University Corporate Offices must save 14.7 million

The University Corporate Offices (Dutch acronym: UBD) consists of eight directorates that perform university-wide tasks and are headed by the three members of the Executive Board. These include Campus & Facilities, Students, Education & Research (SOO) and IT. Declining student numbers and the government's cuts to higher education are hitting UBD hard on the revenue side, while inflation is driving up expenditure.

It's not easy to cut costs here, says the university administration. The office has many long-term contracts such as the one with Asito, which takes care of cleaning. There are also many subscriptions and licences on IT products for the entire university, which cannot simply be cancelled or cut back. Faculties that run into similar problems can often absorb fluctuations by drawing on their reserves, but UBD is not allowed to have reserves.

Every UBD directorate will be forced to tighten the belt. The university has not shared publicly which directorate will be hit the hardest. The directorates say they consider the task order "a joint task". Everyone will save where they can.

120 proposals and a gap of almost 7 million
In total, UBD has to make do with 14.7 million euros less next year. Thus, 4.2 million will be cut in expenditures and the university administration will contribute 3.6 million from the general reserve. Next year, they will have to figure out how to save the remaining 6.9 million euros.

After UBD learned about this financial blow, a selective vacancy freeze was introduced in September. All directors jointly consult whether a vacancy may be filled. About 52 per cent of UBD costs are attributable to personnel. Most remaining costs are material costs, such as university-wide IT facilities.

The organisation also submitted 120 proposals for savings. At least 35 will be put into action next year. For example, contracts with third parties will not always be renewed when they expire. This applies to the contract with the company that provides live streaming services on events like the university's anniversary and the Opening of the Academic Year. The Sustainability Office will get less money and the number of printers and applications will be reduced. Furthermore, cuts will be made to representation expenses. These measures (link only available to those with a Solis ID) should raise 4.2 million.

Furthermore, work is being done on the number of yes or no choices. This means that certain programmes or projects will either not be taken up or be postponed or stopped. The new portfolio management (Solis ID required) and the new Strategic Plan should provide guidance for this next year.

UBD will still work on other ideas to make savings in consultation with the faculties. An external project manager will be hired for this purpose. One idea is to reduce opening hours and close parts of buildings on quiet days. Some believe this could save tons, as UU would spend less on receptionists, energy consumption and cleaning. Another idea is to cut back on self-employed workers, who are more expensive for UU than regular employees. UBD has a few self-employed workers in positions for which people are hard to find, such as IT and finance.

Service Council not happy
The Service Council has doubts about the budget. The council is uncomfortable that another 6.9 million will have to be saved somewhere. Councillor Bobby Baidjnath Misier says there is no substantiation for this amount. The criticism comes on top of councillors' exasperation at the fact that the draft budget came late and had to be handled confidentially, leaving councillors with little or no opportunity to seek advice or gather reactions within the organisation.

On December 9, just before the University Council met to talk about the UU budget, the Service Council met with the university administration to discuss UBD's budget. UBD was asked to give an opinion but could not give one on that Monday. Council member Bobby Baidjnath Misier asked during this meeting how wise it was to let things run their course. After all, what if the nearly 7 million savings are not achieved, especially considering the years after 2025? Another 20 million must be saved in 2026 and 16 million in 2027. How will they do that?

Vice-president Margot van der Starre replied that the budget is bleak, but if you look at this year's expenditure, you will see that the results are more positive than budgeted. As for UBD, a deficit of 5 million was expected in the budget, but the result is 9 million in the black after the third quarter. "So, there is quite a gap," Van der Starre said. "It is still proving difficult to budget realistically. So the cut could also fall with us next year." Part of the windfall will also go to UBD. The austerity order of almost 7 million is not optional, stressed chairman Anton Pijpers. "Every vacancy not filled is an opportunity to save", he said.

The Service Council heard that many employees are uneasy about the austerity measures ahead. "People see the workload growing due to the selective vacancy freeze or fear for their jobs," says Baidjnath Misier. Many interim staff work at UBD, in areas like finance and ITS. The Executive Board reports that it wants to cut down on freelancers by asking if some would like to join the staff, which is cheaper for the organisation. But what happens if they leave? There are also fears of a real vacancy freeze because how else will the UBD meet the cuts?

Ultimately, says Baidjnath Misier, the Service Council gave a positive opinion a few days after the meeting because the board promised to share the progress of the austerity measures with councillors on a monthly or bimonthly basis next year. "We want to be on top of it," he said.