The faculty’s budget must be balanced

15/05/2025

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As part of the annual discussion on goals plans between the rector and the faculty, this week the senior management has submitted a budget memo regarding the faculty's finances up to 2029 to the rectorate with a clear conclusion.

 

As part of the annual discussion on goals plans between the rector and the faculty, this week the senior management has submitted a budget memo regarding the faculty's finances up to 2029 to the rectorate with a clear conclusion: The faculty's finances are not balanced, and therefore a financial adjustment plan must be initiated. Specifically, DKK 8 to 12 million must be saved annually from 2027 onwards.

" The required adjustment is considerable, but not entirely unexpected. At the request of the rectorate, the faculty has reduced its savings in recent years by increasing the number of academic staff FTEs. Now it is time to restore economic equilibrium." explains Dean Jacob Graff Nielsen.

LAW has had a structural deficit in recent years, which has been financed by drawing on our savings. The faculty has used the savings reduction requirement as part of a strategic initiative to increase the number of academic staff FTEs to improve research coverage on the study programmes. This approach has been agreed with the rectorate in order to reduce the faculty's savings. But over the next couple of years, savings will be reduced to an absolute minimum. Therefore, it has also been agreed with the rectorate that the reductions were only for a temporary period and that a structurally balanced budget must be restored from 2027.

2025 will be spent preparing the adjustment plan. The analysis and clarification work will take place in a working group with the ongoing involvement of the CC, LAW-LT and the Academic Council.

The working group will develop ideas, qualify and provide input to a comprehensive list of potential savings that together can form a savings catalogue.  In short, the working group will analyse how far it is possible to find savings of DKK 8 to 12 million broadly across the faculty's budget.

" As the adjustment will not take effect until 2027, we have the opportunity to act with due diligence and adjust the faculty's finances as wisely as possible and with the thorough involvement of the CC, LAW-LT and the Academic Council. It will probably be difficult to completely avoid a reduction in the VIP payroll budget, but the senior management has decided initially to look at the faculty's costs broadly, including its educational financing." emphasizes Jacob Graff Nielsen, who looks forward to following the working group closely.

 

Briefly, the senior management's criteria for the adjustment process can be summarised as follows:

• Broad focus on options for adjustment potential across the faculty's budget
• Transparency about the process
• Thorough involvement with the opportunity to provide input via the CC and the Academic Council
• Rapid clarification and execution

 

The working group will meet twice in June, and two meetings are scheduled for the autumn. The CC, LAW-LT and Academic Council will be regularly briefed on the working group's work at their scheduled meetings.

 

" The period of uncertainty about the faculty's long-term financial situation must not be too long. Therefore, it is a priority to be able to provide faculty staff with the fastest possible clarification" concludes Jacob Graff Nielsen.

 

The working group will present a final report at the beginning of December 2025, after which the senior management will decide on the specific savings plan later in December 2025. Implementation of the adjustment plan is expected to begin in January 2026. Details of the adjustment plan will be provided in Paragraffen. In addition, an information meeting for all academic and administrative staff will be held in December 2025.

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