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Still a good economy
Challenges despite strong economy
When summing up the events of 2019, it is predominantly positive: everything is moving in the right direction. But there is a concern about how the university will rectify the high level of retained capital. This is the opinion of the University Board, which also endorsed the proposal to support the Faculty of Humanities.
FÖRRA ÅRET plaLast year, the University of Gothenburg planned a small deficit, but had a surplus of 38 million SEK, which led to an increase in retained capital by the same amount.
– On the whole, everything is very positive. The University of Gothenburg is growing, we are attracting more students, more national assignments and, in addition, the external contributions are increasing, says CFO Peter Tellberg, who emphasizes that the surplus in this context can almost be seen as a calculation error in relation to the university’s total turnover of 6.8 billion SEK.
THE MAIN explanation for the improved financial situation is a large increase in revenue from education. In eight years, the University of Gothenburg has not achieved its funding agreement targets set
by the government. Last year, the so-called underproduction was only minus 5 million SEK, versus minus 82 million SEK in 2018.
– IT IS PARTLY a technical effect of the delay of registration in Ladok, so it is difficult to estimate. Even before the spring term, however, we could see that the number of registered students was increasing, which is a clear break from the trend.
Another explanation is that external research grants increased by 4 percent to a total of 2 billion SEK. The increase is a result of foreign research grants, not least EU grants.
At the end of the year, the University of Gothenburg’s retained capital amounted to 1.26 million SEK. The vast majority, over 800 million SEK, is tied up in research projects that have not yet been completed. Measured in relation to costs, the IT Faculty has the largest share of retained capital, followed by the Faculty of Science and then the Sahlgrenska Academy.
– When the entire academic sector has retained capital of up to 12 billion SEK, it is difficult to justify large investments when there are other areas of society that are in more urgent need. The Swedish National Audit Office has also repeatedly criticized the universities for saving too much money.
LAST YEAR, expenses increased by 3.1 percent compared with the previous year. Payroll expenses account for the greater proportion of the increase. In 2019, slightly more people were employed, in total 45 full-time positions. However, the increase is very small.
– It is a significantly lower rate of increase than we have seen in recent years, says Peter Tellberg. At four faculties the number of employees has decreased, at three it has increased and at the Sahlgrenska Academy it remains unchanged. Given the retained capital, there should be scope for greater investment, especially in research.
ALTHOUGH THE financial situation is stable, Peter Tellberg points out that there are significant differences between faculties and between institutions, but also between different research groups.
The University Administration is in a difficult position. Last year they had a deficit of 5 million SEK.
– Prior to 2020, the University Administration received no compensation for price and wage increases, nor for the increase in the cost of essential systems that the entire university uses. Two of the reasons are greatly increased
Financial outcome per faculty, SEK million
Faculty of humanities -15 -29 -17 Outcome 2019 Budget 2020Closing balance 2019
Faculty of social sciences School of Business, Economics and Law 8 106 -11
-3 72 -25
Faculty of Education Sahlgrenska Academy Faculty of Science IT-faculty Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts UB 3 82 3
46 507 25
49 260 -4 7 67 -5 4 25 -3
7 23 -13
costs for implementing the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test and for staff healthcare via Feelgood. Obviously, we want to ensure we have a good working environment, but we must also be able to question what we get for our money. In addition, these are costs that are incurred at a central level, but which everyone in the entire organisation uses.
The budget for 2020 shows a surplus of 8 million SEK for the entire university. The Faculty of Humanities, which is struggling with financial problems, will receive an additional grant of 30 million SEK over three years to cope with the transition.
– THE PROPOSAL was prepared during the autumn in consultation with the faculty management. It is a temporary investment of 10 million SEK per year from 2021–2023, which goes towards funding education, says Peter Tellberg. In 2019, the faculty reported a loss of 15 million SEK, which was a big improvement on the forecast. In 2020, the budget is estimated to be minus 17 million SEK.
According to Peter Tellberg, the Faculty of Humanities has worked ambitiously with action plans that have had an effect, but that is not enough.
Reconstruction alone means increased rental costs of 23 million SEK per year, which is 43 percent higher, compared with 2019. According to Marie Demker, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, work began as early as 2017.
– WE HAVE CARRIED out outreach activities to recruit students and increase our visibility, and we have carried out internal activities to increase our revenue and to make better use of the resources we have. But we have also had a construction process that required tremendous effort on our part, firstly in terms of the working environment and the study environment, and secondly in terms of project management.
She points out that the grant gives the faculty the opportunity to continue the transition.
– THE EXTRA RESOURCES come in handy by strengthening and energizing our commitment to the change process.
In return, the board will take 50 full-time student places from 2021. This corresponds to a reduction of 2.5 million SEK and how these places will be allocated is an issue that will be determined at a later date.
