4. Finances

In the analysis of the result, we reflect on the non-recurring income and expenses that affected the result. This is followed by an analysis of the changes from the budget, followed by the changes from 2024.

The net result was significantly affected by non-recurring income and expenses.

If we compare the actual figures with our budget, the difference appears to be significant. However, that is not the case. A significant proportion of the difference can be explained by the non-recurring factors explained above. These factors include the W&T funds, the revenue from which we have had to include in the operating results for this year, while the associated costs will be incurred in subsequent years. We received these funds from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The funds partly made up for low level of the fixed part of the government grant for the three ‘young’ universities. The fact that funding of this magnitude was allocated so late underlines the limited predictability of government policy and its impact on our budget and financial forecasts. The W&T funds therefore showed a positive result this year. That result was added to the earmarked reserve.

This year, the faculties and service units worked hard to implement improvements aimed at achieving a higher result. As a result, many organisational units performed better than budgeted. Various faculties adopted measures in 2025 to improve their financial situation over the long term. For example, two faculties implemented major improvement measures. Other faculties focused on increasing indirect funding and the third flow of funds. In a number of service units, too, higher income from these funding sources led to an improved result. Higher depreciation on fixed assets, accelerated depreciation and CIO projects brought forward (including the Tinbergen Building) have somewhat lessened the effect on the result. 

Due to the uncertainty around central government funding, efforts were made to reduce the number of FTEs. Many organisational units held back from filling vacancies. As a result, the number of FTEs was considerably lower than budgeted. People often have overly optimistic expectations regarding the replacement of staff and expansion of staffing levels; in practice, it often takes longer to fill vacancies. EUR managed to reduce its use of external contractors, leading to lower staffing costs in this area. The proportion of external contractors is now less than 4% (it was 4.7% in 2024 and 6% in 2023). It is these factors in particular that account for the positive variance from the budget, despite the higher pay increase and the provision set aside for the Employability Fund as a result of the 2025 collective labour agreement.

We do, however, note that our ability to deliver has fallen short. Making decisions about the allocation of funds, followed by drafting and implementing spending plans, often takes an unnecessarily long time. This also contributed to the higher result. Incidentally, as in previous years, there was still a degree of caution in the budgets. This was mainly linked to the uncertainty around government funding, but indirect funding and the third flow of funds are also difficult to estimate.

There were a number of other developments that affected the actual figures and resulted in differences from the budget, but to a much lesser extent. The student population is trending as expected, although the number of Dutch students fell more sharply than anticipated in the 2025-2026 academic year. However, the number of international students is still growing. Since students who are not covered by the EEA scheme pay a higher rate, the drop in tuition fee income was limited. This is also set to decline in the future. In addition, ‘Work in Progress’ projects were purged from our records and accelerated depreciation was applied to a number of assets. Combined with the postponement of extended useful lives or depreciation periods for buildings, this led to higher depreciation expenses. We experienced a number of malfunctions in the sanitary facilities and pipe system, which led to higher accommodation costs. Lastly, we received a higher amount from the government to compensate for indexation; this was offset by higher personnel expenses resulting from the increased collective labour agreement rates that took effect in July, and therefore had no impact on the final result.

Finally, the results of the related parties were, on balance, reasonably in line with the budget, although there were significant discrepancies between the budgeted and actual figures for these parties. EUR Holding and Erasmus Sport performed better than anticipated in the budget; conversely, RSM posted a negative result after a positive result had been included in the budget.

The aforementioned W&T funds and higher compensation for wage indexation resulted in a higher central government grant. This was mitigated to some extent by the fact that the initial central government grant was slightly lower than last year due to the lower baseline estimate. Tuition fee income also rose, from both statutory tuition fees and institutional tuition fees. The 9.3% increase in the tuition fee rate (statutory portion) for the 2024-2025 academic year had a significant impact. The income from institutional tuition fees increased as a result of growth in the number of students from outside the European Economic Area, but also due to the increase in the tuition fee rate for these students. More revenue from indirect funding and the third flow of funds for research projects (€10 million) explains the higher income from work commissioned by third parties.Meanwhile, the income from contract education has fallen slightly (by €3 million). Finally, the central government grant for the workplace function of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FGG) at Erasmus Medical Centre(EMC) was €5.2 million higher, while the income from services provided within FGG EMC and the income from secondments from the faculties, Erasmus Enterprise and EUR were over €3 million higher. Together, these account for the majority of the increase in ‘Other income’.

