Before the summer holidays, the outlines of the budget cuts for FSS were clarified in the provisional policy letter for 2026, in which the Executive Board sets out the budgetary framework. At its most recent meeting on 26 August, the University Joint Assembly (UGV) approved this policy letter on the condition that the Executive Board implements the cutbacks for pre-Master's programmes in a different manner. The Executive Board is currently assessing the consequences of this for the final budgets.
Honours programmes
The proposed cutbacks to the honours programmes will also remain in place. Within the various faculties, there is a widely shared desire to continue to shape honours education in some way, even in the context of cutbacks. We hope to be able to provide more clarity soon about the future and form of the current disciplinary and interdisciplinary honours programmes within FSS. The Executive Board is expected to communicate the final policy letter at the end of September.
Measurements for FSS
With the measures we are implementing as a faculty, it is becoming increasingly clear that we will remain within the permitted margins until 2025. This is a great result that we are achieving together. However, it does mean that the current measures will continue until at least the end of 2025. We understand that this still demands a lot from us and we appreciate everyone's cooperation, as with the current internal relocation.
Update cost-cutting projects
Finally, there are also updates from the various cost-cutting projects. For example, by expanding the range of services and optimising the programmes offered by the RCSW, a positive effect of €200k has been achieved in the FSW's 2026 budget. This means that the objective of this project has been achieved.
Best practices are being shared in the project to reduce thesis supervision hours. We are already seeing that programmes are staying within the set standard hours for thesis supervision. This should not lead to additional work pressure. The aim is also to ensure that the reduction in supervision time has as little impact as possible on the quality of the supervision and thesis. To achieve this, a faculty teacher's manual on “thesis supervision and assessment” is currently being developed. With such a manual, which includes frameworks for deadlines, the aim is also to reduce student dropout rates and prevent study delays.
The minimum seminar size project group sees the greatest benefit in improving the transfer of information between lecturers and timetable planners (via a partially modified course form), so that timetable planners can schedule seminars more efficiently. This form is currently under development. Consideration is also being given to how the occupancy of the working groups can be better monitored, so that any necessary upscaling or downscaling can be done more quickly during the course.
Within the project to discontinue funding for teacher professionalisation, a proposal is being developed regarding the amount of time available for teacher professionalisation per job profile. A procedure has been proposed for requesting exceptions to the faculty guidelines. The project group believes that time for teacher professionalisation and educational development should be part of a realistic and uniform workload model for education at FSW, which is currently under development. The project group will issue a recommendation on this matter.
You can find an overview of the current projects on the project website.