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Dear Colleagues,
This week, we gathered the deanery and the leaders from all our institutes and units for an annual economic seminar. The topic was: What does a new economic reality mean for the Faculty of Medicine – how does it affect us and how shall we at the faculty work to ensure a sustainable economy.
Tighter Economy
In the past few months, we have all read in Khrono about the new economic reality for the university sector, with headlines such as "The party is over – there is no longer growth in the sector," and "The higher education sector must become even better at generating income in other ways". From central UiO, there is a clear message that the costs at each faculty must align with the allocation.
The entire faculty now has a tighter economy, and we closely monitor the economic developments at all our units. Particularly, Helsam is now in a situation where costs exceed the allocation. Significant work is currently underway to find good solutions for a sustainable economy. We must be proactive moving forward and ensure financial predictability at all our institutes and units.
Increased Financial Awareness Needed
Thanks to all of you, the Faculty of Medicine is an excellent faculty delivering very good results. We have highly attractive study programmes and conduct outstanding research. At the same time, we see the allocation from the Ministry of Education and Research via UiO decreasing. We are not compensated for high wage growth, and we are subject to general framework cuts.
In the 2025 state budget, we are allocated 15 new study places for medicine, but otherwise, there is great risk of further reductions in allocations moving forward. On the research side, we have long performed very well, and there were many pleasing allocations in 2024. However, in the recent period, our researchers have submitted fewer applications to the NFR.
We should also increase awareness around research funding and cost coverage (cost recovery). During the seminar, we also discussed the new UiO allocation model for funds from the Ministry, which is up for consideration in the UiO board next week. It gives us new incentives, particularly concerning credit production and research applications to the EU.
The leadership group at the faculty will now continue working on these issues both in the short and long term. We will work together across institutes and units and together with you to find the best solutions.
Best regards, Hanne