Ten of Mexico’s public universities are on the brink of collapse, staff and government officials have warned, a situation that can only be resolved with emergency funding of 4 billion pesos (US $213.7 million).

The institution at most imminent risk is the Autonomous University of Morelos, which could collapse financially as soon as next week. Rectors at San Nicolás Hidalgo, Michoacán, and Tabasco have warned that their institutions could follow suit “in a matter of days.”

By November, the schools will be falling like dominoes: the universities of Zacatecas, Nayarit and Sinaloa will find themselves in a similar situation, said Antonio Guzmán Fernández, rector of the Zacatecas Autonomous University (UAZ), and Zacatecas congressman Alfredo Femat Bañuelos.

UAZ needs 200 million pesos ($10.7 million) to pay salaries and year-end bonuses for the remainder of 2018, and  a similar amount to pay taxes and social security.

The 4 billion pesos required to stave off the financial collapse can only be allocated by the federal Finance Secretariat whose chief, José Antonio González Anaya, has been summoned by a congressional committee to discuss  the situation on Wednesday.

Source: El Universal (sp)