Thousands protest for university funding in Buenos Aires — Buenos Aires Times
In Buenos Aires and other cities across Argentina, thousands of students and teachers took to the streets, demanding that the government of President Javier Milei immediately implement the law on updating funding for public universities. It was the fifth nationwide Federal March protest since Milei took office in December 2023, Buenos Aires Times reports.
By noon, thousands of people with signs from student associations and teachers’ unions had gathered near Congress in the Argentine capital. Participants demanded implementation of the law, higher salaries for teachers, increased student grants and spending on university operations.
Salary and budget demands
The law provides for indexing teachers’ salaries to inflation from December 2023, restoring student grants and funding the current needs of universities. According to the National Centre for Economic Research at the University of Buenos Aires, university funding fell by 40.5% in real terms in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2023.
Laura Carboni, general secretary of the AGD-UBA union, said that the government had not paid university teachers the 32% salary increase stipulated by law. According to her, in October, a junior teacher working part-time received a base gross salary of 561,659 pesos, although under the law it should have amounted to 741,111 pesos.
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The source also cites data showing that cumulative inflation since the Milei administration took office reached 344.15%, while teachers’ salaries rose by 236.6%. Carboni claims that more than 1,200 teachers and researchers have left the University of Buenos Aires.
Dispute over the law
Argentina’s Congress approved the university funding law in August 2025, but Milei vetoed it. In October, lawmakers overrode the veto, but the executive branch, according to the publication, has still not signed the document. Courts, including the Supreme Court in June, ordered the government to make the payments provided for by law.
Presidential spokesperson Adrián Ravier said that the law is not being ignored, but that its implementation has been suspended pending a court challenge. The Milei administration insists that the law does not identify sources of the required funding and contradicts its policy of maintaining a balanced budget.
The protest was supported by opposition parties, trade unions, civil society organizations and pensioners. The ATE public servants’ union announced a 24-hour strike on the day of the march.
