- Strategic plan must bring greater clarity fast.
- Interim manager Bert Meijer: ‘the pace of the budget cuts lies extremely high.’
A budgetary cut of 3.6 million, to be realised as from the first of September, 2017. That is the task that Human Movement and Education has before them. A ‘hefty assignment’, as said by interim manager Bert Meijer.
The division has shown a structural deficiency for years (Meijer: “everyone at Windesheim had an opinion about the matter”) but the current emergency situation has developed in the recent months due to the growth of other study programmes (and the IPA-calculation system that will be used) which meant that the division received less funds. With that an added discount of 3.6 million was given by The Hague for the entire University of Applied Sciences with criterion from the Regulatory Council that Windesheim must show their financial stability (solvency). All together the division now has a retrenchment of 3.6 million. Lately Meijer has put effort into receiving a clear image of the deficit. This is mostly due to the high number of unfunded students, the costs of the job mix and the Research Centre.
Meijer realises that the staff is concerned. “It is a sad situation. The extend and the pace of the budgetary cuts are high. However, this is the situation in which we have to work in. The Executive Board and the other divisional- and support directories are thinking along, thankfully. They as well have budget cuts to push. Despite that, they have agreed to a financial provision to structurally bring our budgetary cut to zero, but despite that it will be all sails on deck for us as a division.”
The management team has proposed a Strategic Budgetary Plan that consists of three periods with several sub-plans, to the unit participation council and the Steering Group. The most important assignment is to bring down the size of the Research Centre so that it becomes an equivalent to other divisions. “Employees will have to transfer within the division, to education or entrepreneurship. We are creating positions by terminating temporary and external contracts. We will try to make an offer to everyone, however, you can see people looking around and leaving. At moments like these it is when you hear co-workers say that the best are the first to go. However, I say it brings opportunities for new talents.” (MH)
