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SEK 150 million in surplus
More surplus than expected
Forecast for the year: SEK 150 million in surplus. That is 100 million more than expected and the main explanations are an increased educational mandate, increased grant revenue and lower costs.
THIS YEAR, the University of Gothenburg received just over 1,500 full-time study places from the government for initiatives to curb unemployment. It has not been a problem to put these into practice. The University of Gothenburg has even overproduced to a value of SEK 80 million. – A temporary overproduction will not have any major significance because you can save these places when there is a downturn, and thus even out variations over time. It is like having money in the bank, a kind of buffer, but it does not work forever, says CFO Peter Tellberg.
Seven out of eight faculties are providing more education than they are currently being paid for. One of the faculties that has not achieved the goal is the Faculty of Education, which has an underproduction of SEK 8 million. This applies to teacher training, and they are close to the limit for reimbursement.
ANOTHER POSITIVE trend is that grant income has increased by SEK 75 million, or 6 percent, compared with the previous year. The largest increase (59 million) is due to other state donors, but this part includes the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency’s extra contribution of SEK 35 million to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. – According to most analysts, other Swedish donors will have less money to distribute this year due to the pandemic. For example, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation has reduced its funding to the University of Gothenburg by SEK 62 million, states Peter Tellberg.
For several years now, the number of employees has increased, albeit at a fairly negligible rate, by 97 full-time employees compared with the same period last year. In percentage terms, the increase is greatest at the IT Faculty, the largest decrease is at the Faculty of Humanities and the Central Administration. A break in the trend is that more doctoral students have been employed and the number currently stands at almost 800.
The fact that operating costs have been lower during the pandemic is clear from the results. This is due to fewer trips and conferences as well as a decrease in the purchasing of goods and services. As expected, the cost of premises has increased by 3 percent, mainly as a consequence of the new building, Humanisten.
AFTER EIGHT MONTHS, all faculties have reported a significantly better result than was budgeted. On the other hand, the Central Administration has been in a difficult position financially for a couple of years, with a savings requirement of SEK 25 million. Now it turns out that during the pandemic, the Central Administration had lower costs and managed to save SEK 26 million compared to what was planned from the beginning of the year.
If the forecast stands, the University of Gothenburg will, by the end of the year, have added to its retained earnings by SEK 150 million, which will then amount to SEK 1.4 billion. Although it is a huge amount of money, Peter Tellberg emphasizes that the picture is more complex and that the situation is different within the university. – It is clear that such considerable retained earnings are a concern, and to have a large amount of unspent funds for assignments that have not yet been completed. This is something to which both the government and the National Audit Office have been paying attention. At the same time, many faculties are facing major challenges and it is understandable that they do not want to consume all the capital. Among other things, there is a concern regarding what the cost of all the new premises will be.
PETER TELLBERG
