No budget surprises

Last year, the University of Gothenburg ended up with a surplus of SEK 83 million. It was exactly as expected. Small changes were made in terms of education, research, revenue and personnel.

The costs are increasing at a slightly greater rate, in particular through increased rental costs that will take effect this year.

BY AND LARGE , there are not many surprises in the 2022 annual report that was adopted by the board recently.

– It's probably the most boring financial statement I've ever delivered. Everything is going to plan, says CFO Peter Tellberg.

The University of Gothenburg's turnover is SEK 7.5 billion, which is a new record. Grant income for research increased by 1.6 percent and 80 percent comes from research councils and other Swedish donors. As far as the educational mandate is concerned, the target was reached with a small discrepancy of minus SEK 32 million. The Faculty of Education accounts for the greater part of this and which, according to internal rules, must repay SEK 25 million to the board. However, this does not affect the University of Gothenburg as a whole, which has saved study places equivalent to SEK 43 million.

– WE CAN'T GET MORE precise than this. The only concern is that the performance rate for the Faculty of Humanities, which has a wide range of independent courses, has fallen by 4.9 percent to 61.1 percent.

Over the past five years, the number of employees has increased, albeit at a rather slow pace, at an average of 3.7 percentage points. Last year, the increase was only 0.2 percent, which is about 12 yearly employees.

– It is difficult to interpret this is. Maybe it's a backlog in the wake of the pandemic. Considering the substantial retained capital, there are good opportunities, in some areas, to employ more people, Peter Tellberg comments.

LAST YEAR

A BUDGET of plus SEK 90 million was set, the outcome was SEK 83 million and the largest surplus is in education (SEK 82 million). As expected, all the faculties reported a slightly worse result for 2022, worst of all was the Faculty of Science, which was 45 million worse than planned. The Central University Administration reported a deficit of 20 million, which was 5 million better than forecast. Last year's stock market crash also hit the University of Gothenburg's fund management hard, whose assets fell by SEK 17 million.

For 2023, the Finance Unit has set a zero budget.

– We see increased costs in terms of the purchase of goods and services, as well as travel and electricity. Above all, we expect rent increases of around SEK 100 million this year. A significant portion, 35 million, is accounted for by Natrium, which is ready for occupancy mid-year. But the plan is for us to use up our grants and carry out the research and education that we are required to do. The University of Gothenburg has substantial retained capital of over SEK 1.5 billion, so we can afford to be in the red for several years, says Peter Tellberg.

Allan Eriksson