Ellen van Schoten on our university's approach to budget cuts

Ellen van Schoten, as a board member responsible for the finances of our university, is clear about it: "Yes, we have a problem, but we started on time. A lot of people have worked very hard to get the basics right. Erasmus University Rotterdam is financially healthy enough to absorb the setbacks."

The coalition programme has been presented and the 'Miljoenennota' (budget memorandum) is on the table. Was Prinsjesdag  Tuesday not too bad or disappointing?

"Of course, we already knew that higher education is going to have a very hard time. What was even more disappointing is that some of the measures will take effect as early as 2025. For example, we have already awarded several starter grants to young EUR researchers who will either begin their work next year or continue advancing critical research that also benefits society. And contrary to expectations, the government is suddenly scrapping the grants as early as 2025. As universities, we find that scrapping a measure in such a short period of time is a matter of improper management. We are not going to cooperate, and as joint universities we are considering legal action."

Will we be able to manage such a large cutback?  

"There are several ways in which we will have to absorb the cuts. Because our number of students decreases slightly every year, we receive less money, and we will have to adjust our activities accordingly. We have anticipated this development in the past period and have taken strong measures across the board. For example, all support services have been instructed to cut back by 5 percent. In addition, the Executive Board is spending 3.5 million less on strategic programmes and projects than we had previously planned. We are also putting real estate projects on hold so that the necessary renovation of the Tinbergen Building which has already started can be accommodated within the existing housing budget."

Are these three measures enough to absorb all the cuts?  

"No, we're going to have to do more than that. All faculties and other organisational units are working hard to ensure a balanced budget for 2025. Various measures are being taken in different places. External hiring is limited in some cases, with some faculties announcing a hiring freeze. There are also organisational units where the structure of the work is reviewed more closely. By working more efficiently, collaborating more both inside and outside the university, and by focusing more on external sources of funding, we believe we can balance the 2025 budget – i.e. excluding the content of the Miljoenennota. We will develop a number of scenarios for 2026 and beyond (i.e. including the cuts in the Miljoenennota)."

In the Miljoenennota, the government indicates that tough choices have to be made in higher education: 'One of those choices is to reduce the number of foreign students and to make Dutch language the norm in higher education again.' For several years now, EUR has had about 25% international students. What percentage should we go to?

"Indeed, there is a target in the national budget with the aim, and I quote: 'We are going to reduce the number of international students.' So no precise desired percentage is specified. Together with the other universities, we are looking at what this task means in practice and how we should deal with it. The government seems to want to leave the exact details of this to the universities and universities of applied sciences and says it wants to make so called ‘bestuurlijke afspraken’ (administrative agreements) that will lead to a lower international intake and the associated cutbacks." 

How big do you think the cutbacks will be as a result of limiting the number of international students for EUR?  

"The exact financial effect is not yet known, but in very rough estimates we now arrive at between 3 and 6.5 million euro less in funding. We will have fewer international students, so as a result we will probably teach less, and we will need fewer classrooms and less IT capacity. However, it is important to realise that part of the overhead, i.e. the support services such as communication, building management and security, will not decrease in that situation and will remain at the same cost level."

Does this mean that employees have to be laid off?

"That's not the case right now and it is not yet possible to predict whether that will be necessary later. Measures are now being examined for each organisational unit. As mentioned, in some places there is already limited external hiring, temporary contracts are not renewed and vacancies are not or not immediately filled. It is not clear yet whether the current measures will be sufficient in the future (2025 and beyond) to meet the financial challenge. Of course, we will do everything we can to prevent layoffs. Whatever measures will prove necessary, our biggest priority is to be a good employer and we will always prioritise this."

What is it like to have to cut back so heavily as a member of the executive board? How does that affect you?

"This is hard for us. Not only for me, but of course also for Annelien, the deans and all those people with whom we work together to find ways in which we can absorb these historically unprecedented cutbacks and thereby protect  the employees as much as possible. As Erasmians, we naturally do our work with a lot of passion. It's not a coincidence that you work for a university where, year after year, we try to prepare a new generation of talented young people for a life in a dynamic world. A world in which their brainpower and inventiveness are desperately needed, to be able to cope with all those difficult issues that we as a society are struggling with. Sustainability, housing shortage, rising healthcare costs, world hunger, psychological distress among young people; you name it. Together, we are working on concrete solutions that will benefit the whole of the Netherlands.  

It's not easy when you suddenly get the message that you have to do the same work with far fewer resources. So much less, that it takes a lot of hard work to avoid having to send away highly valued colleagues. Teachers, assistants, IT specialists, communication people, controllers, cleaners, security guards; we are all needed to keep this beautiful organisation running at the top of its game 24/7. We're going to do everything we can." 

What's next?

"EUR is in a good financial shape at the moment. The result for 2024 looks better than expected. In addition, we will probably be able to deliver a balanced budget in 2025, excluding the government's austerity measures. We are now going to take a good look at how we can absorb the government's announced structural measures in 2025 and beyond in order to be future-proof.  

In the longer term, we are going to focus on more efficiency and working together even more. You can think of merging similar activities that are currently in place parallel at different organisational units. A lot of time and money can also be saved by further standardising processes and systems, so that, for example, only one license has to be purchased for a program with which you send newsletters.  

But we also need to make the university more resilient in the long run. Two years ago, there was still a lot of investment by the government in education and research, and now we have to make substantial cuts. We will therefore have to diversify and make ourselves less dependent on the money that comes from The Hague. We will look at existing strategic partnerships – think of the Convergence – to see if we can expand that and look for new opportunities in that area. We will invest more in so-called third-party funding streams, such as the scholarships and subsidies that are made available from Brussels."  

What can we do ourselves?  

"Any smart ideas that provide a new source of income are very welcome, let me start with that. Furthermore, from now on, we will all have to ask ourselves: 'Is it necessary to incur these costs now?' If you have any good suggestions, you can always discuss them with your manager.  

I also think it's good that we make sure to keep talking to each other, so if there are any questions, by all means ask them. We will continue to inform you as well as possible when we know more about what is coming from The Hague and what we can do together with our joint efforts via Universities of the Netherlands to counteract the worst effects."