- The University
- 17/12/2023
University Council approves budget for 2024
During the final University Council meeting of the year on December 11, the Council approved the university budget for 2024. However, the Council stressed that in addition to the approval, some recommendations were communicated to the Executive Board. These included suggestions for earlier submission of documents and improved cooperation with Department and Services Councils to ensure that they too gain earlier and better insight into the formation of their budgets.
The total budget for 2024 has increased, but so have the costs. In 2023, there was a budget of 499.5 million euros with estimated costs of 526.8 million, creating a budget deficit of 27.3 million euros. For 2024, a budget of 533 million euros has been drawn up with estimated costs of 560.4 million euros. The deficit for next year is estimated at 27.4 million euros, a minimal difference from 2023. While increasing the number of students is still included as a long-term goal, the aim is no longer a doubling as was previously reported. The current target is 15,000 students by 2026.
For 2024, energy costs - which formed a sizeable additional expense on the budget last year - have dropped significantly due to lower prices: a difference of 7.8 million euros. However, salary increases for staff members eat into the university budget because they are not fully covered by the first flow of money from the government.
From strategic to tactical and operational
Harold Weffers, chair of the University Council’s finance committee says that “the Executive Board has indeed taken a first step in the right direction regarding the foundation of the budget by using the strategic objectives as a starting point, but we have repeatedly called for this. We believe the budget should be based on the university’s strategic objectives (one to five years) and their translation into objectives for the coming period (one to three years) and that indicators, metrics, target values, priorities, etc. should be defined to that end. These should then lead to a proposal for the necessary ‘expenditures,’” Weffers points out.
University Council member Martijn Klabbers: “It’s a good thing to consider the long term, but this could put some strain on the budget in the short term. In the budget, we see the expectation that savings can be made on administrative costs, whereas we expect that this will be difficult if our points for improvement are to be realized, such as submitting the budget earlier and identifying the needs of the departments in good time.”
Other topics of discussion
Also discussed during the University Council meeting was the fact that president Trees Klaver can expect an extension of her term. In addition, the elections of December 5 and 6 were briefly discussed and it became clear that employees of JADS on TU/e’s payroll were unfortunately not included in the vote for the University Council. This had already gone wrong in the past. There will be no new elections but Vice President of the Executive Board Patrick Groothuis has promised to make improvements for the next elections in two years.
The relevant documents can be accessed here (available on intranet only): ·
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