How the economic situation will affect Health

There is war in Europe, which has sent the prices of energy and materials sky-high. 

This can also be felt at Aarhus University. After having discussed the situation with AU’s Main Liaison Committee (HSU), the senior management team has applied several tools to reduce the total costs, with immediate effect.

From 1 September, a qualified hiring freeze has been introduced which includes all administrative and academic positions throughout Aarhus University.

At Health, Dean Anne-Mette Hvas, together with the department heads, is in the process of identifying positions that may be granted an exemption.

Only appointments which are crucial to the organisation may be filled, so all vacant positions will be assessed over the next 14 days, says Anne-Mette Hvas. This also applies to positions that are fully financed by foundations, or which were advertised before the hiring freeze began.

“We will assess all positions – including those financed by external funders. We are doing this to obtain an overview of the extent to which they draw upon resources in the organisation – they may for example require administrative support, a laboratory technician, or a postdoc,” says Anne-Mette Hvas.

She has invited the department heads and the head of the PhD School to individual interviews, and she will then convene a joint meeting with the entire group, where the task will be to prioritise the rest of the year’s appointments on the basis of the overall picture. The Dean assesses that the process will take 14 days, after which the department heads will announce how the process will in the first instance affect both the ordinary positions and the positions financed by external funding.

“We will look together at what we can reduce, because the prioritisation is a shared responsibility,” says Anne-Mette Hvas, who is aware that the qualified hiring freeze creates both worries and difficulties in the organisation:

“We must maintain our educational obligation, but the savings may affect all parts of our organisation, because there will be things that will be delayed when we cannot appoint the people we want to. We will definitely feel it.”

Changes in behaviour are difficult – but necessary

All faculties must identify measures that can reduce costs in 2022. These might for example include postponing building and renovation works or digitisation projects.

There is not a lot of that at Health, says the Dean, as most of it is at central level, but all departments at Health are in the process of exploring where they can reduce consumption and improve financial performance.

The whole university has stepped up its ambition to reduce power consumption, and in this connection, there is a need for each individual employee to play their part.

“Electricity prices have risen so much that we really can save money by reducing our electricity consumption. We’re on a burning platform, and that requires us to change our habits and workflows,” says Anne-Mette Hvas.

For example, staff members at Health must not use fume cupboards to store chemicals anymore, as an unused fume cupboard costs DKK 100 per day. That amounts to DKK 12,000 for the rest of the year, for each of the approximately 100 fume cupboards in the faculty – a total of DKK 1.2 million.

The freezers are also in focus. In all locations where it will not compromise the frozen material, the freezer temperature will be increased from minus 80 to minus 70 degrees, while freezers set to minus 150 degrees will be increased to 140 degrees.  

“A minus 80-degree freezer can cost up to DKK 20,000 in electricity for the remainder of the year. So can we tidy up and turn off some freezers completely? We must turn off research equipment when we’re not using it. It must for example be turned off at night and at the weekends – even though it is difficult to do,” emphasises the Dean.

“Some of the changes are based on behavioural changes, and we do not have a tradition of interfering with the behaviour of our research groups. But we’re doing that now, and I find that people are very understanding of the situation,” she says.

“I can see a willingness to make a difference, and a desire to discuss this. But we are completely dependent on action, especially in the research labs. Many people are aware that we are acting in response to a catastrophe that is much greater in another part of the world. It’s clear that this will be a difficult task, but there is a clear will to solve it and to do our best.”

A poorer indoor climate

Another consequence of the energy savings will be an altered indoor climate in some offices, as well as in the teaching and meeting rooms.

Today, the air conditioning turns on automatically in many places when the room temperature reaches 21 degrees, but from now on the limit will be 25 degrees, says Head of Building Services Conor Leerhøy.

This may result in greater temperature fluctuations on warm days, he says:

“But it won’t affect the CO2 level, and it won’t be unbearable to be there.”

Estates Facilities at Health are in the process of creating an overview and proposing ways in which the departments could reduce their energy consumption both temporarily and permanently. Amongst other things, a number of sensors will be installed which can register when people are present in the rooms, and regulate the indoor climate accordingly.

“We’re not going to be able to compensate for the whole extra expense this year. But together, we can make a huge difference,” says Conor Leerhøy.

From surplus to deficit

As things look right now, Health will have to pay an extra DKK 11 million for its electricity in 2022. On top of this comes lost educational revenues of DKK 4.6 million, with the degree programme in Medicine, amongst others, experiencing a fall in student full-time equivalents (FTEs), as medical students are currently taking a longer break between Bachelor and Master’s level than previously.

The programmes at Sports Science and Public Health will lose considerable FTE incomes on a permanent basis, as downsizing is planned, and the Master’s degree programme in Nursing at Campus Emdrup is due to be transferred to RUC.

All this stands in stark contrast to the originally budgeted surplus of DKK 5 million for the year.

“The situation is serious and will not be resolved by the New Year. I expect the costs to be persistently elevated, so we need to correct as much as possible now,” says Anne-Mette Hvas.

She acknowledges the great work that has already been done in the departments with due financial diligence, for example at the Department of Public Health, which stands to lose more than 70 study places over the coming year.

“It naturally makes it extremely difficult, but together we must look at where we can make the savings,” says Anne-Mette Hvas.

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How will the departments save electricity?

t is important that all employees at Health turn off the lights and computers when they go home. Other electronic equipment must as far as possible be switched off or placed on standby when not in use.

Below, you can read about the efforts of the individual departments.

Christian Lindholst, Department of Forensic Medicine:
“The hospital’s technical department is in the process of adjusting its AC equipment to turn itself down outside normal working hours, and they are calculating the cost of replacing the department’s fluorescent lights with LED lamps.”

Ole Bækgaard, Department of Public Health:
“We are, of course, taking the statement from the senior management team very seriously, and I can see that some employees have already begun some small initiatives of their own by turning off photocopiers and coffee machines when they’re not in use. But we will only be able to focus on the major strategic efforts in the coming weeks, when we have obtained data on the current usage at the department.”

Jørgen Frøkiær, Department of Clinical Medicine:
“We make constant efforts to reduce the department’s climate footprint and promote a climate-friendly development. In the department’s management team, we will carefully consider how we best can get through these savings, too.”

Thomas G. Jensen, Department of Biomedicine:
“We are recruiting ambassadors on each floor of the buildings, whose job it will be to advise colleagues on how to save power, and encourage them to do so. But I find that a lot of people have already taken on the task – when I walk through the buildings, I notice that things are turned off to a much greater extent than they used to be. We are also in the process of replacing old freezers with new, energy-optimised ones.”

Siri Beier Jensen, Department of Dentistry and Oral Health:
“We have long been ambitious in relation to working with Aarhus University’s climate strategy, and as a result, we have already come a long way in identifying possible energy savings. But we’re going over it all again now, and we’re in the process of analysing how our electricity consumption can be reduced even further.”

Read more: AU nedjusterer årets økonomiske resultat og indfører besparelser