On the expenditure side, two non-recurring expenses from 2024 (a provision and the purchase of MRI equipment, shown under ‘Other expenses’) distort the picture. Taking this into account, the difference from 2024 is lower, at €4.5 million.

Generally speaking, it can be said that these lower costs are mainly the result of deliberate savings,

entirely in line with our cost-cutting mission. The salary increases in accordance with the collective labour agreement for universities that took effect on 1 July 2025(including the addition of €3.2 [million] to the Employability Fund), annual salary scale increases for staff and increases in the ‘Unemployment benefit contributions’ and ‘WGA excess’ provisions resulted in higher personnel expenses. The difference compared with last year is significantly offset by the release of employee benefit provisions following a reassessment of the percentage for service anniversaries (due to a higher probability of staff departures). Furthermore, the policy introduced to reduce the number of external contractors by 2025 was continued, resulting in a further reduction in expenditure on ‘Staff not on payroll’ (down by €6 million). The malfunctions in the sanitary facilities and pipe system also explain the difference from the actual figures for 2024.

The incidental costs of €3.7 million relating to the postponement of the VB26 project resulted in a difference in ‘Intangible fixed assets’. Some of the work by the contractor on the Tinbergen Building was completed later than planned (although this did not affect the overall construction schedule), but this is not apparent when comparing the balance sheet with the budget; this is due to the aforementioned timing difference, the reason for which was accounted for in 2024. In the case of ‘Financial fixed assets’ too, the difference is mainly a matter of timing. As regards ‘Other receivables’, we did not sufficiently take a number of developments into account. In addition, an amount was included in the budget under ‘Cash and cash equivalents’ rather than ‘Other receivables’ (a positive amount of €14 million). Due to the significantly higher government funding for W&T, our ‘Cash and cash equivalents’ are nevertheless considerably higher. This is due to the W&T funds, for which no expenditure was incurred. In addition, funds had been set aside for various projects which were either not spent at all or were spent to a lesser extent. From 2026 onwards, we will focus more closely on this issue, so that we can use unspent funds for projects for which no funds would otherwise be available.

The positive operating result for 2025 has led to an increase in ‘Equity’, even though we had budgeted for a negative operating result. Finally, the current liabilities increased due to delayed spending of the Administrative Agreement funds for sector plans and starter and incentive grants.

‘Tangible fixed assets’ are fairly stable. This change is related to the planned and accelerated depreciation charges and investments, particularly in the Campus in Development (CIO) III programme (part of which has been brought forward) and major maintenance work on two buildings. The explanation for the increase in ‘Cash and cash equivalents’ is the same as that for the variance from the budget (revenue from W&T funds that could not yet be spent and lower spending of internally allocated/earmarked funds).

On the liabilities side, we can see two significant differences. On the one hand, the positive operating result led to an increase in ‘Equity’. On the other hand, the various movements in provisions collectively resulted in a downwards adjustment to the balance sheet. Employee benefit provisions decreased as a result of the aforementioned adjustment to the parameters for the long-service awards provision and a drop in the number of employees on long-term sick leave. The establishment of the Employability Fund (under the collective labour agreement) ensured that the decrease in employee benefit provisions was kept to a minimum. Other provisions have decreased due to the utilisation of the provision for environmental obligations (asbestos removal) in connection with the renovation of the Tinbergen Building and a reduction in the provision for legal disputes. Because part of the starter and incentive grant money has been utilised, ‘Current liabilities’ have fallen.

Adding the result to the equity specifically resulted in an increase in the solvency ratio.

Both the Inspectorate of Education and internal guidelines use an alert threshold of 0.5 for the liquidity ratio. EUR’s liquidity ratio is higher. The university therefore has sufficient cash and cash equivalents to meet its short-term obligations. However, liquidity will also remain of paramount importance in the coming years. Challenges include the substantial planned real estate investments (CIO III and CIO IV, and the Tinbergen Building in particular) as well as investments in IT, the specific risks associated with these investments, as well as the risks presented by the current political and economic circumstances. It should be noted that the increase is primarily due to higher cash and cash equivalents resulting from the receipt of W&T funds; these will be spent in the coming years.

The liquidity position will therefore start to decline and a need for financing will arise, by the end of 2026 at the earliest. This will happen if the size and timing of the CiO investments are the same as in the recent investment estimate. See also the notes in the ‘Investments’ section.

The liquidity ratio is subject to changing market conditions and may vary. As a result, the alert threshold serves as an indicator rather than a fixed figure. During the year, liquidity is monitored in the planning and control cycle using the liquidity forecast.

