Budget Cuts

From 2025, the Dutch government will cut over half a billion euros from higher education and research. In addition, the annual 'reference estimate', which forecasts student numbers, leads to a smaller contribution from The Hague. Fewer students mean less money. As a result, Utrecht University must take significant measures.

Further cuts are expected from 2026 onwards.

The government is cutting over half a billion euros from higher education. Cuts include starter and incentive grants for researchers and lecturers, restricting the number of international students, funding via NWO and the Fonds voor onderzoek en wetenschap. 

For Utrecht University, this means a cutback of 35 million for the year 2025. This includes the declining government contribution due to the shrinking number of students, and the discontinued incentive and starter grants. A possible contribution intended to reduce workload at the university is included in this amount. Further cuts are expected from 2026 onwards. With government measures still to come, this could rise further to 70-80 million in 2029. At this point, it is unclear how significant the additional cuts will be and what they will mean for Utrecht University.

It will become clear to everyone that we need to scale back the services. As an employee, you could face, among other things, the cuts on starter and incentive grants by 2025, unfilled vacancies and therefore possibly more workload, and reduced investments in facilities. These and other measures will be further developed by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, OCW) in the coming period.

To safeguard the quality of education and research, we set priorities. Various parts of the university, such as the faculties, University College Utrecht, the library and the University Corporate Offices, have made savings plans that have already been incorporated in the (faculty) budgets. Measures such as a selective vacancy freeze, are partly already being implemented. Proposed plans are now being further put into action and extended and adjusted where necessary. The University Council, faculty councils and employee consultative bodies play an important role in determining appropriate measures.

Universities, including UU, remain in dialogue with The Hague, as these budget cuts threaten the future of academic education and research.

It's still possible that the Senate (Eerste Kamer) will compel changes during the budget debate on Education, Culture and Science.

If both the House of Representatives and the Senate approve the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science (OCW) budget for 2025 this year, the budget will continue even if the government falls. However, the possibility of adjusting the OCW budget may increase after a possible fall of the government.

Utrecht University, together with all other universities through UNL, is in daily contact with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and political parties in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. We consistently emphasise and advocate for the societal and economic value of our sector for the Netherlands.

If the government falls, the commitment is to get the planned cuts for 2025-2029 out of the national budget. However, this does not mean that the planned cuts will actually (and if so, completely) be reversed.

Utrecht University usually aims for a zero budget; that is, a budget with no loss and no profit. Every quarter we review the financial progress and make an estimate of what our final result will be for the current year. Based on the results of the third quarter of 2024, we expect to close this year in the plus and end up with a result of +4 million euros. This is due in part to the fact that many units have already begun taking measures to cope with the upcoming budget cuts. Also, like all other Dutch universities, we received wage and price compensation from the Ministry of OCW. Because last year the collective bargaining wages rose sharply, that compensation is somewhat higher than usual this year. If we are indeed left with money at the end of this fiscal year, that money will go into the reserves of the faculties and the UU as a whole. This will make us a little more resilient to the major cuts that are still to come. 

The financial challenges at the Faculty of Humanities have been ongoing for many years and have multiple causes. The faculty offers many programmes, including quite several small ones, and there is fragmentation and accumulation of tasks, especially around teaching. It is difficult to maintain research funding, and there is an increasing demand for support (research support, knowledge security, quality assurance, infrastructure). We cannot influence all of those factors ourselves.

On the other hand, too few choices were made: tasks are constantly being added, but nothing is removed. Partly because of this, the costs (of staff) and revenues (from education and research) are no longer balanced, making it increasingly difficult to absorb financial setbacks. The government budget cuts are adding to this but are not the only cause.

Faculties are responsible for the budget of their own organisational unit, with the faculty council having the right of consent on the main lines of the budget. The dean has final responsibility, within the frameworks set by the Executive Board on the policy statement (‘kadernota’) and the reserve policy.

Together, the budgets of faculties and corporate offices form the core of the university budget. The university council has the right of consent, on the main points. The Executive Board adopts the university budget and the Supervisory Board ultimately approves it.

So besides the organisation-wide measures, faculties take additional measures where required and ensure sufficient reserves to remain financially stable.

As a permanent discussion partner of the Executive Board, the University Council (login required) makes an important contribution to the direction of the university and its operations, from the perspective of students and employees. The University Council critically monitors the Executive Board, provides it with unsolicited and solicited advice and participates in deciding on important issues. The University Council has the right of consent on (among other things) the main outlines of the budget.

Besides the University Council, each faculty and service department also has its own representative body, which in broad terms has a similar purpose and effect to the University Council. Each faculty has its own faculty council: the representative body for staff and students of the faculties. The council is the discussion partner of the faculty board when it comes to measures taken by the board and the organisation of the faculty. The faculty council has (among other things) the right of consent on the main outlines of the (long-term) budget.

In addition, University College Utrecht (UCU), the University Library (UB) and the University Corporate Offices (UBD) also have their own councils. For more information, see this intranet page (login required)

Public meetings

Many council meetings are open to the public. In principle, the University Council holds plenary meetings with the Executive Board seven times a year. In the weeks leading up to these meetings, there are informational and opinion-forming consultations. Would you like to attend a meeting online? View the schedule (login required) or contact the secretariat (a.m.partridge@uu.nl or s.u.bosveld@uu.nl).

Do you have ideas about savings? Discuss this with your supervisor or contact the university council, faculty council or employee consultative body.

Actions are being organised by AOb, WOinActie, LSVb and UNL, among others. For example on 18 October (LSVB/'De groeten met je boete') and 25 November on Malieveld in The Hague (in Dutch). Want to take part in an action? These are the agreements made by the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL).

As an employee, you will receive general information via the page Budget Cuts. You will receive information about the budget cuts within your own faculty/department through your faculty/department. As a student, keep an eye on the page Budget Cuts.