O processo de resiliência financeira nas universidades federais frente aos cortes orçamentários

Abstract

Brazilian federal universities, as entities of indirect administration, are subject to the budget allocation criteria established by the Federal Government due to their dependency on Union resources and limited capacity to generate their own funds. Since 2006, there has been a registered reduction in financial resources allocated to these institutions, because of budget cuts and/or contingencies, causing difficulties in maintaining and continuing higher education services. In times of financial crisis, the perspective of governmental financial resilience has been used as a theoretical discussion basis, along with the Cutback Management Theory, to highlight how public institutions can anticipate, absorb, and react to financial structure shocks over time. Considering the relevance of federal universities and the financial challenges reported in recent years, this research aimed to investigate the association of vulnerability factors and the coping capacity of these public institutions amid financial crises triggered by budget cuts imposed by the Federal Government. Additionally, analyses of the federal budget execution of the resources distributed to Brazilian public agencies, focusing on the Ministry of Education and the budget execution of federal universities, were conducted for the period from 2000 to 2023, using data collected from the Annual Budget Laws and the Integrated Planning and Budget System. Among the findings, the budget rigidity of federal universities and their dependence on Union resources, as variables related to the vulnerability dimension of these institutions, revealed a significant relationship with the variability of other current expenses and investment expenditures during periods marked by budget mitigations. As most of the budges of federal universities are committed to mandatory expenses (salaries and charges), these institutions face difficulties in making generalized cuts, directing them mainly to capital expenses (investments) to react to the crisis faced. It was also found that the variations provided in the federal budget laws regarding the distribution to the main public bodies must be directly related to the political and economic events inherent to each period. The allocation of resources to public debt payment and the Ministry of Social Security has been a priority for the Union. However, a percentage increase in the budget allocated to the Ministry of Education (MEC) was observed from 2005, reaching 3.6% of the federal budget in 2023, whose execution showed a strong correlation with the total distributed budget, with no indication that other bodies might be benefiting from the cuts made in education. However, a reduction in the annual percentage allocated by the MEC to federal universities was identified from 2007, in contrast to the allocation of resources to other budgetary units, impacting mainly investment expenses. Finally, it is believed that the practical discoveries and theoretical reflections resulting from this study can foster an institutional and social debate about the importance of keeping Brazilian federal universities fully operational, with adequate resources to ensure the quality of services offered.