At the end of the 2025 financial year, EUR’s actual equity (the public portion of the equity) amounted to €204 million. The equity alert threshold for EUR at the end of 2025 was €404 million. 

The public equity therefore does not exceed the alert threshold for potentially excessive public equity of educational institutions. 

The figures shown in the consolidated balance sheet and the consolidated statement of income and expenditure form the basis for calculating the actual equity and the normative equity.

This section provides insight into EUR’s financial policies, their expected impact on our financial position and the related risks for 2026 and beyond. The information provided in this section is in line with the requirements of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in the Regulation on Annual Reporting in Education. The report of the supervisory body is included in Chapter 1 of this annual report.

The multi-year budget, which is part of the long-term plan adopted by the Executive Board on 18 November 2025 and approved by the Supervisory Board on 3 December 2025, forms an important basis for this continuity section. The multi-year budget covers a period of five years. There are a number of uncertainties that could impact the finances of our university.

We will start with an explanation of key developments, followed by an explanation of elements of the multi-year budget.

Political and economic environment

We note that it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict political developments (among others) and that we are regularly taken by surprise, with the latest coalition agreement serving as a recent example. We had anticipated substantial additional funding cuts when drawing up our most recent budget, but it now appears that these are to be partially reversed. The government plans to invest heavily in education, research and innovation. The impact of this investment on our plans – which we were forced to abandon following the termination of the Administrative Agreement in 2025, resulting in the loss of €40 million in grants – remains uncertain. Some of the plans that we would have funded using the grants have, in fact, gone ahead.

The costs that will be incurred are therefore not offset by any grant income. This has had a dampening effect on the results. Incidentally, last year – unexpectedly, and at a fairly late stage after the grants had been discontinued – over €23 million was once again allocated to the Workload & Talent Policy (W&T) scheme. This means that in 2025, a year when we have made significant cuts, we could suddenly end up in the black. It is therefore difficult to maintain support for change because, following a number of ‘profit warnings’, results suddenly turn out to be much better than expected. As a result of the W&T funding, the central government grant will fall less sharply in the coming years than previously expected. Plans are currently being drawn up to spend this funding in the years ahead. The financial impact of this funding has been incorporated into our multi-year budget. The coalition agreement also identified talent strategy as a key theme to ensure that the Netherlands attracts, trains and retains sufficient talent for the labour market and the academic community. In addition, the government is scrapping the compulsory assessment for non-Dutch education and intends to maintain the current range of foreign-language courses. Developments around the Balanced Internationalisation Act are therefore taking yet another turn. We will be assessing the impact on our university in the coming months. All in all, it is clear that we need to become less dependent on direct funding and reduce our vulnerability to political decision-making.

Nationwide, student numbers will decrease sharply in the coming years and compensation for wage and price increases will no longer be automatic. As well as a decline in our main source of income (direct funding), we are seeing increases on the cost side due to investments in our campus – such as the renovation of the Tinbergen Building and IT facilities – and the funding required for these. As a result, our depreciation, accommodation and financial expenses have all increased. We are not yet in a position to properly assess the impact of the coalition agreement and have therefore not included it in our figures. The plan to reverse the funding cuts may have a positive impact on Erasmus University.

In previous years, EUR has largely been able to absorb these result-decreasing developments. With a stronger focus on revenue diversification, the faculties and related parties expect growth in other income, while organisation-wide cost-cutting measures have been implemented. This has ensured that EUR remains financially healthy. However, it is important that we continue the measures we have initiated and take and implement additional steps where necessary, so that we can continue to ensure our financial continuity. Without additional targets – assuming all other conditions remain the same – we will not be able to achieve a balanced budget over the long term. To ensure that the budget remains structurally balanced in the coming years, additional measures are needed to maintain our strong equity position. Otherwise, our equity will decrease, leading to a more vulnerable financial position. We cannot afford that, especially in these uncertain times.

Investments in our campus and our IT facilities have had an impact on our liquidity. The scale of the investments in the campus is partly linked to the university’s real estate strategy. This strategy has been updated, but not yet incorporated into the figures and forecasts presented. Various scenarios are currently being analysed, including those focused on organising and using office and teaching spaces more efficiently and in different ways, partly in the context of cost control and the expected changes in student numbers. Once management decisions have been made on this matter, the financial consequences will be incorporated into the long-term forecasts and investment estimates.

