UCV will start classes with a 40% reduction in its teaching staff

The Central University of Venezuela (UCV) will start classes next week with 40% less of its teaching staffaccording to information from the institution’s rector, Víctor Rago.

In an interview for Onda La Superestación, the rector of the UCV pointed out that the reduction in the teaching population is due to the salary crisis suffered by all university staffwho has been forced to leave the classroom or take on other jobs in order to survive.

Rago, who denounced the insufficiency of the university budget provided by the national government, pointed out that the salaries of teachers and all UCV staff “are dramatically below what is needed to live with dignity.”

Due to the salary crisis, higher education institutions have lost staff renewal, which has deepened the large generational gap between professors who continue to carry out their activities and the group of young professionals who should be integrated, but who have lost interest in education.

Budget crisis at UCV

Rago indicated that despite the efforts that have been made in recent years to activate more courses in the faculties, “The university does not have the budgetary resources in the appropriate proportion to function properly.”

This situation, which is specifically a result of the national crisis, has led to a reduction in student enrollment at the UCV, which fell from 50,000 students to just over 20,000.

The rector of the Metropolitan University, María Isabel Guinand, said that the private university sector has also been affected by the situation in the country.

He pointed out that in the case of Unimet there has been stability in the number of new students enrolled, noting greater interest in studies in Psychology, Systems Engineering or Chemical Engineering and a loss of interest in careers such as Education and Accounting.