20 June 2024

The university newsletter of Tuesday 18 June featured a story on the outline agreement. It is not yet clear what the government's plans are for higher education but we are particularly concerned about proposed cuts and calls for fewer international students.

The article is mainly a call for better cooperation and staying in dialogue. At FGGA, this is also our aspiration and it becomes even more important now. We do not yet know exactly what the plans will mean for FGGA. Fortunately, as a growing faculty, we have a strong starting position. We expect to continue to grow in the number of students and research assignments. We also have a relatively small overhead. Together, this forms a solid operational base and a good starting point to avoid the negative impact of the new government policy. Our concern is the high workload. How we can live up to our goal of continuing to reduce workload in the times ahead remains a joint challenge. Making good choices about what we do and don't do is more important than ever.

To be fair, the new cabinet's plans do make it more difficult for FGGA to continue its current path. As stated, we don't know exactly what the plans are but right now we don't think the impact will be dramatic. But if things go against us and the plans turn out more negative, we will have to make more cuts and even more difficult choices. Let's also name that now. As a board, we strongly underline the call to stay in conversation. Talk to your supervisor if you are worried about something. Or schedule a meeting with someone from the Board. Our door is always open. We may not have all the answers yet but always a listening ear.

The Faculty Board of FGGA