The measures implemented include a 5% reduction in service unit budgets, absorbing the additional real estate costs within the existing budget and recovery plans for a number of faculties. These measures are in addition to the standard EUR-wide cost-cutting measures implemented by all faculties and service units.

For these additional measures, we have included an overall target in our multi-year budget from 2027 onwards. We are also focusing on the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the figures. We have noticed that budgets are becoming more realistic and forecasts are providing a better prediction of final results. This reinforces our necessary financial management.

As an engaged university, EUR continues to invest in collaborations with various national and international partners. Various amounts of funding will be made available for these collaborations in the coming years. The table below provides insight into this funding.

We expect the decline in student numbers that began two years ago to continue in the coming years. For the time being, this decline is being driven by EEA students, primarily due to a fall in the number of Dutch students as a result of demographic trends. This decline is even steeper than the forecasts by the Education Executive Agency (DUO), on which we based our budget for student numbers. Conversely, the number of non-EEA students has risen slightly. We expect this trend to reverse from the 2027-2028 academic year onwards, in accordance with national agreements on reducing the number of international students. Developments relating to the Balanced Internationalisation Act will play a role here. We have not yet taken the financial impact of these developments into account. It is clear that the assessment of non-Dutch-language programmes (TAO) has been scrapped. Nevertheless, the universities have jointly decided to forge ahead with the proposal for self-regulation. For EUR, this means that the number of international first-year bachelor degree students must decrease compared with the 2025-2026 academic year. As no final decisions have yet been made, we have not yet factored in the financial impact for tuition fees and the central government grant. We expect the initial impact to become apparent from the 2027-2028 academic year onwards. Initial scenario calculations indicate that the negative impact on direct funding (central government grant and tuition fees) in the long term (from 2034 onwards) will be in the region of €6 million.

Overall, the steeper decline in student numbers that we are already seeing will lead to a modest downwards adjustment of tuition fee income. This is because non-EEA students pay considerably higher fees (institution tuition fees) than EEA students. In addition, institution tuition fee rates have risen more sharply than previously anticipated.

We expect a reduction in the number of FTEs; this will be particularly evident in the number of doctoral candidates. Doctoral candidates are mainly funded from indirect funding and the third flow of funds. Income from these funding streams has been conservatively estimated, as reflected in the projected decline in the number of doctoral candidates. The decline will have a dampening effect on staffing costs. Overall, however, staffing costs are still rising. This is primarily due to an expected collective labour agreement pay rise for 2026 and the regular pay rises. EUR aims to achieve an employee base with a stable, well-educated permanent core. This strengthens internal expertise, promotes continuity and, in the long run, offers more control over staffing costs. For this reason, we are also committed to reducing the use of contractors. In 2024, the cost of contractors still accounted for around 4.5% of total personnel expenses; for the period 2026–2030, we expect this figure to fall to between 2.7% and 3.2%.

Real estate

Campus in Development investments

EUR is working on the ongoing development of the campus. The Campus in Development (CIO) project helps to enhance our international appeal, create a stimulating learning and working environment and build a sustainable campus; it is in line with our aim to be one of the most sustainable universities in the Netherlands. The renovation of the Tinbergen Building, a municipal listed building that has been in use since 1968, is an important part of these sustainability efforts. Most of this building’s technical systems are past the end of their useful life and no longer comply with current legislation. The Tinbergen Building will be renovated in 2026-2027. The CIO project was launched in 2025. In 2025, a great deal of work went into translating the final design into a construction-ready design. In parallel with this, work began on demolition and asbestos removal within the building. Construction will begin in earnest in 2026. So far, the project is proceeding according to plan, and the risks and mitigation measures have been clearly identified.

The other major projects in the existing CIO programme are currently in the planning stages, such as technical renovations in the Bayle and Van der Goot buildings and landscaping work. Based on current information, we expect to invest a further €186 million from the existing programme by the end of 2031.In 2025, indexation was factored in to bring the 2016 amounts into line with current prices (2025 prices). In this context, Real Estate & Facilities(RE&F) is currently working to gain a comprehensive understanding of the real estate portfolio and the associated long-term investment and maintenance programme. The results of this work may influence the scale and prioritisation of future investments.

