The rector of the National University of Comahue, Beatriz Gentile, took office in July 2022 as head of the house of higher studies. In these first eight months of management, the transition to face-to-face was made, following the pandemic. 2023 is thought of as “a laboratory year” and one of the concerns is the budget, since the approved amount was affected by inflation.
Gentile, in dialogue with Río Negro, listed some objectives proposed from the management for this year. One of the challenges mentioned that it is “Work hard in the Distance Education System and also in bimodal education.” He said that it was already raised in the Superior Council.
«We believe that there is a transition to bimodal forms, something that the National Interuniversity Council (CIN) is discussing at the national level. 2023 is a year precisely to think regarding it and elaborate the form of these transitions, the possibilities of careers that can be distance, blended, and what sections and what careers these trajectories might have. It is all part of the challenges that we have set ourselves for this year”, he pointed out.
The rector added that two other important objectives for 2023 were proposed from the leadership.
“This year may be for Unco, using a metaphor, a ‘laboratory year‘, in the sense that it helps us to think regarding and elaborate the projects for precisely – as we planned for March 2024 – to take to the University Assembly and there propose the great axes and the new lines of a new university, thinking regarding it for the next 50 years. Update the statute, the careers, the academic units”exposed.
The other goal, also linked, is what “It does to the organic structure, which has already begun to be discussed and basically has to do with putting the internal organization of the university more in tune with the changes that have been taking place”.
The latter explained that it is a job that involves the entire university community. He pointed out that it is a process “that is a great opportunity not only to think and write regarding the future of the University of Comahue, but also to collectively build what we think and want for the next university.”
Gentile said that when he took office in July 2022, he was going back to face-to-face. “Something that he helped was that it was possible to have hybrid classrooms through the national plan that the Ministry of Education sent to national universities.”
He maintained that a challenge was how some building improvements were faced, above all, in what has to do with student residences, dining room, which came as demands, “In addition to circumventing at that time the regulation of the quotas that the Nation owed budgetarily,” he said.
One of the concerns in this 2023 has to do with the budget for the university. There is an approved item of 14,000 million pesos. “90-92% of the budget is for payment of salaries, with which we have a very small part left for scholarships and operations,” observed Gentile.
“Although Congress approved the original proposal that the universities had made, that is, there were no budget cuts as in other years, but the calculation had been made in June, the outgoing management had done it, and they were with a inflation average around 60%, but later it was higher, and therefore it is a budget that we keep with the promise of the ministry to update the items”, he explained.
He added that the Ministry of Economy committed to a contribution of 100 billion more for all universities, “but above all it is being seen that an important portion can be obtained for Comahue, which allows us to correct the gap that was raised with the inflation”.
He clarified that what is funds for works, goes the other way. At the beginning of March, a visit was received from “technicians who have to do with those who finance university works. They came to see our work in Facias, which had already begun its management in Crisafulli, and we have at least the intention of finishing it by August of this year, to inaugurate it. And the possibility of approving the construction of the Faculty of Languages in Roca, which is the only one that does not have its own building, was also discussed. With a lot of expectations because someone from university works had not come for a long time, ”he said.
He added that the expansion of classrooms in Engineering, in Neuquén, and the expansion of classrooms in Curza, in Río Negro, are also on the agenda. In addition, works for the dining room and library, in Bariloche.
“Hopefully we can have the approval this year, because the works would start next year. Because before there is a bidding period. We want them to be approved in 2023 because we don’t want them to change us because of the elections, ”he said.
The rector recapitulated that the first part of the management “was to get organized, get to know each other, and make a diagnosis of the priorities once more, and work on that. By the end of the year, it was possible to channel the budget scheme for 2023”. She explained that the Nation “caught up” with the fees it owed. She added that at the end of last year 18 million might be made available to fix the student residences from the headquarters of the faculties that are in Río Negro. She added that in Neuquén residences it might be done with a contribution made by the Neuquén Legislature.
Regarding the Pedco platform, he indicated: “Every year investments are made in servers and in what concerns the systems. It has improved a lot, but it is still not enough, so work continues, ”he said.
And he added: “You have to take into account that between 2020 and 2021 the system was saturated. No university was prepared to move everything to virtuality. There, many shortages, absences, issues that had to be fixed, and both in 2022 and this year, part of the budget has already been invested for what it does to the community.
Commitment to purchase better equipment for Communication
One of the main claims during 2022 came from the Social Communication career at the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences (Fadecs). Students and teachers denounced the building failures, and that the equipment that exists is obsolete and that there are missing.
“They presented us with the situation of the race. It was something that surprised me a lot because it is a career that they stated that many years ago they did not have any type of contribution or renewals, “said the rector.
He maintained regarding the demands in the Communication career, that it is a “serious problem that was dragging on.”
In July 2022, the Fadecs Board of Directors declared a “building and technological emergency”.
“There are 9 million pesos planned that have to do with one of the budgets for the purchase of Science and Technology equipment, financed by the Nation, to start buying the equipment for the Communication degree. This financing has not yet reached us in cash, if it is approved by the Nation. Also this year, we are looking to make some kind of effort with our own budget, to see if, in addition to those 9 million, start buying now, as a priority, part of that list that we had been asked for since the race”, the media reported. rector.
“We are confident that this year we will have the possibility of buying equipment with our own budget and we are managing to see when the Science and Technology item comes out, for the purchase of this material. It was a claim that we attended and also the Superior Council, because it makes the reality of a career that should have been paid attention to at one time. But hey, it’s up to us now and the commitment is there, ”he assured.
More in Computer Science and Engineering, less in Medicine
The data at the beginning of 2023 show that, compared to the previous year, enrollments in Engineering and in Computer Science-related careers increased, but Psychology and Medicine have decreased.
Meanwhile, Law, Accounting and Administration have remained similar in the last three years. This was revealed by the information provided by the Academic Secretariat of the National University of Comahue.
In addition, they pointed out that in most of the Faculty and Bachelor’s Degrees (except Physical Education) the number of enrollees varies between 30 and 80.
As previously indicated, a growth in the number of annotations was registered in the Faculty of Informatics. Between the Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and the Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems, there were 400 enrollees. The process is over. In 2022, the number was 351 registered.
Another case was in engineering courses (civil, petroleum, chemical, mechanical, electrical, and electronic) that are taught at the Neuquén campus. Until March 10, there were 1,243 pre-registered and 821 registered. The ones with the most entries are Petroleum (226) and Chemical Engineering (164 registered).
All this marks an increase in the Faculty of Engineering, taking into account that the total number of enrollees in 2021 was 595 people and in 2022, 770 enrollees.
On the other hand, in Psychology there was a decrease in the number of entries. There are 588 registered, in 2023. In 2021, the number was 746, and in 2022, it reached 900 registered.
A similar case occurred in the Faculty of Medical Sciences. In the Medicine career, 624 people were enrolled, with higher values in 2021 (993) and in 2022 (792).
As regards graduates during 2022, a total of 1,129 undergraduate and 107 postgraduate degrees were awarded, among the three collations. Most were women (64.97%), and men (35.03%).
The Academic Units that exceeded 100 degrees were Educational Sciences (202), the Atlantic Zone Regional University Center (145), the Faculty of Environmental and Health Sciences (132), the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences (130) and the Faculty of Engineering (102).
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