Legal reforms signal death of university autonomy – Expert

Nicaragua’s National Assembly, controlled by the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime, has enacted an unchallenged reform to laws 89 and 582 – respectively, the law of Autonomy for Institutions of Higher Education, and the General Education Law. The changes are so drastic that specialists in the field call it “a death certificate for the country’s university autonomy”, reports Havana Times.

The reform was approved on 30 November, with all 91 deputies voting in favour. It transforms the administrative model for higher education in Nicaragua, handing over to the National Council of Universities (CNU) the legal authority to manage the universities in accordance with the interests of the executive branch.

In the structural framework of the reform, the regime not only reorganised the CNU structure, but also practically “transformed it into a ministry of higher education”, noted Nicaraguan academic Ernesto Medina. He recalled that the reforms enacted at the beginning of the year gave the CNU “the role of comptroller of the universities”. Such a role isn’t consistent with the principle of university autonomy, and now, “instead of putting it in order, they made it worse”. Hence, he expressed, the current reform is like “the death certificate for university autonomy in Nicaragua”.
Full report on the Havana Times site