Realising ambitions in a rapidly evolving environment

In the area of digital transformation, EUR faces major and complex challenges in the coming years. There are key ambitions arising from the new strategic plan: ‘One connected EUR’, including deeper collaboration with partners and society and ambitions relating to lifelong learning. At the same time, the digital landscape is evolving rapidly, including through the AI revolution, which EUR wants and needs to capitalise on, as well as threats relating to digital and data sovereignty and cyber crime. We also receive funding in this area from the government. The State of Digitalisation and the resulting Digital Roadmap are viewed as guidelines for improving digitalisation in education, research and operational management. In the coming years, this will place considerable demands on the organisation.

Throughout the organisation, the coming period will focus on the maturity, optimisation and standardisation of processes and systems in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, compliance and continuity.

Success can only be achieved through good coordination and cooperation with administration, faculties and services on the one hand and with EUR partners, suppliers and partnerships on the other. It will take courage and determination to bring about the process and application optimisation needed to create the capacity and scope for sustainable innovation.

In parallel with the above ambitions, there will be a decline in central government funding and a drop in student numbers. This will make it necessary to improve efficiency around the way funds for digitalisation are allocated and spent.

In addition to the operational management system, current investments mainly relate to EUR-wide hardware facilities such as audiovisual equipment (screens), the network and Chromebooks (for use in examinations). These investments are in accordance with long-term replacement plans, under which the possibilities for extending service life are critically assessed from the perspectives of cost and sustainability. Specifically, we are referring here to investments in AI.

The multi-year budget takes into account developments affecting the university as much as possible. The impact of the new coalition agreement has not been taken into account, as it was drawn up only after the budget had been finalised and the financial consequences are still unclear.

Strategy 2030, which was presented in 2025, is an integrated approach to addressing external threats. It provides strategic guidance for managing risks.

The university employs a robust management framework to identify, assess and manage the risks facing EUR. This framework is based on collective policy-making, anchored in EUR’s overarching strategy, governance and policies. It is supported by all parties involved, including the Executive Board, deans, directors of support services and directors of education and research. EUR endorses the Code of Good Governance issued by the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (Vereniging van Universiteiten in Nederland, VSNU).

Management systems have been established for the various areas of operation and risk management themes, in accordance with laws and regulations, and incorporated into rules and procedures. In addition, work has been carried out on the design and implementation of an overarching risk management framework, which brings together these areas of operation and themes in a structured manner. The framework will be introduced in stages in 2026. In this way, EUR is working to strengthen its organisation-wide risk management, both operationally and strategically. As part of this work, an EUR risk appetite will be drawn up by the Executive Board and Supervisory Board. This is expected to be approved in the first half of 2026 and will facilitate strategic management.

These are the developments relating to thematic risk management and control systems:

• The information and IT risk control system is aligned with the EUR Information Risk Management Framework and includes risk analyses of core applications, threat analyses, Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycles and associated action plans. It has been set up in accordance with the ISO 27001 standard framework; 
•  EUR carries out vendor risk management by conducting risk-based reviews of suppliers through structured vendor risk assessments. Through the EUR-wide PDCA cycle, we ensure that financial risks are identified and monitored at both tactical and strategic levels, and that corrective action is taken where necessary;
• The Financial Risk & Control Framework (RCF) comprises a wide range of internal management measures designed to identify key operational financial risks in a timely manner and manage them effectively. This ensures that we stay in control;
• EUR operates a Business Continuity Management (BCM) system that identifies critical processes and improves their continuity and resilience through impact analyses, recovery plans and regular reviews. In the event of disruptions to these processes, BCM is implemented as an integral part of the existing crisis management framework, ensuring that decision-making and recovery measures are coordinated jointly throughout the organisation. EUR has drawn up an internal policy and assessment framework for knowledge security to assess knowledge security risks associated with new international collaborations (whether at the individual or institutional level). The university also maintains an internal list of potentially high-risk collaborations within its existing partnerships. To manage risks relating to the protection of personal data and privacy, EUR uses the SURF Privacy Assessment Framework. A key priority of the multi-year privacy programme is to improve the demonstrability and visibility of privacy compliance.

The multi-year budget contains a number of uncertainties. The main uncertainties are listed below, along with their potential impact, and we explain how we are addressing them.

The Treasury Statute establishes a framework within which EUR’s treasury activities must be carried out. This includes establishing the principles, objectives, guidelines and limits for the implementation of the treasury function in the form of policy. The Treasury Statute is also designed to reflect the administrative organisation and internal control in relation to the treasury activities. This ensures that EUR’s financial resources are managed efficiently and effectively.

