Save Yourself Who Can: resource cuts and financial resilience in a federal higher education institution

Abstract

Objective: This study addresses financial resilience in Federal Institutions of Higher Education (IFES), in the midst of a scenario of decrease and blockages in their budgets. Financial resilience manifests itself through patterns, which are, in free translation: self-regulators, constrained adapters, reactive adapters, contented fatalists and powerless fatalists. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the response pattern of a Federal Institution of Higher Education (IFES) in a scenario of financial shocks.

Method and approach: Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with university managers.

Main results: From the responses of the managers and the analyzed documents, it was noticed that after the financial shocks that occurred, shaking the University's budget system, the managers adopted measures to deal with these problems, presenting the pattern of resilience framed as reactive adapters. Among the measures adopted are the resizing of contracts, the restructuring of the financial execution model of budget planning and the adoption of mechanisms for raising additional funds with external partnerships.

Contributions: The resilient actions listed here can be applied by other IFES in order to understand, prevent and overcome financial shocks similar to those of the IFES object of this study.

Originality and relevance: With this study it will be possible to identify the response pattern that an Education Institution has in relation to the financial shocks that it is submitted.