Download the 2025 Draft Budget here (in Dutch, pdf, 203 p.) 

The 2025 draft budget shows how the Schoof administration's cuts will affect the UvA. Vice-President Jan Lintsen, who is the UvA Executive Board member responsible for Finance: ‘The UvA opposes the central government's cuts. There was very little time available between Budget Day (Prinsjesdag), when the cuts were announced, and the deadline to present the UvA’s draft budget. We managed to calculate the financial consequences of the coalition programme for the UvA. Currently, the UvA's annual income is around €1 billion. With the government’s cuts, these could eventually fall by more than 10%. The times ahead will require many people’s creativity and commitment to meet the challenges. The UvA is in a good position to manage this, as the draft budget shows. However, we are drawing on the university’s financial reserves.'

What do the cuts from The Hague entail? Among other things:

• From 1 January 2025, the UvA will no longer receive a government grant for incentive scholarships and starter scholarships. However, there will be a new budget for workload and talent policy. This effectively means that the UvA is receiving €29 million less from the government.
• From 2026 onwards, government support to universities will be cut on the basis of numbers of international students and students who take too long to complete their studies. For the UvA, this means an estimated €20 million reduction in government funding in 2028. In the longer term, the total loss of UvA income (national government contribution and tuition fees) may amount to around €100 million per year because of these cuts.
• In addition, there may be further cuts from 2026 onwards as a result of government-wide targets for subsidies and, for example, efficiency cuts in the central government itself. 

For a number of faculties, the loss of income comes on top of the already existing challenges, financial or otherwise. In this respect, it is important that the transition from a time with start-up and incentive grants, to a time without these grants, is handled properly. Based on a UvA-wide policy framework, faculties will be asked to adopt transition policies. 

In Chapter 2 of the draft budget you can read more about the three outlines on which we can cope with the cuts at the UvA. 

Submit a response to the draft budget

You, too, can contribute your thoughts and join the discussion on the draft budget. The Executive Board welcomes responses to the 2025 draft budget from both staff and students. Please feel free to submit questions and comments by sending an email to financienencontrol-bb@uva.nl. The feedback period will run until 24 October 2024. Take a look at the webpage about finances and the frequently asked questions before you send your email.

Right of consent from representative advisory bodies

Once the feedback period is over, the feedback will be compiled, commented on and submitted to the representative advisory bodies. The consultation period for the faculty representative advisory bodies will run until 13 November 2024. The approval period and the consultation period for the central representative advisory bodies will run until 27 November 2024.

Budget to be finalised in December 2024

Upon approval of the main outline of the budget by the central representative advisory bodies, the final draft of the 2025 budget will be drawn up in December this year. If all goes according to plan, the Supervisory Board will approve the budget at its meeting on 19 December 2024. The final budget will be published on the UvA website in English and Dutch.