The Huygens building at Radboud University

Update on savings in business operations

01 May 2026 News item

Radboud University is working towards achieving savings of €55 million, including €20 million in structural savings in its business operations. Across all business operational pillars, the university is examining how services can be organised more efficiently and what savings this might generate.

Update by business operations pillar

Hard work is being done in each pillar: formulating hypotheses, testing hypotheses in a deep dive, preparing for implementation and putting measures into practice. You can read more about exactly what is being done in these phases on the project page for the cost-saving initiative in business operations. The timing of these phases varies across the pillars. Below is a brief update on each pillar, with a link to the project page where you can find the latest status.

ICT & Library services

By making IT and library services more agile and resilient, the university will be able to respond more quickly to (external) developments and external threats. To make this possible, the I-pillar began a reorganisation on Tuesday 14 April 2026. This follows the final decision by the Executive Board on 13 April 2026. In the new organisational structure, a number of the current roles will be discontinued and new roles will be created. Staff within this division have been fully informed about the reorganisation and the new organisational structure. These changes place significant demands on the staff of the pillar. As a result, services may temporarily run slightly differently or less smoothly as usual. We appreciate your understanding in this.

Human Recourses

Human Resources is currently preparing to standardise and consolidate operational HR activities within a single unit within the organisation. From 15 June, HR Service Centre will ensure that processes such as onboarding and offboarding, absence recording and support, and personnel administration are carried out efficiently and in a consistent manner across the entire organisation.

Finance and Control

In December 2025, the final report on the results of the in-depth analysis was submitted to the steering group of the Cost-Saving Programme. Following this report, the Executive Board announced that the cost-saving initiatives could proceed to the next stage of preparation. Over the past few weeks, the projects have been defined and a project team has been formed for each cost-saving initiative. The project teams are working on their project plans, which will then be incorporated into an overarching implementation plan. In addition, there is a separate process aimed at achieving savings through stricter procurement and improved contract management.

Housing and facilities

Following the approval of the implementation plan in early 2026, work began on the remaining cost-saving initiatives. Of the thirty initiatives, four have now been completed, eighteen are currently underway and eight are in the planning stage. In 2025, the H&F pillar has realised €1.7 million of the total cost-saving target of €6 million.

Marketing and Communications

On 2 April, a staff meeting was held to update staff on the progress of the cost-saving and improvement programme. A draft organisational model has been developed based on, amongst other things, the in-depth reviews, the new university strategy and discussions with stakeholders. This involves exploring various options for the management of the M&C pillar. Work is currently being done to further develop this into an organisational plan, taking into account the feedback received from staff and stakeholders.

Education Support

The Educational Support Unit has, amongst other things, begun developing a draft catalogue of products and services. This will set out, for example, which services the pillar offers, where within the organisation, and at what level. In a series of sessions with stakeholders (including MESA members, a delegation of managers and staff with specific expertise in certain focus areas), this draft catalogue will be inalized in April–May. We will then assess the feasibility of the catalogue with as many staff members and representatives from user groups (e.g. students and lecturers) as possible. This will result in a refined products and services catalogue and, subsequently, a final report outlining the next steps in the project.

Research support

The Research Support pillar combines the realisation of savings, the implementation of the business operations model and the execution of the strategy into a single integrated approach. This also involves reviewing the outcomes of the previous pillar review and assessing which of these are still relevant. The approach for this is currently being developed with various stakeholders. Among other things, they are looking at combining and prioritising the hypotheses, workflows, projects and improvement actions developed in the current and previous processes, and bringing these together into a coherent and workable whole. It is expected that more information on this will be available before the summer.

General Affairs

In the General Affairs pillar, the hypotheses for three sub-areas are currently being assessed in working groups. This assessment is in its final stage. The initial findings are currently being further analysed and developed, with a focus on the implications for finances, human resources, organisational structure and service delivery. The report on the in-depth analyses will be discussed at the RUDO meeting on 12 May. A staff meeting will take place on 19 May, during which the key findings will be shared and discussed with staff. Over the coming period, the findings will be further refined and will form the basis for the next phase of the process. No concrete decisions have been taken at this stage.

Do you have any questions?

Do you have any questions about the savings target, or do you have ideas that could help us to achieve our objectives? If so, please contact the project leader for the relevant pillar(s).