Although the pressure and consequences of the budget cuts are felt by everyone and require adjustments, we have put our shoulders to the wheel and achieved a great deal over the past year and a half. The dedication and commitment from everyone within the faculty has been of great value in enabling us to take major steps forward. As a result, our financial situation at the end of 2025 was even better than we had previously budgeted. This has enabled us to relax some of the measures we had put in place. For example, we are once again freeing up budget for connection activities and units no longer need to request permission from the faculty board for all new temporary appointments and hour extensions. This will allow us to slowly continue building our faculty.
Of course, cost-cutting measures do not only affect the figures in a budget, but they also have an impact on people. We realise that the past period has been unsettling and that a lot is being asked of everyone. That is why we are paying extra attention to work pressure within the faculty this year. We are monitoring this using the results of the staff survey, among other things, investing in leadership and exploring a faculty workload model with realistic norms for education. We will also be evaluating the internal relocation soon and we will continue to critically review all cost-cutting measures.
Naturally, we will follow the development of the new coalition agreement, but it remains inevitable that we will have to make further cutbacks in the coming years, partly because staff turnover is not always predictable and the government contribution will decline in 2026 and, in particular, from 2027 to 2030 due to the falling student numbers. In the coming year, we will not be taking on any major new projects, but will focus on the new faculty strategy for 2027-2032 and consolidate what we have achieved together. We would like to thank everyone who has kept us on our toes and who has contributed in any way to a financially healthy faculty. We are confident about the future.
With warm regards,
Evelyn Kroesbergen, Jochem Tolsma, Bert Steenbergen, Suzanne Boelens, Sven Braster, Wouter Brok and Franca Brugman
Faculty board FSS
*The results of various projects can be found below.
Results measures
The cost-cutting measures included a number of general measures and measures focused on education, research and operational management. Below is an overview of the measures, their status and, where possible, (an estimate of) their financial return.
General measures
- Hiring freeze:
The hiring freeze had a major impact on the organisation, but also had an immediate financial impact and yielded the highest financial return. By the end of 2025, the hiring freeze has led to a reduction of 53 FTE compared to 2024. - Promotions:
There was temporarily no room for promotions. This measure was lifted again during 2025. Where there is room in the staffing plans of departments, promotions are now possible again. - Catering:
Until now, catering was not possible at internal meetings (without any special occasions). In 2026, a one-off amount has been made available per unit as a contribution to social and team activities. In 2025, this measure led to savings of approximately €100k. - Relocation:
As of 1 October 2025, the lease on 23% of the office space has been terminated. According to the most recent calculations, this measure will yield a structural saving of €700k a year. - Operations:
Over the past year, the faculty office has been working on improving work processes and operational processes. Colleagues from various departments have analysed processes together and redesigned them step by step to make them smarter with the aim of achieving greater clarity, less frustration and more efficient work. This has yielded excellent results. Currently, there is already a structural saving of approximately 900 hours a year. Equally important: colleagues experience greater clarity in processes, less corrective work and more job satisfaction. In the coming period, optimisation of operational management will continue to receive particular attention in the university’s audits. - Absenteeism due to illness:
Absenteeism due to illness received our special attention. We did this by deploying additional expertise in absenteeism counselling, informing supervisors (including through information sessions and infographics) and introducing a social medical team consultation (SMT). Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to reduce absenteeism due to illness. We are currently investigating the causes of sick leave. - Contribution RCSW:
In 2025, the RCSW made a positive contribution to the budget of approximately €110k through various measures in its offer and operational management. This was approximately €90k higher than budgeted. From 2026 onwards, the RCSW will make a positive contribution to the annual faculty budget of €200k. - BOB model:
The BOB model provides better insight into the deployment of lecturers and the associated costs, enabling more effective and targeted management. Due to its limited scalability, this project has been delayed and it has been decided to not roll out the model widely within the faculty for the time being. However, it has been decided to introduce the model in the Psychology programme in 2026. Given the size of this programme, we believe it is important to monitor costs closely and obtain better management information. An evaluation will take place after implementation in the Psychology programme.
Measures aimed at education
Staff have worked extremely hard to reorganise education, for instance by redesigning curricula, planning education more efficiently, deploying lecturers different and better coordinating teaching methods. Through a combination of the hiring freeze, the faculty measures listed below and specific measures within the various programmes, the teaching staff was reduced by 25 FTE in the course of 2025.
- Elective courses:
All programmes assessed whether elective courses could be discontinued. This effect was estimated at €40k per year. The number of elective courses that have actually been discontinued is currently being reviewed, after which a new calculation of the savings will be made. - Teacher professionalisation and education related research:
Where possible, time allocated to teacher professionalisation and/or education related research was reduced from 20% to a percentage between 1.5% and 5% as of 1 September 2025. For a small number of teachers, the possibilities and legal obligations are still being investigated. This has led to savings of approximately €200k in 2025 (savings from 2026: €800k a year). - Available hours for thesis supervision:
From the 2025-2026 academic year onwards, the hours of thesis supervision will be standardised and reduced within the FSS programmes where possible. The actual savings in 2025 are estimated at €€200k. The savings from 2026 onwards are estimated at €500k. - Increasing minimum seminar group size:
From the 2025-2026 academic year onwards, seminar groups will be increased to a minimum of 25 students. Programme directors indicate that there will also be fewer seminar groups in 2025 compared to 2024. This is currently being investigated in more detail. The working group is currently investigating whether and how the timetable process can be optimised (including matching room capacity and seminar size, and the timing of downscaling). The working group is also formulating advice on how to best guarantee the quality of education in larger/smaller seminars. - Honours programme:
A balanced budget has been achieved for 2026 and the targeted savings of €100k have been realised. - Greater involvement of associate professors and professors in teaching:
Tailor-made agreements have been made with a group of associate professors and professors regarding their involvement in teaching. The actual savings remain to be seen and will be less than expected because only a limited number of people are eligible for this option, as many senior teaching staff had already taken on additional tasks.
Measures aimed at research
Targeted measures were also taken within the research department:
- PhDs funded by the first funding stream:
Previously, an average of 14 new PhD students started each year funded by the first funding stream. In 2025, no new PhD students started. This led to savings of approximately €300k in 2025. - Material budget for professors:
Some institutes already had agreements in place regarding the material budgets of professors. Where this was not yet the case, the budgets were not restricted. This measure therefore did not yield the intended savings. In the coming period, we will be looking at tightening up the agreements regarding the earnings of scientific staff. - Balanced budgets for grant projects:
Guidelines for this have been drawn up and communicated, which should lead to grant applications with balanced budgets.