Universities in Jeopardy: The University of Montpellier Voices Its Concerns
Committed to defending a public, career-oriented, and research-intensive university, Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier, wishes to express his concerns about the increasing financial pressures facing institutions of higher education.
For many years now, universities have been asked to take on new responsibilities (commitment to the ecological transition, expanding support for career placement, establishing a presence in regional areas and balanced-growth cities, improving support for inclusion and disability, initiatives to promote student health, and efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence…), the costs of which have never been fully covered by the government.
More recently, the government has implemented numerous human resources measures that have not been fully compensated:
- This is the case with the so-called “Guerini” index-based measures " (a 3.5% increase in 2022 and a 1.5% increase in 2023, with a 5-point adjustment in 2024), which will cost the University of Montpellier 7 million euros in 2024—a cost that will be carried over to 2025;
- This is also true of other programs launched by the government (the sustainable mobility allowance, the CET, the telework allowance, etc.), which represent an additional cost of 3 million euros already borne by the institution in 2024—a cost that will also be carried over into 2025.
Without questioning the value of these measures for our community, it is nevertheless important to point out that the government must take responsibility for its decisions and cannot leave it up to its operators to finance the measures it announces. A common-sense principle is that the decision-maker (the government) should be the one to pay!
At the same time, the University has had to absorb—and continues to absorb—the rise in utility costs linked to the energy crisis (an additional annual cost of 2 million euros that has not been offset). For 2025, the total cost of all the measures mentioned above that have not been offset already amounts to more than 12 million euros. To date, the significant level of internal revenue generated by the University of Montpellier, combined with rigorous management, has helped cushion the impact of these additional expenses imposed by the government.
However, added to this is the government’s very recent announcement that it will increase, without compensation, the contributions to the Special Allocation Account for the civil service pension system (CAS Pensions), which will result in an additional cost of 5 million euros. In total, we are therefore already facing 17 million euros in uncompensated expenses for the 2025 budget. These expenses, which are not compensated by the government, are putting the University in a difficult position by significantly depleting its working capital (reserves).
However, universities’ working capital is not a “war chest,” as some might believe. It is the result of sound and rigorous management that enables the institution to carry out large-scale operations for the benefit of our students and staff. Forcing us to draw heavily on our working capital—to the point of depleting it or even reducing it to zero—would completely cripple the university!
Faced with this gradual withdrawal of government support, universities will be forced to scale back their initiatives—particularly in the areas of building renovations, support for innovation and research, investments in teaching, and the range of programs offered—even as French universities have gained undeniable visibility in international rankings in recent years.
This is a serious blow to those who dedicate themselves to our institutions every day.
This is a serious blow to the role universities play as a social ladder for our students.
This is a serious blow to the economic development efforts we represent in our regions.
Ultimately, this is a serious blow to the appeal of higher education and research in France.
The University of Montpellier, deeply committed to the values of public service, cannot accept that it will no longer be able to pursue the ambitious momentum it has successfully set in motion.