UCD to slash wage bill as debt spirals out of control
UCD staff leave a meeting on the financial situation of the university yesterday. Below, staff members cram into the O?Reilly Hall in Belfield as UCD president Dr Hugh Brady outlines a variety of cost-cutting measures. Photo: STEVE HUMPHREYS
'A further deterioration in the funding position has led to a worsening of the deficit'
UNIVERSITY College, Dublin, is seeking massive cuts in its pay bill as it struggles to avoid piling a further €20m onto its unprecedented current budget deficit of €15m.
The UCD cuts were unveiled yesterday as it emerged that 300 professors in the university sector, including UCD, are to enjoy backdated pay rises of €10,000 each a year, recommended two years ago and delayed because of questions over unauthorised allowances paid to some academics.
In the latest moves, there will be no enforced job losses, but savings will be sought through a variety of measures. These include a voluntary pay freeze or cut, early retirement/redundancy/redeployment/leave of absence, reduced hours and a recruitment freeze and non-payment of bonuses.
Worsening
UCD president Dr Hugh Brady outlined the university's worsening financial position to a meeting attended by more than 1,000 of the college's 3,500 staff at lunchtime yesterday.
Paying out what is due this year alone in national pay awards would add €15m to the university's costs.
While a pay freeze or cuts are among the areas suggested for discussion with staff representatives, UCD would be guided in this area by whatever emerges from the national recovery talks, which are under way between the social partners.
Payroll accounts for 74pc of UCD's costs and so is a primary target of the campaign to turn around the finances of the university, which has an annual turnover of €384m.
Non-pay costs will also be subject to tighter controls, such as reduced use of consultants and agency staff and further negotiations with suppliers of services on prices.
Dr Brady said the college would be seeking to increase revenue through maintaining its share of undergraduate student numbers, increasing graduate numbers and recruiting more international students, as well as raising income from commercial activities.
He outlined measures that had been introduced in 2008 to reduce the deficit, such as tighter controls on recruitment and deferment of projects, but a "further deterioration in the funding position has led to a worsening of the deficit".
Dr Brady said the accumulated delict of €15m could increase by up to €20m this year for a number of reasons:
- Further reduction in government funding -- down €13m this year already.
- Under-funding of academic disciplines, such as veterinary medicine and Irish folklore.
- Underfunded research overhead costs, combined with a major rise in research activity.
- Implementation of UCD's change programme
- Implementation of national pay awards which added €15m in pay costs in 2008/2009 alone.
Apart from seeking to avoid an increase in the record €15m deficit in day-to-day spending, Dr Brady wants to eliminate the €15m shortfall over a period of five years.
He said UCD faced a difficult balancing act to put the university on a firm financial footing, to maintain the quality of its teaching and research and to contribute to Ireland's national recovery process.
"We have serious financial concerns to deal with, but UCD will not be distracted from our goal to be internationally recognised as a university of excellence," he told the meeting.
John Dunnion, of the UCD Academic Staff association, said there was little unexpected in Dr Brady's presentation and he blamed most of the financial difficulties on the "continuous neglect by Government in the last number of years on funding for undergraduate teaching".
- Katherine Donnelly
