«I think that, at this moment, the University of Algarve (UAlg) and the region are dating, a lot, which is important», considered António Branco. The approximation to the living forces of the Algarve of the institution that he directed for the last four years is one of the legacies that the dean of UAlg believes he will leave behind, coupled with the increase in the number of recruited students and the achievement of a balanced budget.
António Branco took stock of the four years he spent at the head of the University of the Algarve, as rector of the institution, in an interview with Sul Informação and to Rádio Universitária do Algarve RUA FM.
This week's Impressões program, which was recorded last Friday, will air for the first time today, November 15th, at 19:00 pm (102.7 FM), with repetition on Saturday at 12:00 pm. It will also be available on RUA FM's Mixcloud.
Shortly after assuming the position of rector, António Branco insisted on making a tour of the Algarve and visiting all the Algarve's municipalities. And everything to ensure the health of the “marriage” between the University of Algarve and the region.
«Let me use a metaphor that I like a lot: that of marriage. Marriages that are many years old often need to be renewed. In other words, husband and wife have to find a way to get back together. Because if they don't, it could happen that the marriage becomes meaningless», he framed.
Despite having no doubts that the marriage between the university and the Algarve is "solid", António Branco felt that there was a need to "go back to dating".
“I wasn't even expecting results in the short term, as the most important thing in these cases is the medium/long term. That was exactly my spirit and I think, from this point of view, it was totally achieved», he said.
This turns out to be a good example of what António Branco did as rector. If, on the one hand, priority was given to action, to face pressing problems such as UAlg's financial situation and the decrease in the capacity to recruit students, there was also space for "the word", to be directed within the institution, either went abroad.
"A very important objective was to find a way to go through what I already knew would probably be one of the worst moments in the university's history, in budgetary terms, without causing any shocks in the life of the institution and in its functioning, and without crossing what I called, from the first minute, red lines», he explained.
These limits were, moreover, "clearly exposed to the members of the General Council when I applied" and were based on two main principles:
“At no time, due to the need to contain expenses, take measures that would call into question the dignity of UAlg workers and, in particular, make the component of precariousness in work that already existed within the university more precarious”.
On the other hand, António Branco stipulated, at the outset, that «it would not be possible, at any time, to count on the financing of the Social Action Services, which enjoyed good financial health, to solve current problems at the university».
“This, of course, is based on a political and ideological point of view, on my vision of the world. I was fully accompanied by the entire rectory team and we managed not to cross any red line».
And that is not why UAlg failed to achieve fiscal consolidation. According to António Branco, in 2015, the Algarve university needed “a reinforcement of 1,8 million euros” from the State, to balance the exercise. “In 2016, we needed a boost of half a million euros. This year, we will not need any reinforcement, thanks to another year of great rigor in management», he assured.
To get here, it was necessary to make some sacrifices. “The level of expenditure restraint we've had at the university in these four years is unsustainable for much longer. I have said this publicly. This implied that everything related to the conservation of equipment and buildings has no budgetary scope to be dealt with, except in emergency situations. And this is a serious problem!», he considered.
Another consequence of the financial difficulties was the fact that UAlg “did not prevent workers from leaving”. “We never asked anyone to leave, but when people wanted to leave, this had an effect on curbing personnel expenses, which is the highest item. We do not prevent this and, in this way, we are allowing the reduction of staff, namely non-teaching staff, and we know that we are creating situations of great difficulties in some sectors of the university», he explained.
“Another price we are paying for the level of budgetary containment and consolidation we have achieved is the lack of investment. We practically do not have the means to do this. And investment is very important, not only for the renewal of certain areas of activity of the institution, but even to help the local economy, because public investment also has this function”, he added.
This puts António Branco in a dilemma. On the one hand, he is "satisfied that we were able to consolidate UAlg's budget". "But I leave very concerned about the consequences of this degree of fiscal consolidation," countered the rector.
The fact is that, despite the successes, «the problem is still not resolved», something that, for António Branco, «would not be possible to do in a four-year cycle, nor is it resolved only by the action of the university».
Another of the most important objectives «was trying to stop the huge drop in the number of students that was happening at the University and in the country». “It was extremely difficult to do this, as there are many factors external to the university and its activity that influence the recruitment indicator and the overall number of students, but we did it”, he explained.
“And we did it in two ways. Firstly, because, in recent years, the level of recruitment in the national competition for access to Higher Education began to rise, in general, always above the national average. But we knew this wasn't enough. We had an extraordinary instrument, which was the new Statute of the International Student, on which we invested with great strength and which gave extraordinary results. In three years we went from an initial recruitment of 50 students to more than 200 students this year alone», recalled António Branco.
"Right now, we have about 350 international students, attending full-time undergraduate degrees."
Two factors that allowed UAlg, «on the one hand, to stop the fall, and on the other, to achieve that in 2017, the total number of students increased».
«The third major objective I had, and which I think I managed to accomplish, was to find a way, through action and word, to deepen a principle that is inscribed in the UAlg statutes – and which for me is very important and natural – which is the parity between the university and polytechnic subsystems», said the UAlg rector.
This is something “that has been done for a long time”, but, for António Branco, “the action and words of a rector can give clear signals to the institution of how this parity can be deepened”.
Having achieved these goals is, moreover, one of the reasons given by the current dean for not re-applying for the position. “When I took stock of the goals I had set myself, I considered that some of the main ones had already been achieved. I also felt that I had conditions not to re-apply, because that was already guaranteed», he said.
But, «the main reasons were personal». “An assessment of the last cycle of my life, which was actually an eight-year cycle. Because, before taking up the position of dean, I was director of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for four years. And I considered that the time had come to close this cycle and start a new one, more dedicated to research and teaching», he explained.
This was just one of the aspects addressed by António Branco in the interview given to Sul Informação and to RUA FM, which will be the subject of articles that our newspaper will publish in the next few days.
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