After years of generous spending, Radboud University is once again facing major cuts. How are the faculties dealing with this? In response to cuts in higher education, one of the measures introduced by the Faculty of Law is a recruitment restriction. Other measures are in the pipeline. Dean Roel Schutgens also sees a clear task for the university as a whole. 'As a faculty, we are still navigating our way.'

A recruitment restriction. This is the most important measure currently taken by the Faculty of Law in response to the cuts in higher education. ‘If vacancies arise, we will basically be saying that they will not be filled unless essential processes or teaching are compromised,’ Dean Schutgens explains.

The Dean expects that this measure will quickly generate major savings. ‘Not filling three vacancies can easily save substantial amounts.’ For example, not replacing a retiring professor quickly saves more than a hundred thousand euros.

However, Schutgens also calls the recruitment freeze unpleasant and ‘policyless’ because it depends on who leaves at any given time. ‘We can’t continue like this for years.’

Besides the recruitment freeze, external hiring in education is being reduced or stopped where possible and the library budget was cut. For the long term, the faculty wants to critically review which courses it wants to continue offering and which to stop. ‘We face a choice: either we compromise on the quality or the quantity,’ says Schutgens. ‘Our preference is for the latter, which means being more selective.’

Specifically, the faculty wants to cut Master’s programmes that attract fewer than 20 students. ‘But that’s hard too,’ says Schutgens, ‘because the lecturers who teach those subjects are passionate about them and students love doing them.’

Improved efficiency

Like other faculties, the Faculty of Law is tasked with achieving a zero budget by 2027. For 2025, the faculty has a budget that is ‘good and defensible’, according to Administrative Director Sharon de Groot, but whether this will be the case in 2026 and 2027 remains uncertain. The Faculty Board cannot yet give exact figures for the budget from 2026 onwards.

‘As a faculty, we are still navigating our way,’ says Schutgens. The Dean also sees a clear mission for the university as a whole. ‘The precise impact of the additional cabinet cuts on faculties is still unclear. Firstly, under the leadership of the Executive Board, we need to see how the cuts will be absorbed across the university. For example, it is now exploring ways to operate more efficiently after 2026. If this is successful, it will also become much clearer how we as faculty can make further cuts in our own teaching and research budgets.’

Incidentally, says the Dean, in 2023 the faculty already made significant cuts in the 2024 budget. ‘That involved minor things that were hardly felt at the time, but it removed all the air from the budget. For example, we slightly reduced the amount of tutoring for first year students.’

Staffing cuts

Besides the recruitment freeze, the Faculty Board is also considering cutting tracks and specialisations. ‘We may have too many different directions,’ says Schutgens. ‘We will need to be well informed before taking final decisions, and consider the priorities of our research centres in the education we offer.’

‘This does not involve dozens of people, but we will need to reduce the number of FTEs’

Additional budget cuts by the Schoof government, in particular the removal of starter and incentive grants, will mean that the faculty will not be able to appoint as many PhD candidates. Moreover, staff cuts seem inevitable. ‘This does not involve dozens of people, but we will need to reduce the number of FTEs,’ says the Dean.

The ratio of teaching, research and management/administrative time among permanent Faculty of Law staff is currently still 45/45/10. Although there are currently no plans to change the distribution, Schutgens does not rule out the possibility of it coming up for discussion again after 2025. Indeed, bringing the ratio to 60/40, for example, could save additional money.

Information days

The first signs of demographic contraction, one of the main reasons for the cuts at Radboud University, are already noticeable in the Grotius building. ‘We do have fewer students than last year,’ says Dean Roel Schutgens. ‘The decline follows national demographic trends, which are expected to continue until 2030.’

The financial implications of lower inflows are not insignificant. However, there is nothing the faculty can do about demographics, says Schutgens. ‘But we continue to make every effort to ensure our study programmes continue to appeal. We deploy the best and most motivated lecturers on information days. And during recent teaching reviews, we also got ideas during to further improve the Master’s programmes.’

Radboud University in overdraft

No faculty or university department will escape the cuts. But how do you manage them? In the coming weeks, VOX will be talking with the faculties: what can they save on and what do they want to maintain at all costs? How much should these changes deliver and what will the staff and students notice? This is the sixth article in this series. Read all the stories here.