The Treasury Statute defines the areas of responsibility of the treasury function. The treasury function has the primary aim of managing financial risks and includes the following areas of responsibility within EUR:

• Liquidity management: ensuring the timely availability of the necessary cash for the short, medium and long term, at acceptable conditions (availability);
• Management of interest rate risk: optimising returns on surplus cash and cash equivalents within the frameworks of the Treasury Statute (interest rate optimisation);
• External financing: raising loan capital and minimising the costs of loans (cost minimisation);
• Financing: providing loans, grants and security to related parties and non-consolidated institutions, in the context of performing the statutory task, while minimising financial risk (risk minimisation); 
• Maintaining banking relationships: maintaining relationships with financial institutions with a view to the availability of financial resources and optimal conditions (banking relationships).

The Treasury Statute complies with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science Regulation on Investing, Borrowing and Derivatives 2016 (‘Regeling beleggen, lenen en derivaten’). The transactions in 2025 were in line with our university’s Treasury Statute. EUR uses treasury banking, in which surplus cash and cash equivalents are held by the Ministry of Finance.

The university has no investments.

In accordance with Article 4(3) of the Regulation on Annual Reporting in Education (Regeling Jaarverslaggeving Onderwijs, RJO), remuneration to and expenses claimed by members of the Executive Board in 2025 are reported in the table below. Amounts are in euros.

Almost all of EUR’s non-funded educational activities are carried out by related parties; mainly within the operating companies EUR Holding BV and RSM BV. Within EUR’s faculties and service units, private educational activities take place only on a limited scale In 2025, the total income from these activities amounted to €3.0 million. 

A substantial portion of this amount relates to the Language and Training Centre (LTC), which offers a wide range of language and other courses. These are primarily aimed at EUR students and staff, but are also open to third parties. Offering such courses enables EUR students and staff to make a high-quality, positive contribution to EUR’s funded education and research, as well as to the rest of society. In the 2025 calendar year, the LTC generated income of €1.3 million and achieved a positive result of €0.5 million. The LTC was therefore able to cover its costs.

The LTC is embedded within EUR’s central organisation and comes under the responsibility of the Directorate of Education & Student Affairs. Day-to-day management is performed by the LTC director. The LTC acts in accordance with the EUR-wide risk management policy and follows the internal guidelines regarding legality.

Within the LTC, financial and legal assessments are carried out in collaboration with the Corporate Planning & Control and Legal Affairs departments.

Other contract education (€1.7 million in total) consists of a variety of educational activities, most of which generate less than €50,000 in revenue. For these activities, the faculties and service units do not currently keep separate records, partly because of the administrative burden. As a result, it is not possible at the moment to accurately determine the extent to which these activities cover costs. We are exploring better ways to distinguish between public and private activities in EUR’s new operational management system, and how to better understand the income from private activities.

When contract education is provided within a faculty or service unit, the dean or service unit director is responsible. The risks in this context include quality assurance, alignment with standard education and compliance with competition and funding regulations. Risk management measures are implemented through the new operational management system, central and decentralised contract checks (known as ‘FLAT’ checks) and periodic internal assessments within the planning and control cycle. In addition, the EUR Regulations on the Disputes Board for Non-Initial Education 2023, which provide details on how EUR deals with disputes, apply to the university’s contract education.

For the sake of completeness, we note that education provided by the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) generated €1.4 million in income. ISS is an EUR institute that provides education and research worldwide. The education provided by the ISS includes two accredited master programmes, which are mainly aimed at students from low-income countries. ISS receives funding to carry out its education and research from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among other sources. The funding from that ministry is paid as part of EUR’s central government grant; EUR then passes it on directly to ISS. Accordingly, EUR considers the education provided by ISS to be part of its statutory task.

Research projects are carried out within EUR for government agencies and the business community. The results of these research projects are usually accessible to a wide audience. In this way, EUR transfers academic knowledge to society at large. EUR therefore considers these research activities to be an added value for its valorisation task. However, there is still some uncertainty on the part of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science regarding the university’s public and private functions. The Ministry announced that a separate investigation concerning this type of research would be conducted in 2025. Pending the results of this investigation, EUR continued to carry out research projects of societal importance in 2025, always ensuring they fit within the university’s existing frameworks. The announced investigation was not carried out in 2025, so the uncertainties have not been resolved.

Whether a project is public or private in nature is recorded in the project records. Based on internal analysis, it appears that only a limited number of research projects ought to be classified as private activities. These projects account for around €4.9 million in income. The profits from contract research flow back to the university and are used to conduct follow-up research, among other things. The positive result from private contract research was around €0.5 million in 2025 (based on completed research projects).

