U.S. Congressman Javier Garcia, will leverage the parliamentary body of today to introduce a new bill to create a new public university in the country.
As explained to the legislature, the project is based on a proposal of 2007, which received full support from the National Party, but in the present circumstances, with the future president of the Republic, José Mujica, saying publicly he would support this type initiatives, "political conditions are ripe" for approval.
Garcia decided to present the project to the latest developments related to the University of the Republic (UdelaR), which forbade the teaching of courses in the Faculty of Medicine at Salto. "UDELAR can not claim a monopoly on higher education on Montevideo nor make use of that monopoly," the deputy said. Among the arguments the nationalist leader referred, is the fact that the creation of a university within, generates "social justice". For Garcia it is a "favorable geographical decentralization aimed not only to bridge differences and distances, with the ultimate goal of ensuring equitable access to high levels of education but also to stimulate productive forces and activities located outside the capital, taking the technological and cultural activities within the country, seeking to encourage innovation and local development as a factor in national development, "according to arguments of the bill.

(www.elpais.com.uy, 16 February 2010)