What a council meeting today!

Today we had the commissie meetings. These are technical meetings with the University Board and the people in charge of the various projects and memorandums that are presented. They allow us to get into technical details and ask for clarifications that otherwise would be hard to get.

There are some very important points on the table this month. Two above all the others: the new budget cuts and the restructuring of the University.

I already mentioned both of them in the past, perhaps not so explicitly. Our finances have shrunk substantially due to a convergence of national and international factors: the aftermath of the pandemic, the energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine, massive budget cuts from the previous government, and the demographic shift leading to fewer students across Europe. This forced the university to take some severe austerity measures, and now is cornering it into taking some even more severe measures to make sure that its liquidity allows it to pay salaries in the long run, where ’long’ is really one or two years at this point.

Commendably (and differently from other Dutch universities, most of which are or have recently been in a similar situation), our University Board would like to achieve this without any forced layoff, counting on natural departures and more efficient ways of working. While the consequences of the strict hiring freeze are increasingly felt, we are now at the point of having to take the difficult decisions, that is, cutting down on some programmes or services that none of us would like to lose to try and structurally reduce expenses and hopefully get back in a situation to be able to invest in human capital in the not too distant future. It seems that we have reached the point where either we move and save fast, or layoffs will be on the table.

The discussion, unavoidably, was and remains challenging for both sides. It was tense at times but very orderly and respectful. I think it has been an opportunity for all to try and understand each other’s doubts, reasoning, and opinions, and to explore possibilities.

Recently, the cuts have also been closely connected to the restructuring of the governance structure. The University Board would like to reduce the number of faculties to simplify internal processes and to reduce the number of people at the decisional table. This is where I remain more sceptical. While I understand how this can help the alignment of the processes, I still fail to see how it will solve the various issues and question if it is the right moment to add additional workload and investments to achieve it. Instead, I would push hard to focus on debureaucratizing and simplifying processes, and dropping non-essential tasks, to save as much as we can right now, looking into possible reorganizations only at a later stage.

Opinions… Our university is old; it has survived many crises and reorganizations over the past centuries. I believe it is resilient enough to survive whatever change needs to happen. Everyone wants the best for the organization; I think this is clear. We just have different opinions on how this can be achieved. While we all agree that some painful cuts are necessary and that we need to freshen and harmonize policies and processes, we are not yet aligned on the right way to achieve this.

Many important decisions will need to be taken. I hope we will end up doing the right thing, in a way that supports our staff (academic and not) and our students, and that harms research and teaching as little as possible.