Humanities Faculty Council concerned about rush to implement austerity measures

According to the Faculty Council, rushing to implement the austerity measures can lead to problems. You can read the letter here if you have a Solis ID. The council says that this danger is particularly evident in the plans to redesign undergraduate education. The revamped educational programming is due to start as early as 2027. In addition, the council says that the idea of making programmes substantially increase the number of joint courses makes the faculty feel uncertain and dissatisfied. 

Lecturers and researchers are also concerned about the decision to close the French, German, Italian, Celtic and Islam & Arabic programmes. These programmes will no longer admit first-year students from September 2026 onwards. The council still finds that the financial justification for such an intervention is not solid enough.

The Faculty of Humanities is currently investigating if the expertise of the academics involved in these programmes can be used in other programmes or perhaps in new programmes. However, according to the council, several doubts remain about the viability of the disciplines involved.

Displeasure
This autumn, the faculty board announced a sweeping "transition plan" that should lead the faculty to cut some 13 million euros from its budget by 2027. A total of 85 full-time jobs are at risk. Redundancies are very likely to happen soon.

Late last year, two additional meetings were held to discuss this transition plan. In both of them, councillors expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision-making process. In the advice letter, the council complains once again about the university administration which gave the Humanities Dean Thomas Vaessens an "impossible" and "unacceptable" assignment shortly before the summer break. Vaessens had just a few months to devise hefty austerity plans. To do so, the dean bypassed the faculty council and the faculty community – a decision that has been met with little sympathy.

The faculty council concluded that many faculty members were shocked, which resulted in a loss of goodwill and support. At the same time, the councillors acknowledged that the faculty's financial situation is so dire that looking to the past is of little use. The faculty needs to get to work.

"Barely justified"
The speed with which the austerity measures are supposed to be implemented can "hardly be called responsible", writes the faculty council, which calls on the faculty board to get the council more involved in subsequent steps. The council also announced that it will come up with new advisory letters if the faculty makes major decisions. 

The letter will be discussed with the Faculty Board in the next meeting, which is scheduled for February 14.