Radboud University needs to make significant budget cuts, including our faculty. A large portion of these cuts will be achieved through savings in operations. I think it's right that we first look at cost-saving possibilities in operations, trying to spare Education and Research as much as possible. But I'm also concerned.
Yes, more efficiency is genuinely possible if we further standardise and digitise processes and set up our systems more intelligently to better support us. Looking at a system like BASS, for example, I see colleagues spending a lot of time manually creating various reports and management information, and maintaining their own overviews in shadow administrations. And I haven't even mentioned the workarounds we need to make the workflow manageable. This could be set up more intelligently, so our work processes cost less time and money. But... you have to spend money to make money; significant investments will be needed first to help Radboud University enter the 21st century regarding digitisation.
And that's precisely my concern. We don't have time; immediate cuts are needed. We can't wait until better systems are rolled out, enabling us to do the work with fewer people in the future. All the challenges coming our way and the number of objectives we're trying to achieve create a lot of extra work pressure. Because: even more coordination, meetings, documents, emails, and so on. Not 'to make this about me', but I notice my limit has been reached.
The challenge for the coming period is therefore to streamline the services from operations. But what does it look like if we provide fewer services? I'm afraid that in some places, the already minimally arranged support will fall below the minimum. And I see a major risk; we'll try to deliver the same services with fewer people and resources in the long term. And that won't work.
What are we going to say 'no' to? That's going to be quite difficult, I'm afraid. We're not very good at saying no, myself included. And another thing; you can say no, but that no also needs to be accepted. That's where I also see a significant challenge. Try saying 'no' to a colleague. Is it possible to get understanding for that? I'm asking the question out loud because I suspect this theme affects more people. So let's keep an extra eye on each other in the coming period. And let's make it more normal that 'no' is also an answer.
