O processo de resiliência financeira nas universidades federais frente aos cortes orçamentários ; The process of financial resilience in federal universities in the face of budget cuts

Brazilian federal universities, as entities of indirect administration, are subject to the budget allocation criteria established by the Federal Government due to their dependency on Union resources and limited capacity to generate their own funds. Since 2006, there has been a registered reduction in financial resources allocated to these institutions, because of budget cuts and/or contingencies, causing difficulties in maintaining and continuing higher education services. In times of financial crisis, the perspective of governmental financial resilience has been used as a theoretical discussion basis, along with the Cutback Management Theory, to highlight how public institutions can anticipate, absorb, and react to financial structure shocks over time. Considering the relevance of federal universities and the financial challenges reported in recent years, this research aimed to investigate the association of vulnerability factors and the coping capacity of these public institutions amid financial crises triggered by budget cuts imposed by the Federal Government. Additionally, analyses of the federal budget execution of the resources distributed to Brazilian public agencies, focusing on the Ministry of Education and the budget execution of federal universities, were conducted for the period from 2000 to 2023, using data collected from the Annual Budget Laws and the Integrated Planning and Budget System. Among the findings, the budget rigidity of federal universities and their dependence on Union resources, as variables related to the vulnerability dimension of these institutions, revealed a significant relationship with the variability of other current expenses and investment expenditures during periods marked by budget mitigations. As most of the budges of federal universities are committed to mandatory expenses (salaries and charges), these institutions face difficulties in making generalized cuts, directing them mainly to capital expenses (investments) to react to the crisis faced. It was also found that the ...