Belt-tightening at universities sparks anger among staff

Walkout at Oulu University in response to threat of layoffs

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"University education is in a crisis. Laboratories do not operate only by the efforts of researchers and professors; assistants are also needed”, says chief technician Matti Polojärvi from the electronics laboratory at the University of Oulu.
      On Monday, the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors (JHL) staged a walkout in Oulu, when the university initiated co-determination talks, affecting 1,600 employees. The chairman of the university’s JHL members, Matti Polojärvi took part in the protest.
      The number of man-years worked at the University of Oulu should be decreased by 180. The reductions will primarily affect the support staff, while even teacher education, particularly in Kajaani, is on the firing line.
     
The members of staff and students gathered together in downtown Oulu, saying that the shortfall of EUR 8 to 9 million will have to be covered by using alternative methods other than redundancies.
      In the current year, the finances of all Finnish universities are strained, but at least no large-scale co-determination talks are on the horizon elsewhere.
      There will be only insignificant increases in the operating budgets of universities this year, with the exception of the new Aalto University.
     
The recent university reform itself is not to blame for the situation, but the new requirements naturally created new obligations and additional expenses, for which the universities have not been compensated entirely.
     ”The financing of the reform was undersized to begin with”, says Timo Lahti, the Director of Administration at the University of Tampere. On Monday, colleagues in Tampere expressed their support for the protestors in Oulu.
      ”We are trying to hold on, even though realistically speaking, our budget is also EUR 3 to 5 million in the red”, notes Keijo Virtanen, the Rector of the University of Turku.
      The new Universities Act, which was passed by Parliament in June 2009, is not to blame, Virtanen says, as it also gives new opportunities to improve the financial situation, through fund-raising, for instance.
     
Occasional co-determination talks are an everyday phenomenon, particularly in those universities where mergers have changed the distribution of tasks, as happened in Turku and in Eastern Finland.
      On January 1st 2010 when the new Universities Act became effective, the University of Turku and the Turku School of Economics merged to form the new University of Turku. At the same time, the University of Eastern Finland was formed through a merger of two formerly independent universities in Joensuu and Kuopio.
     Petri Lintunen, the Director of Administration at the University of Eastern Finland describes the situation: ”Our operational budget is at the level of 2009, but the costs are higher. We are having a hard time adjusting.”
     The University of Oulu is now trying to do at one go what other universities have been doing little by little. In Lappeenranta, co-determination talks were targeted at a larger group last year.
      ”We were pondering the question of what the university should be like in comparison with what it had become in the course of many years”, notes Ilkka Pöyhönen, the Rector of the Lappeenranta University of Technology.
      The number of staff was reduced by 50 employees, of whom 12 were made redundant. According to Pöyhönen, the subsequent savings amounted to approximately EUR 1.5 million. ”This year we have to manage with a zero budget”, he added.
     
”I announced already last year that the reform does not involve dismissals”, asserts Thomas Wilhelmsson, the Rector of the University of Helsinki. Nevertheless, he complains about the steep increase in payroll expenses and rents in recent years.
      ”Today we manage somehow, but the upcoming pay settlement will have to remain reasonably close to zero”, Wilhelmsson argues.
      Lauri Lajunen, the Rector of the University of Oulu, also says that the reduced basic funding as well as the fact that the expenses have gone out of control both put a strain on the financial situation of Finnish universities.
      ”A total of EUR 5 million of the deficit is attributable to pay rises. For many years, temporary solutions have been used to problems. Now we want to have a permanent solution”, said Lajunen, who received an honorary doctorate at the University of Petrozavodsk on Monday.
      ”The structural problem in Oulu has been developing over several years. It is not a consequence of the Government’s actions”, noted Minister of Education Henna Virkkunen (National Coalition Party), who was in Brussels on Monday.
     According to Virkkunen, some funds could be allocated for salary increases of universities in the supplementary budget, if the increases are consistent with the level of pay increases in the public administration.
     
FACTFILE: The University of Oulu employs a staff of 3,000
     
The number of employees at the University of Oulu is 3,000, of whom a total of 1,600 are involved in the co-determination talks which begun on Monday.
     
The required cutback on staff is some 180 man-years which equals an annual savings target of approximately EUR 6 million.
     
Further cost-cutting measures include reductions in premises.
     
Personnel costs make EUR 145 million (66%) of the total costs of the university, while the costs for premises amount to EUR 30 million (14%).
     
The goal is to balance the finances by the end of 2010.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Aalto University praised by Silicon Valley innovation expert (7.4.2009)
  Demonstrators offer chilly reception to new Universities Act (20.2.2009)
  Helsinki University again found to offer best conditions for study (30.5.2008)

Links:
  The Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors (JHL)
  University of Oulu

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