80 to 100 jobs to be lost at University Corporate Offices

The University Corporate Offices must save around 15 million euros in 2025, 2026 and 2027. According to the Executive Board, which is responsible for the department, these savings can only be achieved by cutting back on services to the rest of the university, eliminating tasks, working more efficiently, relocating processes and reducing costs. As a result, jobs will change or disappear over the next three years.

In total, this concerns 80 to 100 full-time jobs. However, more people will be affected because many of the department's 1,000 or so employees work part-time. Most of the positions set to disappear are from the corporate offices' large departments: Campus & Facilities, IT and the Student & Academic Affairs Office.

The reorganisation plan will be further elaborated over the next few months, after which it will be clear which measures will take effect shortly and which will take effect later, within three years. It will also be clear exactly how many jobs will be made redundant in the next three years, when those jobs will disappear, who will be affected, and what measures will be necessary. The employees will be informed in December or January.

According to President of the Executive Board, Anton Pijpers, the reorganisation is painful but unavoidable. The university is receiving less government funding due to cuts in the higher education budget and declining student numbers. It is also facing higher costs due to price increases. All faculties and services must therefore save money. This year, UU must save a total of around 35 million euros, rising to 70 or 80 million in 2029.

42 measures
A working group was set up last year to help define how best to save money in the University Corporate Offices. This group mapped out the activities and costs of the eight departments within the offices, which resulted in 42 cost-cutting measures (only accessible to employees with a Solis ID). The first step was investigating which costs could be cut, such as discontinuing the contribution to the Sonnenborgh Observatory and the Utrecht Excellent Scholarships programme. The courses offered by the Utrecht Summer School will also become more expensive to cover their costs, and an increase in institutional tuition fees for students from outside the European Union is being considered.

When it comes to austerity measures, options include reducing the choice of laptops and IT applications, reducing the number of management positions, reducing training costs and merging service desks.

They also investigated how the corporate offices could work more efficiently and which tasks could be eliminated, resulting in departments being merged and work being transferred or clustered within the offices. However, they have also considered whether tasks or costs could be transferred to faculties. Discussions were held about the possibility of faculties paying for data storage costs, for example.

Timeline
These changes will have consequences for the employees of the Corporate Offices. Some may be asked to work elsewhere or given different tasks within the corporate offices or the rest of the university, while others will be made redundant. Anton Pijpers regrets the measures. ‘Everyone is working hard for our university, so the news about job losses comes as a blow.’ He says that the Executive Board wants to provide employees with clarity about the consequences of the reorganisation as soon as possible. ‘We will continue to develop the reorganisation plan in the coming months.’

The plans will be discussed at the meeting with the Service Council on July 10. The reorganisation plan must be ready in September and will then be submitted to the Service Council. The Executive Board wants to have a final plan by November, after which it will be discussed in the Local Consultation to decide on a social plan, a document that will determine how employees will be assisted in finding new jobs and what the severance pay will be, among other things. In December or January, employees will be informed about what will happen to their jobs. The new organisation is scheduled to start on  February 1.

The budget cuts at the University Corporate Offices are part of a larger package of measures aimed at getting Utrecht University's finances in order in response to severe cuts in higher education funding, declining student numbers and higher costs due to inflation. UU already has to cut 35 million euros this year, and that amount is expected to rise to 70 or 80 million by 2029.