51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

Record-breaking 10 per cent inflation is squeezing university budgets across the eurozone, with public universities in central Europe already losing staff as a result.?

In Slovakia, the government agreed a €?17 million (?14.6 million) top-up to 2022 budgets to cover soaring energy costs, but universities are still debating internally whether to also close a month early in mid-November to trim winter fuel bills, a Slovak Rectors¡¯ Conference (SRK) spokeswoman said.?

The?SRK??to get a €72 million budget for 2023 ¡°without strings attached¡±, responding to a?government offer of?just €27 million, with?a cut of 2,000 university jobs ¨C 10 per cent of the total nationally. The SRK said the proposed decimation of staff was ¡°absolutely unacceptable and unrealistic to implement¡± and that rectors were ¡°prepared for all forms of protest¡±.?

Radom¨ªr Masaryk, vice-rector for external relations at Comenius 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Bratislava, told?Times Higher Education?that the Ministry of Finance¡¯s methodology for arriving at the 2,000 layoffs was?¡°fuzzy¡±. However, he said the national target might be achieved ¡°naturally¡±: by?retirements and layoffs linked to a recent accreditation round, which closed several programmes.?

Professor Masaryk said increased costs?and recent cuts?had so far hit arts and humanities staff hardest, with Comenius¡¯ Faculty of Philosophy losing?25 staff to layoffs?during the 2021-22 academic year. He said the recent cuts ¡°would¡¯ve hurt even if it wasn¡¯t for all these other developments, but because of them they hurt us much more¡±.??

In Austria, ¡°crisis talks¡± between parliament, the ministry and?the rectors¡¯ conference (Uniko) ended without an agreement on?projected budget shortfalls, which would be driven?chiefly by the effect of inflation on staff?costs, about two-thirds of the total across?the sector.?

¡°It¡¯s developed from a walking to a galloping inflation and the budget situation of universities still remains very much the same,¡± said Uniko vice-president and rector of the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Klagenfurt,?Oliver Vitouch, referring to the 2022-24 institutional budgets that were?fixed with the ministry in mid-October 2020.?

He said that the national shortfall in university budgets had grown to €1.2 billion, and that a €500 million top-up agreed with the government earlier this year would not even cover the projected shortfall from inflating salaries over 2022-24 ¨C about €509 million.?

In a statement after the talks, Uniko said the government had decided to wait until a national deal on?university salaries had been agreed, likely in January, before deciding about the requested extra funding. In the meantime, the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Vienna has frozen recruitment, including the renewal?of temporary researcher contracts.??

¡°We¡¯re not cutting any positions; we¡¯re simply not replacing people that are retiring, that are leaving, for whatever reason,¡± said 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Vienna rector Sebastian Sch¨¹tze.?¡°There will certainly be several hundred positions involved in this, we¡¯re talking about several million euros,¡± he added, referring to the temporary freeze until February.?

Professor Sch¨¹tze said layoffs?that hit research or teaching capacities were a?¡°red line¡± he would not cross, also ruling out using institutional reserves to cover inflating personnel costs.?

The 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Innsbruck has no plans to freeze recruitment, but rector Tilmann M?rk?said he will limit it to the bare necessities. ¡°We will look at each of those positions and whether they are necessary for teaching and research. There are people who are completely necessary, and then there are wishes and nice-to-haves,¡± he said.

Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger, rector of the Vienna 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Economics and Business (WU), said freezing recruitment would be ¡°drops on a hot stone¡±, making little difference to the medium-term sustainability of her small university.?

Academic eyes in Austria are now set on the upcoming public sector salary negotiations, which will set pay-rise expectations for the subsequent university staff talks. Vienna¡¯s Professor Sch¨¹tze said every 1 percentage point increase in salaries would cost his university over €4 million a year. Professor Hanappi-Egger said the same rise would cost WU about €1 million.

ben.upton@timeshighereducation.com