On February 27, 2024, Nicaragua’s Ministry of the Interior (MINT) announced the cancellation of the María Guerrero University of Administration, Commerce and Customs Association’s (UNACAD) registration.
On February 3, UNACAD requested a “voluntary dissolution” from the National Council of Universities (CNU) and the MINT. While ostensibly voluntary, UNACAD’s closure fits a broader pattern, ongoing since 2018, in which the government has taken over a number of institutions seen as opposed to the Ortega regime. A report issued in September 2023, an expert body established under the auspices of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found that 27 private Nicaraguan universities had had their legal status revoked and their assets confiscated.
Among the ways that the government has exerted pressure on non-governmental and universities is through the withholding of funding. The voluntary dissolution requests are an attempt to prevent the government from confiscating organizational assets. UNACAD’s request appeared to fit this pattern. The university requested the voluntary dissolution because “low income that the university receives…prevents it from fulfilling the [required] investment program.” As in the other cases, following UNACAD’s dissolution, the MINT requested that the university transfer all academic records, degrees and certificates of graduates, as well as the records of current students, teachers, courses, study plans, enrollment databases and grades to the CNU so that it could relocate them to other state universities.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about the apparent use of budgetary measures to force the closure and government takeover of a higher education institution. State authorities have a responsibility to refrain from encroaching on university autonomy and should not be permitted to impose undue pressure on universities’ academic decisions. Such actions undermine university autonomy and inhibit institutions’ ability to function freely, undermining academic freedom and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://diario.elmundo.sv/el-mundo/regimen-de-ortega-cancela-otras-nueve-asociaciones-religiosas-de-industriales-y-una-universidad
https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2024/02/27/nicaragua-cancela-otras-nueve-asociaciones-y-una-universidad-y-suma-57-cierres-en-lo-que-va-de-ano/
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2024-02/nicaragua-political-crackdown-orgtega-banning-associations.html
https://confidencial.digital/nacion/mint-disuelve-a-la-universidad-de-administracion-comercio-y-aduana/
https://www.articulo66.com/2024/02/27/ministerio-dle-interior-unacad-universidad-cancelacion-nicaragua/