Student - March 15, 2007

Extra money for equipment and teaching

Financially, 2006 was an excellent year for Wageningen UR. While the research institutes showed a positive balance of twelve million euros, the university ended the year with five million in its coffers, and VHL with four million.

The Executive Board plans to use some of the profits to acquire new equipment for the university and to invest in education and talent. The profit from VHL and the research institutes will be used to restore the financial reserves. The institutes’ reserves shrunk considerably in recent years as a result of the expensive Focus 2006 reorganisation. VHL’s favourable results are due to the sale of the Larenstein building in Deventer.
Part of the university’s windfall is also probably a one-off, and the Executive Board plans to spend part of it: one million will be set aside for buying equipment, and half a million each for teaching innovations and ‘talent development’. Towards the summer the Executive Board will assess whether the university windfalls are structural. If they are, more money will be made available for education and research.