In total, UT expects nearly €510 million in revenue and about €5 million less in expenses. The bottom line: a positive result.
Underlying this outcome is a slight shift; UT expects a slightly lower income than in 2025 – mainly from second and third funding streams. On the other hand, the university expects to spend millions less across the board.
‘We’re not there yet’
In previous multi-year budgets, UT projected a break-even result for 2026. Due to the acute measures – such as the freeze on vacancies and student assistants – UT now paints a somewhat rosier financial picture for 2026. The university also expects to end the current year well in the black.
However, this does not come without effort, as the budget warns with phrases like ‘we’re not there yet’ and ‘to keep investing in the future, positive financial results remain necessary’.
Differences between services and faculties
Service departments, in particular, will need to tighten their belts. After cutting €4.8 million last year, they face an additional €6 million budget reduction in 2026. UT also aims to further reduce support staff numbers.
Faculties show a different picture. EEMCS, ET, and BMS expect positive results. The reorganising faculties ITC and S&T still anticipate a deficit in 2026, although S&T is making significant progress compared to previous years. Both faculties expect to return to the black in subsequent years.
Price increases
There is an additional financial risk for both faculties and services regarding wage increases. Until 2023, UT could rely on wage and price compensation from the ministry. That is no longer guaranteed, according to the budget. On the contrary: ‘This means that wage and price increases must be absorbed within the unit budgets.’ Since all UT units must adhere to the previously agreed zero-based budget, any price increase inevitably means a budget cut on unit level.
Difficult discussions
The draft budget will be discussed by the University Council next Wednesday, which holds the right of consent. The Supervisory Board must also approve the budget shortly thereafter. In the past two years, discussions between the council and the Executive Board have been extremely difficult.
It seems likely that the upcoming meeting will also be far from smooth. In a seven-page letter, the council raises numerous concerns. It is somewhat of a repeat of previous sticking points: the council finds several proposed actions insufficiently concrete and ‘SMART-formulated’ and still misses detailed strategic personnel plans for each unit.
