Education budget
By 2026, the Sheinbaum administration increased public spending on science and education. It is the second largest in almost two decades. In addition, the deputies reallocated an additional 13.3 billion pesos to these sectors. Even so, the resources do not exceed what was exercised in 2015, the year with the highest investment in the sector. And a good part of the money is for scholarships and basic education.
An analysis by México Evalúa maintains that the increase in universities “will not even be enough to recover the budget levels prior to the cut” in 2025. That year, real educational spending decreased as a measure to contain government debt, according to the organization.
From the Sheinbaum administration they plan to contribute with the opening of 330,000 places in the nine headquarters (some soon to be built) of the Rosario Castellanos National University, the Health University and the Benito Juárez Welfare Universities. As well as at the National Polytechnic and the National Technology of Mexico.
The rest of the spaces, about 670,000, will be the responsibility of the other universities. And for this they need resources. Some schools also seek them through calls or alliances with laboratories, such as the Polytechnic University of Pachuca, Hidalgo.
“It is a challenge to talk about resources, at the Pachuca Polytechnic it is a fight that we have always been carrying out. The resource is always limited, always; however, we have to establish these ties,” explains its rector Francisco Hernández.
Scientific and technological development
They also need more financing to meet another objective: develop technological innovations that align with Plan Mexico, the government’s investment attraction strategy.
Higher education institutions adhered to the Cuernavaca Declaration, issued by the Secretariats of Science and Education on December 5. This is a commitment to promote these projects.
Asked at the STS Forum whether the public budget is sufficient in the face of the ambition to turn Mexico into a technological power, the Secretary of Public Education, Mario Delgado, responded: “It is not a budget issue.”
He explained that universities already make “extraordinary innovations,” but they need to become important technological developments and “not be isolated efforts.”
(Photo: Dulce Soto/Political Expansion)
The rector of the UAEM is confident that state universities have the capacity, they just need more support. In them, he states, 60% of national research is carried out.
Barud, the rector of the Morelos Polytechnic, sees another challenge in the technological development that they are asked to achieve. But also an opportunity. They must produce patents, industrial property. If they achieve this, this can strengthen the finances of the universities, generating more of their own resources.
“And that this will benefit our teachers, researchers and students.”
For Felipe Durán, rector of the Polytechnic University of Tulancingo, the government’s will to promote science and innovation can be a watershed for the internal growth of higher schools.
“These efforts can give the universities that are working hard a chance.”
