The university expected a deficit of 3 million euros. The preliminary result is therefore much more positive than expected, according to the latest management report: instead of that deficit of 3 million euros, a surplus of 6.4 million euros is now expected.
This is partly due to some incidental windfalls, according to the report. This concerns, for example, higher interest income of 2 million euros and more income from tuition fees of 1.2 million euros.
Outliers
But the report also points to positive results from some faculties. BMS and ITC see a much more positive result than budgeted, because there are fewer personnel costs and more income. The Faculty of Science & Technology also has a rosier result than budgeted; This must be due to lower salary costs from September, due to the recently implemented reorganization.
Most units are therefore doing as expected – or above – financially. However, the ET faculty and the NanoLab expect a slightly more negative result than budgeted. The dissident in the whole is the Fraunhofer Innovation Platform. That unit budgeted a deficit of 463 thousand euros, but now expects to write more than 1.3 million euros in the red. In the past two years, the Fraunhofer Innovation Platform also recorded a loss of millions.
Acute measures
Whether the UT's acute financial measures have much effect is not much elaborated in the management report. The Executive Board's reflection is also limited to 'acute measures have contributed to this result and must be continued in 2025'.
The management report does contain graphs that provide insight into those measures. They show that travel costs fell sharply compared to last year. The number of support staff is also decreasing – the UT target is 10 percent less support staff – and less is being spent on catering. But the hiring of student assistants in particular has decreased sharply. Whereas the UT spent more than 2 million euros on student assistants in April 2024, this year it is less than a million euros.
All hands on deck
Last year, after the management report with figures up to and including April, it was all hands on deck. At that time, the UT was heading for a deficit of more than 14 million euros. These figures were one of the reasons for the Executive Board to take drastic financial measures just before the summer holidays, such as an emergency brake on external hiring, student assistants, business trips and new vacancies. The UT is now in a considerably better financial position for the time being.
