Overview: This is how the administration reform will hit staff

For employees at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), the administration reform has been awaited with bated breath.

A comprehensive cost reduction plan will discontinue approximately 380 technical and administrative full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, as UCPH cuts DKK 300 million annually on its administration costs.

The management draft has been released and Thursday 25 April it will be submitted for consultation in the staff-management collaboration committee (HSU).

According to the draft, the university’s administration is to be centralized in a single unit that will service students, staff and managers.

A new central administration (the university administration) will bring together eight hitherto separate areas: Finance, education programme administration, communication, IT, innovation administration, HR, research administration, and building services).

The new university administration will consist of three administrative centres, which are to be located in Frederiksberg/City, South Campus and North Campus, as well as in eight group units.

Apart from the central university administration, there will be local administration units, called staff offices.

Confused? Don’t worry. Here is a comprehensive overview of management’s outline for the administration reform and how it will affect the eight different administrative areas.

Campus and buildings

According to the management proposal, the area is to be divided between a group unit (which is to contain 20 per cent of staff) and the three proposed campus administrations (which are to contain the remaining 80 per cent of staff). All top-level tasks are placed in the central group unit, while the more user-oriented tasks related to operations and maintenance are to be placed under the three administration centres.

The campus and buildings area is to save DKK 40 million annually. This will primarily come from layoffs. Once the reform is fully phased in, there will be 270 employees.

Research administration

Research administration staff are to be concentrated in a central group unit (30 per cent) and in the three administration centres (70 per cent). A few staff will be placed in staff units at the department and faculty level.

The research domain is to cut DKK 20 million annually. This will primarily come from layoffs. Once the reform is fully phased in, there will be 115 employees.

HR

In the future, 30 per cent of human resources (HR) employees will be placed in a central group unit, while 70 per cent will be placed in the three administration centres.

Management says that the administration processes are to be digitized to a greater extent than now, and the area is to be simplified and made more uniform in its practices.

HR is to cut DKK 35 million annually, DKK 30 million of which will come from staff layoffs. In the future, the HR area is to employ 220 full-time equivalent staff.

Innovation administration

The management draft wants all employees in the area to be centralized in a single group unit, which will comprise 40 full-time equivalent staff.

Innovation administration is to save DKK 4 million annually, primarily through layoffs.

IT

In the future, 320 full-time equivalent staff are to be in this area, with 90 per cent of them located in the centralized group unit and the remaining 10 per cent in the three administrative centres.

Staff in the central group unit are responsible for the overarching IT systems at UCPH, while the three administrative centres will take care of user-oriented IT support.

The IT domain is to cut DKK 40 million annually, DKK 30 million of which will come from staff layoffs.

Communication

Staff working with communication will be distributed among a central group unit (70 per cent) and the three administration centres (30 per cent).

The area will, in total, cut DKK 20 million annually, primarily from layoffs.

One of the proposed cuts is to close down the University Post’s public domain and move the news media to the UCPH intranet. At the same time, the UCPH management wants to cut the semi-annual physical publication of the Danish-language Uniavisen magazine.

When the reform is fully phased in, the communications area will consist of 110 full-time equivalent staff.

Education administration

Management proposes that the educational programme administration will be divided between a central group unit and the three administration centres.

The employees in the central group unit will deal with tasks related to UCPH relations to business partners and stakeholders, including educational policymakers, while the three administration centres will primarily address students and the academic environment.

The educational programme administration will consist of 450 full-time equivalents, of which 70 per cent will belong to the administration centres, while 30 per cent will be affiliated with the central group unit.

A total DKK 65 million is to be cut in this area – solely through the dismissal of staff.

Finances

In total, this area will lose 250 full-time staff equivalents. This will be divided equally between its group unit and the three administrative centres.

The central group unit will take care of overall financial management, while the three administrative centres will be responsible for daily operations at faculty, department and rectorate level.

In the draft, management describes how the current financial management is characterized by different budget models and many local solutions. The new reform is intended to put an end to this.

The finance area is to cut DKK 50 million annually, DKK 30 million of which will come from staff layoffs.

Staff offices (or ‘local administrations’)

At university, faculty and department level, new staff offices are to support various management tasks. They will be smaller than their present set-up. In total, the new staff offices will account for 350 full-time staff equivalents, and DKK 20 million will be cut by staff layoffs.