The interim prognosis of a SEK 186 surplus is alarming. Allocated resources should be utilised on developing the organisation.
Photo: Malin Grönborg
For 2017, the University made a surplus of SEK 102 million and the collective agency capital* was SEK 612 million. The prognosis in the latest interim report estimates a financial performance for 2018 of SEK 186 million in surplus. This would be the second year that Umeå University is increasing its agency capital, which means that resources are not being fully utilised in our efforts to develop our organisation.
According to Hans Adolfsson, this development has several reasons; one being a slow system – it takes time for the investments made to have an impact and become visible – a second reason being a continued anxiety over hard times to come.
"Of course we can afford to hire more employees and doctoral students, and even if it takes time to recruit, it's still not the entire explanation as to why so much money doesn't get spent. We need to find methods to stimulate our organisation and get departments and offices to venture investments in staff and infrastructure to continue progressing," he says.
Already this spring, the prognosis showed a large surplus, SEK 160 million, for 2018. At that point, the Vice-Chancellor assigned the faculties, Umeå School of Education, the University Library and the University Administration with the task to produce action plans on how to utilise and invest available resources to a higher extent in 2018–2019. The action plans were presented on 7 September.
As a result of the latest interim prognosis being indicative of a huge surplus, the University Management is planning to take further measures. This means that a small part of the 2019 surplus can be recalled from faculties and similar if it exceeds a certain level of agency capital per domain at the end of 2019. The Vice-Chancellor will thereafter decide on what strategic ventures these funds should be used for instead.
"Seeing that this is the second year of increased financial surplus, the trend needs to be broken in 2019," says Per Ragnarsson, Deputy University Director and Budget Director.
Umeå University's expected surplus for 2018 is remarkably higher than any corresponding figure at other universities.
"It's pressing that all managerial levels at the University as far as possible aim toward annually utilising available resources towards conducting and developing top-quality education and research," says Hans Adolfsson.
What is "agency capital" (myndighetskapital)?
Agency capital is the sum of all accrued profits/losses over the years. The profit / loss is defined as surplus/deficit money from external funding sources from completed research projects, plus ALL surplus/deficit money from previous years faculty and educational funding – regardless of whether the projects are completed or not.
Source: Lund University
For more information, please contact:
Per Ragnarsson, Deputy University Director and Budget Director