I have seen a lot of figures and amounts fly by in the past year. But what is it all about?
Keep the following amount in mind: 20 million euros. That's roughly how much the UT has to cut back next year to remain financially healthy. And that includes – painful as they are – painful measures. It is not for nothing that the Executive Board pulled the emergency brake last summer. And it is not for nothing that the Faculty of Science & Technology announced a reorganisation last September.
How many people have to 'leave' to get the UT financially healthy again?
The UT has worked out several scenarios over the past summer. The least unfavourable scenario is based on figures from the last Spring Memorandum. In other words: the financial picture in broad strokes for the next five years. These figures are based on a (declining) student population to a level of about 10 to 11 thousand students. That would mean that about 250 FTEs 'disappear'. But then there is also a kind of perfect storm scenario. It takes into account the gigantic government cutbacks, the introduction of the Balance in Internationalisation Act and the introduction of the long-term studying fine. In that case, 400 to 500 FTEs will disappear.
So how many UT people have to leave will be somewhere between 250 and roughly 500. And it has certainly not yet been said that it will mean forced lay-offs for hundreds of people. The UT still expects that with 'natural turnover' – think of pensions and the expiry of temporary contracts – about 150 employees will leave in the coming years.
This all sounds quite intense. Has the UT been in such a situation before?
L'histoire, se répète. A French-language piece of relativization to say that history is doomed to repeat itself. Even though the UT is a relatively young university, of course it has also had to tighten its belt in the past. In the early 2000s, the UT was also reorganizing and merging. All these changes even resulted in a management crisis. But, as former rector and president of the Executive Board Frans van Vught recently looked back, the UT did come out stronger.
Emeritus professor Albert van den Berg also had words of perspective during his farewell interview: 'There is no large organization that does not have to go through moments like this from time to time. It's like getting sick. You can try to avoid that, but it happens to everyone in their lives.'
And a final bit of perspective: the UT is certainly not the only university that has to make cutbacks. In Utrecht alone, six language programmes are being cancelled.
What can I expect in 2025?
Don't expect the acute austerity measures to go away. The UT is simply not in a luxury position to let go of the reins. In fact, it will not even be possible to achieve the austerity goals this year. In short: minimal use of student assistants, minimal international travel, minimal new vacancies, minimal contract extensions, minimal external hiring. We are emphatically saying minimal here, because the UT still offers room for some exceptions.
Okay, we're in a dark tunnel. But is there any light at the end of that tunnel?
A single glimmer of light, perhaps. After all those recent protests and negotiations, the minister is a little less firm than expected in terms of cutbacks. The UT wants to 'reinvent' itself by 2025. That all remains a bit vague for the time being, but if you read between the lines, education is overhauled and it has to be profitable, the (supporting) organisation becomes smaller and financial supervision becomes tighter.
After all, the expression 'tighten your belt' is there for a reason. The UT must slim down. And as it looks now, that belt needs to be tightened by not one, but several holes.
Want to know more about financial developments? Then read our extensive and in-depth reconstruction of the past year next week.
