, there will be a new meeting that could postpone the return to classes. According to the vice-rector, the university has nine thousand students in undergraduate, postgraduate, and application college programs. “The state's arrears to the university have already reached R$ 360 million. We don't have the right to be irresponsible; we have a very noble mission. We cannot afford to condone the irresponsibility of the state of Rio de Janeiro. If there are no transfers, if the payments are not made, it will be impossible to reopen,” Tânia stated to Bom Dia Rio.
“We can’t just think that UERJ has undergraduate and graduate students. We have a model application school, and this also impacts elementary and high school students, and the damage there is much greater,” he added.
One of the consequences of the economic crisis affecting the university is the reduction in the number of applicants for the last entrance exam and the increase in transfer requests. "There was a reduction in the number of applications, but the saddest thing is the transfer requests, because since we are still going to start 2016.2, which is the second semester of 2016, students don't want to wait and many are requesting transfers, something that has never happened before," he said.