“We still don’t have solid information that we can turn into concrete figures,” says Rianne Letschert. Over the last six months, the Executive Board has been negotiating and lobbying on a number of fronts – and still is, in fact – often together with the province: in The Hague, with the Ministry of Education, but also within UNL, the association of the fourteen universities. They are responsible (in part) for determining who will be impacted by what changes. There is a sense of solidarity, “thankfully, UNL understands that the four regions Limburg, Zeeland, Twente and Groningen will be hit harder by these measures than the rest of the Netherlands,” Letschert says. However, no institution wants to soften potential blows only to come out worse themselves. “There have been some fierce discussions.”
Letschert and co. have been keeping very quiet on all this, because if the things that have been said during these discussions ever come out, they would be shooting themselves in the foot. Silence is golden, in this case. Letschert: “The staff here have known us for a while now, they know we can be trusted. We know what we are doing. We did tell them straightaway: there will be no need for immediate cuts here.”
2025
The budget of Maastricht University for 2025 – with a positive result of two hundred thousand euros – was only published this month, instead of the usual October or November. “It is possible that the government’s proposed cuts made a difference subconsciously, but I have no frame of reference there. I don’t know what the process was in previous years,” says Jan-Tjitte Meindersma, who succeeded Nick Bos this summer.
It is a ‘narrow’ budget, as the multi-year forecast is missing. A logical choice, given all the uncertainties; however, the Executive Board will include a five-year forecast in the financial statements for this year, published in the spring. “That will be discussed in public.”
Letschert and Meindersma expect that the cuts will fluctuate somewhere between 3 (around 14 million euros) and 9 percent (almost 42 million). It concerns a decrease in income from tuition fees and a decrease in the public funding provided by the Ministry of Education, jointly worth about 463 million euros in the 2025 budget.
Three fronts
There is uncertainty on three fronts: at the moment, the question is whether the langstudeerboete (the penalty for delayed graduation) – a financial blow estimated at nearly 10 million euros in UM’s worst-case scenario, because universities receive less public funding for those students – will be upheld in parliament. A majority is against its implementation.
There are also the starter’s and incentive grants that aim to reduce the workload for both beginning and established researchers, which are set to disappear. Letschert and Meindersma point out that this relates to grants that have not yet been assigned to researchers. What should be noted is that if these grants do disappear, this would also mean the end of the compensation for the historically grown lower funding (fixed base) for research for the three newer universities: Rotterdam, Tilburg and Maastricht. For UM, this amounts to 16 million euros. At the moment, there are negotiations with UNL how to rectify that last one.
Scenarios
And then there is number three, the Internationalisation in Balance Act (the WIB – basically, more room for Dutch-language Bachelor’s degrees, fewer international students), which will have the biggest impact, according to the Executive Board. But that, too, is surrounded by uncertainty. Meindersma: “If universities are allowed to manage that themselves, as is currently permitted by law, then we can limit the impact. We can’t grow as a university, but we can reasonably manage the consequences.” However, if every bachelor’s programme must be (fully or partly) taught in Dutch, then that is a huge problem for UM and the number of students will decrease drastically. For now, that is not something the board members anticipate. Not least because there are extenuating circumstances for institutions in areas such as Limburg. Cuts there affect not only the university but also the region’s economy.
At the moment, the Board expects the WIB to result in a deficit of some 14 million euros in the best case and nearly 32 million euros in the worst case. Meindersma, who explains that UM has a buffer of about 150 million euros: “We should be able to absorb that 14 million in a total budget of 600 million euros.” Although 42 million (for the WIB and langstudeerboete) would be a very different story.
Services
Whatever the total amount of the cuts may be, the fact is that every faculty will feel the pinch. Letschert: “If you divide it exactly according to the internal division model UMA, then the faculties with more English-language degrees will be affected more. Sometimes disproportionally so. So we haven’t just been negotiating with the UNL and the ministry, but also internally, we had meetings with the deans.”
The first contraction has already happened. Fewer students came to Maastricht this year, which cost UM 4 million euros. Therefore, an exercise has already been carried out by the services (such as Facility Services and ICTS) and MUO (the service on the ‘Berg’, think Legal Affairs and People & Development). They have been asked to take a close look at expenditure: what are we spending? How can it be done differently? Meindersma names an example: the extensive information security audits that review all IT applications within UM. Are they all necessary? Because a broad focus requires more consultants and costs more. “We said, instead of a scattershot approach, let’s narrow our focus more precisely.”
Campuses
Cuts require choices. At the moment, dismissals are not on the table. But what is? In the last University Council committee, members wondered aloud whether UM still wants to continue with the campuses in Venlo, Sittard, Brussels and Heerlen, or international projects such as Studio Europa and YUFE. The campuses are important, said Letschert. “Our lobby is about UM as the ‘European university of the Netherlands’, but also about embedding the university in the region. It would be very illogical to target those campuses.” However, she does recognise that things need to start growing there even more, “we need to create more momentum in Venlo, because that has to start acting as a driving force.” The educational offer is small – comments were made in the U Council committee of “25 first years for University College Venlo, is that still viable?” That is too few, Letschert acknowledges now, too, but there will be a new Bachelor’s and Master’s programme, “we have to keep developing”. And if there is no funding from the government, external donors will be even more crucial. Private education is also an option (for the higher institutional tuition fees), although UM “does not want to be an elite university”.
Concerns
Yes, there are concerns about the money and potential cuts. But Letschert is just as concerned about the effect this will have on the international community in Maastricht. “How do we ensure that our international members of staff continue to feel at home? All these government plans and resolutions could mean that people seek refuge elsewhere. We don’t know if that is already happening. How can we reassure them, give them the right answers? That is the biggest challenge of the coming year. That is what this country underestimates, the tone of the debate is destroying many things and I find that very irresponsible.”
Wendy Degens, Riki Janssen