Judicial Setback for Milei Government Over University Funding Cuts

Argentina's Supreme Court has delivered a significant blow to President Javier Milei's austerity measures, upholding a lower court's order that compels his government to adhere to the university financing law. The nation's highest court rejected an extraordinary appeal filed by the Executive Branch, reinforcing a preventive measure that requires the government to comply with the law passed by Congress.

The ruling means the government must implement salary updates for university faculty dating back to December 2023 and reinstate student scholarships that had been discontinued. The law, originally approved by Congress in August 2025 and later ratified by Parliament in October of the previous year after Milei's veto, had been consistently ignored by the Executive.

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It was a long and difficult road.

This judicial decision aims to settle a conflict that has simmered for over two years between the government and public universities, a dispute that has sparked numerous large-scale protests advocating for increased funding for higher education. Emiliano Yacobitti, vice-rector of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), celebrated the outcome, stating on X that society "never gave up on defending the public university as the main engine of social mobility."

The government had previously attempted to condition the law's implementation on Congress securing the necessary funding, a move challenged in court. While a separate case is ongoing to determine the constitutionality of that decree, Thursday's Supreme Court ruling mandates compliance with the university financing law until the broader issue is resolved. This comes after the Secretariat of Education proposed a 24.33% salary increase for teachers and a restoration of operating expense funds in early June, which unions argued was insufficient given a reported 40% salary drop over the past two years.

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never gave up on defending the public university as the main engine of social mobility.