University rectors, united in France Universités, and Snesup-FSU, the main higher education union, expressed concern on Friday about the financial situation of universities, 60 of which could be in deficit by 2024, with repercussions on their operations.
“Savings are found in all lines”
“In 2022, 15 universities had deficits in their financial accounts. In 2023, there were 30. For 2024, 60 out of 74 voted in favour of an initial deficit budget,” said Virginie Dupont, vice-president of the University of France Universités and president of the University of Bretagne Sud, confirming information from the specialist agency AEF.
“We are obviously concerned about this situation,” he added. “These are savings across the board, so there may be people who may not be hired in the event of departures, hiring that may be postponed” or “slowdowns in terms of spending.”
“The situation of universities is worsening and accelerating,” Anne Roger, secretary general of Snesup-FSU, told AFP. For the universities affected, “this means that if they do not want to fall into deficit, they will have to implement an austerity policy throughout the year,” she added.
500 million euros less in the Budget
“The budget issue is necessarily a hot one,” Anne Roger had already warned this week during a press conference. “We have just received some particularly worrying announcements, which deserve to be confirmed, because for the moment we have 500 million euros less than announced in the PLF (financial law) 2025” in the limit of the appropriations planned, she added.
And “at the same time, we know that we could reach the figure of 60 universities in deficit,” so “we are doubling the number of universities that run the risk of being in deficit by the end of the year.”
“This will obviously lead universities to draw increasingly on their working capital, as they were invited to do last year, and to suspend investments that are nevertheless essential for survival. All issues of ecological transition are the first to suffer,” she said.
Source: BFM TV