EUR’s draft policy dictates that the full cost (at a minimum) of private contract research must be passed on, thus limiting the risk of leakage of public funds and avoiding unfair competition. A risk premium is also applied when determining the full cost.

Contract research is legally and organisationally embedded within EUR’s regular research structure. For contract research conducted within a faculty, the dean is ultimately responsible. The project leader is operationally responsible and oversees the substantive execution and budget monitoring. Contract research risks mainly relate to reputation, independence, integrity and financial viability. These risks are managed through various measures, including:

• Sector codes of conduct, such as the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity;
• Internal policy on intellectual property, publication rights and interactions with clients;
• The FLAT check procedure, which involves checking agreements for legal, financial and integrity risks.

The total income from leases in 2025 amounted to over €8.6 million, including income from the car park and charging-on of service charges to tenants. A significant portion of this income (€5.6 million) came from letting space to organisations affiliated with EUR. By providing accommodation to related parties, EUR supports initiatives in areas such as Lifelong Learning (LLO), entrepreneurship and valorisation. In doing so, EUR and its related parties make a positive contribution to society.

The remaining portion of the lease income (€3.0 million) mainly concerns space let to commercial parties (operators). Letting to operators adds value by contributing to the vibrancy of the campus and strengthening social cohesion. In addition, it creates opportunities for collaboration and cross-fertilisation with external partners.

EUR’s rental rates cover the full cost. Service charges are also passed on in full. In accordance with the policy rule, this ensures that no public funds flow into the private domain. The Real Estate & Facilities (RE&F) service unit is responsible for the entire leasing process, including pricing and contract management. The risks associated with leasing activities include liability, safety and reputation. To manage these risks, EUR uses:

• The Buildings, Grounds and Facilities Order 2024, which provides frameworks for leasing and use;
• Standard lease agreements and general terms and conditions, which include explicit provisions on liability;
• Active monitoring of the letting process and the use of campus facilities, so that any issues can be identified and resolved in a timely manner;
• The FLAT check procedure, which involves assessing contracts for legal, financial and other risks.

EUR loans its employees to its affiliates in certain situations, and to a lesser extent to other universities and parties. Secondments contribute to the quality of EUR’s statutory tasks and add value, since employees enrich their expertise by working temporarily in another environment and bring the knowledge they have gained back to the organisation. Moreover, secondments strengthen employees’ academic and professional networks and promote interaction between theory and practice. Although the content and objectives of secondments may differ, generally speaking, all secondments are aligned with EUR’s public-interest task. This complies with the frameworks in the policy rule.

In 2025, private income from secondments amounted to €5.3 million. A significant portion of this income (€3.3 million) concerned secondments from faculties to EUR-related parties. The remaining portion (€1.9 million) related to secondments to third parties. As a rule, EUR charges the full cost (at a minimum) for secondments. If a market rate is lower, then that rate should be charged.

Secondments are formally recorded in a secondment agreement with the receiving party. The employee’s manager assesses the content and purpose of the secondment, and formal approval is then obtained from the dean or service unit director. The Human Resources (HR) and Legal Affairs (JZ) departments provide support for the establishment of secondments (including adapting terms of employment and drafting agreements).

In 2025, the standard secondment agreements were updated, based in part on the requirements of the policy rule. Among other matters, the update addressed risks relating to terms of employment, conflicts of interest and reputation. The use of standardised legal documents and the close involvement of the Human Resources and Legal Affairs departments ensures that these risks are adequately managed.

De EUR ziet haar valorisatie-activiteiten, conform artikel 1.3 van de WHW, als onderdeel van haar wettelijke taken en daarmee ook als publieke activiteiten. Echter wordt hier voor 2025 wel apart verantwoording over afgelegd. Dit gebeurt vanwege de onduidelijkheid rondom welke valorisatie-activiteiten wel of niet als privaat aangemerkt moeten worden én met het oog op transparante verantwoording.

In accordance with Section 1.3 of the Higher Education and Research Act (Wet op het Hoger Onderwijs en Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, WHW), EUR sees its valorisation activities as part of its statutory duties and therefore also as public activities. However, a separate report will be provided on this matter for 2025. This is due to the lack of clarity around which valorisation activities should be regarded as private, and for the sake of transparent reporting.

