Yesterday it was announced that two Industrial Design students from the UNCUYO Faculty of Art were awarded by NASA (US Space Agency) for making a model of a house to live on the planet Mars.
Lara Gauna and Mariano Tassin used a 3D printer for their “Mars 3D Home” project, and won the competition so that the most important space organization in the world could call them and make their idea a reality.
Today, Tuesday, meanwhile, the National Interuniversity Council (CIN), which brings together the rectors of all the universities in the country, has called for a “federal march” that hopes to be massive in Buenos Aires and that will be replicated in Mendoza.
It is a demonstration “in defense of education and the state university system,” in the face of the “serious” situation it is experiencing due to the adjustment of the Government of Javier Milei.
The president, for his part, does not fail to point out that universities are places “of political indoctrination”, with barely refutable arguments, especially based on the presence of the ruling parties in recent years.
However, examples like those of Lara and Mariano exist all the time. This has been the case in the history of public universities and also in the present, demonstrating that they can be synonymous with academic quality and the training of great references. Which without a doubt – like the case of these guys – is a source of pride.
.
Millions of professionals from different disciplines come out of Argentine public universities every year who stand out here and in the world, and who have little to do with politics and supposed indoctrination.
In fact, the five Nobel Prize winners that our country has to honor in the world graduated from these universities. Because the lawyer Carlos Saavedra Lamas (Nobel Prize for Peace 1936), Bernardo Houssay (Nobel Prize for Medicine 1947), Federico Leloir (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1970) and César Milstein (Nobel Prize for Medicine 1984), were trained at the University of Buenos Aires ( UBA).
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (Nobel Prize for Peace 1980), did the same from the Faculty of Arts of the National University of La Plata.
But not only the Nobel Prizes are notable. Even René Favaloro himself also graduated from a public university. The cardiologist, who ended his life dramatically in defense of public health policies, studied and received his medical degree at the National University of La Plata, where he also completed his doctorate.
Local highlights
In Mendoza there are two national state universities, Cuyo (UNCUYO) and the Mendoza Regional Faculty of the UTN (National Technological University).
In the first, 101 courses are taken, 68 of which are “undergraduate” (taken in faculties) and 33 are undergraduate (mostly technical courses). It covers disciplines included in the areas of arts, basic and technological sciences, social and human sciences and health.
At UTN, five engineering degrees, five bachelor’s degrees and five technical degrees from different disciplines are studied.
Local public universities also have outstanding graduates. A great example is the world-renowned ophthalmologist Roberto Zaldívar, who trained at UNCUYO.
The neurologist Fabián Cremaschi, a national and international leader in that field, also graduated from Medicine.
In more recent times there are young graduates who stand out. An example is Alexis Atem, who trained in Engineering at UNCUYO and today is a prestigious businessman of solar energy in the country.
Lucas Paganini also graduated from Engineering, who works at NASA and even has an asteroid with his name. Another who came out of that academic unit is the recent graduate in Mechatronics Marcos Bruno, whose training as an astronaut will undoubtedly put the name of our province “very far away.”
These are just a few examples that join those of Lara and Mariano and tens of thousands of students and professionals trained in these universities that – it is true – we all pay for, but which make it clear that it is a beneficial investment.
Undoubtedly, their administrations, arising from university policy, can be questioned (universities are autonomous and periodically elect their authorities democratically). The ideology of those who eventually lead them can also be criticized.
What cannot be questioned is its history and its ability to train great professionals, something that has been happening for centuries. This even opposes the ideals of that “generation of the 80s” that at the end of the 19th century began to outline a successful future for the country and today, Milei himself claims.
Today, we should rather imitate their proposals and bet heavily on the State taking charge of education. This will result in a better future for the country.
Not to hesitate.
