The Faculty of Law faces a potential deficit beyond 2026, but it cannot manage with even fewer staff. Therefore, significantly more external funding must be secured.
The faculty shared this in its policy statement on the third quarter. Without intervention, it could take until 2030 for the faculty to eliminate its annual deficits. This conflicts with the agreements made between all faculties and the university’s board of directors to achieve a balanced budget by 2026.
Due to the deficit, the faculty will already reduce its workforce by around 45 FTE in the coming years. ‘This presents a challenge’, says Law dean Wilbert Kolkman. ‘We also don’t want the workload to increase because fewer employees have to do the same amount of work.’
2 million euros extra
To prevent further staff reductions, alternative funding sources must be identified to bridge the gap. This challenge is ‘significant but achievable’, Kolkman asserts. This year, the faculty expects a deficit of approximately 3 million euros while generating around 3.5 million annually euros in external funding. This needs to rise to approximately 5 to 5.5 million euros.
The faculty plans to achieve this by offering training programmes for practising lawyers, forming more partnerships on research projects—such as with the Public Prosecution Service or research institutes—and securing more research grants.
Developments
One complicating factor is the stagnating influx of students. International applicants are deterred by the proposals in the Internationalisation in Balance Act, which impacts revenue.
Nevertheless, there are some positive developments: so far this year, the faculty’s loss has been 600,000 euros less than anticipated. This is due to a significant reduction in the number of unused leave days, which no longer need to be compensated. ‘There is also some leeway in the faculty reserve’, Kolkman notes. The faculty is therefore optimistic about its ability to return to a neutral budget by 2026.