By Lea Laursen Pasgaard, AAU Communication. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication

Even though 2023 will mean rigorous prioritisation, Aalborg University (AAU) is sticking to the roll-out of its new strategy with a wide range of broadly embraced strategic goals. The plan assumes that over the next three years the university will make a significant dent in its equity.

- As a university, we cannot afford to stand still. We need to move forward so that our education and research live up to society’s demands and expectations of us – and the expectations we have for ourselves. Also in challenging economic times, says Rector Per Michael Johansen.

Challenges from several fronts 

The budget shows that the university is budgeting a deficit of DKK 62 million in 2023 and expects to use DKK 124 million in equity for strategic initiatives in 2023-2025. Compared to the expectations for the 2022 final result, this leaves the university with DKK six million in available equity at the end of 2025. According to the rector, this is not satisfactory because it limits strategic flexibility and leaves a smaller buffer for unforeseen expenses.

The Finance and Accounts Department is currently working on analyses of the financial situation and on coming up with suggestions for the university to secure its finances in the best possible way in the years to come. According to the rector, several different factors will challenge the university's finances:

- Our financial situation – like many others – is affected by rising prices, and the turmoil in the financial markets has affected the return on our investments. At the same time, salary costs are increasing by four percent compared to 2022, which is mainly due to the overall general salary increase, explains Per Michael Johansen.

The university also expects that grant-funded activities – i.e. external grants for research projects – will increase by 33 percent from 2021 to 2025. This reflects the university's very high ambitions in this area. More research projects mean more staff, but grants from private foundations come with relatively little money for the project-related costs that accompany a research project – so more grant-funded activities mean more expenses.

At the same time, the university is looking at a time of less revenue for its educational activities with the number of students expected to fall by 12 percent over the next three years. This is partly due to year cohorts getting smaller.

- It can also have financial consequences for AAU if the taximeter increase for the degree programmes in the humanities and social sciences is not continued or preferably made permanent. Similarly, the government's plan to halve half of all Master's programmes creates further uncertainty about our financial foundation in the future, the rector says.

A theme in the department visits 

To supplement the analyses done by the Finance and Accounts Department, the rector is inviting staff members to provide input for solutions. This will be a theme in all the department visits the rector has planned during the next year.

- I know our organisation possesses extensive knowledge on day-to-day life and thus we could expect good suggestions for improving efficiency or addressing just simple day-to-day difficulties that could mean freeing up resources, concludes the rector.