Financial challenges at Tech
The process for the financial cutbacks at Tech has started, and the departments and the administrative centre have now briefed their employees about the expected savings including the number of jobs expected to be lost. There have been good talks in the liaison committees (LSU) which despite the difficult situation underline that dialogue is very central for Tech to get through the savings the best way possible.
On 1 March, dean Eskild Holm Nielsen announced that Tech has a financial imbalance of approx. DKK 70 million, which will be secured as of 2022. On 9 and 10 March, local liaison committee (LSU) meetings and staff meetings at individual departments and centres were held on the financial situation.
The faculty management team has found reductions in building costs, joint costs, the administration and the PhD pool. Despite these savings it leaves a claim of DKK 34 million at the environmental and food-related departments and DKK 8 million at the engineering departments. The LSU meetings have submitted several good additional solutions proposals that may lead to savings. For example, there are proposals for flexible office spaces, online meetings and a review of expenses for facilities and equipment.
The departments facing redundancies have informed LSU about the number of positions expected to be lost, as well as the possibility of entering into voluntary redundancy agreements or senior staff agreements. The website about the ongoing financial process has a summary of the process for voluntary agreements as well as a description of the senior staff schemes and voluntary redundancy packages.
"I understand the frustration and the insecurity that this process has caused. I and the entire faculty management team would like to thank the entire organisation for your commitment to bringing solution proposals to the table. It’s however crucial that we solve our challenges together, so that we maintain our international leading position within research and use the faculty’s potential. We will continue to be an attractive place for students and not least to be an attractive workplace," says dean Eskild Holm Nielsen.
"I'm also pleased that the departments have focus on making even better use of the opportunities to obtain external funding. There’s great potential here, and therefore it’s crucial that we maintain our strongholds across the faculty within research, consultancy and teaching. The faculty’s departments are very central when it comes to green transition, digitalisation and engineering," he ends.
The next steps in the process
On 23 and 26 April, staff at the departments affected will be informed about the total number of positions to be closed, divided into voluntary redundancy agreements and planned dismissals.
In the intervening period, the possibilities of entering into senior agreements and voluntary redundancy agreements will be examined at the departments that have to close positions. These measures will help reduce the number of involuntary redundancies.
In connection with the savings process, the faculty management team has adopted a qualified recruitment freeze at Tech to run from 1 March to 30 June 2021. This includes positions within the technical and administrative area (also in the engineering area) and academic positions. For more information about what the qualified recruitment freeze covers, see the page on the financial process (requires VPN-access).