Number of compulsory redundancies at Corporate Offices reduced to five people

The past few months have been nerve-racking and confusing for the 1,364 employees of the University Corporate Offices (also known as its Dutch acronym, UBD). They were sent into the summer break with the message that eighty to one hundred full-time jobs would be axed from their department over the next three years. Compulsory redundancies were not ruled out as downsizing was necessary.

After the summer, the forecast was that fifteen to twenty UBD employees would be made redundant. In the draft reorganisation plan (Solis ID required, Ed.), published in October, the number of redundancies appears to have been reduced to twelve. Almost all affected employees worked for the Student & Academic Affairs Office (Dutch acronym: SO&O). 

Since then, the number of full-time jobs that will disappear over the next three years has been adjusted to 76.3, which reduces the number of people to be made redundant to five. This is because the faculties and the University Library (UB) are providing financial support to prevent two major interventions.

Skills Lab and Education for Professionals
The Skills Lab can continue to exist because the University Library and the faculties believe that this service, which offers extra-curricular support for students, is necessary at a central level. At present, not every programme offers all the support that the Skills Lab provides, such as help with organising one's studies and improving writing assignments.

The University Library and the faculties are now covering the costs of maintaining the Skills Lab in its current form for at least the next three years. The three employees who were threatened with dismissal are therefore assured of their jobs for the next few years.

The number of staff threatened with redundancy at Education for Professionals has been reduced from five to one. Here too, the faculties are coming to the rescue. Education for Professionals was originally set up as a university programme that develops and ministers courses to people who work at the higher professional education level, and would like to refresh or expand their knowledge. As of 1 January, the programme will cease to exist and become a fully faculty-based affair. An additional point is that this type of education may no longer be funded by public funds, which was the reason the Executive Board scrapped central support.

However, the faculties would like the university to continue funding expenses such as student enrolment, course fees, and student recruitment communications. It has now been agreed that the faculties will pay for central support from the money they earn from providing this type of education. Central support will be streamlined, however, meaning that one employee will lose their job instead of five.

The three redundancies at International Affairs and the one redundancy at the Centre for Academic Teaching & Learning (CAT) cannot be avoided.

Cost savings achieved, justification for the measures
The reorganisation is expected to achieve cost savings of 14 to 16 million euros by 2026. The eight UBD directorates have already saved a significant amount of money this year, partly by not filling vacancies and already starting to implement some of the 42 cost-cutting measures established by the Executive Board. This has already saved more than 4.3 million euros in 2025.

In 2026, the Corporate Offices will have to cut a further 9.6 million euros. The continued implementation of the 42 cost-cutting measures will save 8 million euros. The remaining 1.6 million euros will be covered by a windfall from The Hague.

After several meetings of the Employees' Consultative Body and the University Council, the board finally presented a justification for the measures, as council members had repeatedly requested. UU Vice President Margot van der Starre explained that UU chose measures to increase efficiency and save money in the short term. According to her, the main criterion was: “What do we need to have and what is nice to have?”

For example, she mentioned the Utrecht Education Incentive Fund, which supports educational innovation and lecturers' professional development. "We are not cancelling it, but we are doing less.' Some initiatives overlap with projects running elsewhere within the university, which means savings can be made at UBD, Van der Starre says.

The draft reorganisation plan outlines how the measures will affect the various departments. It explains how they will carry out their tasks with fewer people and specifies which activities will continue and which will not. It also shows how certain initiatives can be continued or used to increase income.

The Employees Consultative Body and the University Council are concerned
The Workers' Council and the University Council considered several measures painful or worrying, such as making Utrecht Summer School cost-effective, reducing the training budget for staff, and cutting back on European partnerships. The council members also wanted the board to provide an explanation about the introduction of registration fees for international students, the reduction of scholarship programmes, the downsizing of the International Affairs team, and the cuts to the Sustainability Office.

According to the council members, the Executive Board is raising barriers by making Utrecht Summer School more expensive, charging international students registration fees, and no longer offering scholarships to Master's students from outside the European Union. They also wonder what impact the measures will have on the ambitions set out in the Strategic Plan, such as achieving the sustainability goals.

According to the Executive Board, choices have to be made, even if they are painful. Utrecht Summer School is currently operating at a loss, and the board believes that international students will not be deterred by registration fees. The Excellence Scholarship was considered “nice to have”.

According to the board members, UU's ambitions are no less ambitious. Internationalisation remains important, but the focus will be on attracting European funding. Sustainability also remains a high priority, but UU is exploring whether some initiatives can be financed differently. As for reducing the cost of education, this has not been entirely successful so far.

At the time of the Workers' Council and University Council meetings, it was already clear that the Executive Board was in talks with faculties about the Skills Lab and Education for Professionals. The University Council opposed the abolition of the Skills Lab. It was the only part of the UBD measures on which the council had advisory rights.

Austerity measures at Utrecht University 
The cutbacks at UBD are part of the overall austerity measures affecting Utrecht University. This year, UU has already had to reduce spending by 35 million. This will increase to 70-80 million in 2029.

Income is falling sharply due to the Ministry of Education's cuts to the higher education budget. In addition, fewer students are expected to enrol in the coming years, and inflation on items such as energy and IT will not be fully compensated by the government. All UU faculties and services will therefore have to reduce spending.

When the budget cuts were announced last summer, the university quickly implemented cost-saving measures, such as adjusting the opening hours of its buildings. Plans were also launched to abolish honours education, take a critical look at the IT provision in terms of hardware and software, reduce work-related travel, reduce the backlog of vacation days, dispose of certain buildings and scale back renovation plans.

The Faculty of Humanities and the University Corporate Offices are the ones being hit the hardest by the budget cuts. They cannot absorb the blow without drastic measures. Humanities had already been experiencing financial problems for some time. Unlike the faculties, UBD is not allowed to keep reserves in its coffers, which means that substantial cuts immediately lead to harsh measures.