The income generated by EUR’s valorisation activities amounts to approximately €1.7 million; the exact figure depends on how broadly the concept of ‘valorisation’ is interpreted. For example, whether it includes income from partnerships. Convergence and Culture & Campus are good examples of partnerships that make a significant contribution to solving societal issues. Another example of a valuable valorisation activity is the facilitation of academic conferences. These conferences are usually open to a wide audience and are organised on a non-profit basis. The main objective of such conferences is the exchange of academic knowledge. Since EUR considers such activities to be public activities, the conditions in the policy rule are not always observed. It is not clear in all cases whether the full cost or a market rate should be charged.

The responsibility for implementing and controlling valorisation activities lies primarily with the faculties and service units where the activities take place. The dean or service unit director is therefore ultimately responsible. The legal, financial and organisational risks are reviewed and managed by various support services. In addition, the Executive Board monitors compliance with and effectiveness of existing policies through interim reports, audits and administrative consultation.

‘Other activities’ includes services to related parties and other services with a strong connection to EUR’s statutory tasks and that therefore add value to these tasks. The total income from other activities amounted to around €5.5 million in 2025. The result from these services is accounted for within EUR’s public equity. Based on sampling, it was found that EUR performs these activities on a full cost-recovery basis. This prevents the leakage of public funds into the private domain and/or unfair competition.

The ultimate responsibility for implementing and controlling these activities lies with the dean or service unit director of the faculty or service unit concerned. They ensure that the activities fit within the public framework and comply with internal policies and external regulations. Support services such as Legal Affairs, Concern Control and Procurement check for relevant legal, financial and organisational risks.

The Executive Board monitors the implementation and control of these activities through interim reports, audits and administrative consultation. In this way, compliance with policy frameworks is structurally monitored and adjustments are made where necessary.

Below is a summary of the amounts earned from all the different types of private activities carried out at EUR in 2025.

In the next section, we report on the private activities carried out in 2025 within the entities affiliated with EUR.

Erasmus Sport Foundation

On behalf of EUR, the Erasmus Sport Foundation contributes to the wellbeing of students and staff by offering a wide range of sports facilities and activities. This creates added value in the form of an inspiring learning and working environment for both students and staff. EUR classifies these activities under its statutory task, which means that, in principle, no reporting on these activities is required under the policy rule. However, EUR has chosen to do so for reasons of transparency.

The total income for 2025 amounted to €4.9 million, against €4.8 million in expenses. The profit for the 2025 calendar year amounts to a positive €0.1 million. The Erasmus Sport Foundation has received a contribution of €1.6 million from EUR.

The Erasmus Sport Foundation is responsible for operating the sports building on the EUR campus. The foundation operates as an independent organisation with its own board. The foundation’s Articles of Association stipulate that board members must be appointed by EUR’s Executive Board. This ensures that the university is formally involved, without exercising direct supervision. The foundation requires approval from the EUR Executive Board to amend its Articles of Association. In accordance with agreements made, regular reporting and board-level meetings take place between EUR and the Erasmus Sport Foundation.

EUR manages the risks related to Erasmus Sport through a clear governance and reporting structure and various financial and legal control mechanisms.

Erasmus Enterprise BV

EUR carries out a variety of valorisation activities through Erasmus Enterprise BV (EE). For example, EE encourages entrepreneurship among EUR students and staff. Furthermore, EE helps students and staff to use the knowledge gained from education and research to develop concrete products and services. EE creates an infrastructure/ecosystem that gives start-ups (founded by EUR students and staff access to resources, networks and expertise. This ensures that knowledge is efficiently transformed into tangible products and services. Bringing academics, students and third parties together encourages knowledge sharing and co-creation, which is a core aspect of valorisation and one that supports EUR’s public function.

EE’s activities can be regarded as valorisation because they connect academic knowledge with practical applications that create societal value (without distorting the market, given that public funds are used for the public valorisation task). This means EE’s activities fall within EUR’s statutory task.

The total income for 2025 amounted to €4.8 million, against €4.8 million in expenses. The result for the 2025 calendar year was €0.0. EE BV received €2.1 million from EUR.

The director under the Articles of Association of Erasmus Enterprise BV is responsible for day-to-day management. With regard to EE, the main risks are financial, legal and strategic in nature. EUR manages the risks related to EE through a clear governance and reporting structure and various financial and legal control mechanisms.

EUR Holding BV

Several operating companies operate under the umbrella of EUR Holding BV (of which EUR is the sole shareholder). They are mainly engaged in post-graduate education, research commissioned by third parties and the provision of consultancy services.

EUR is represented on the Supervisory Board of EUR Holding by a member of its Executive Board.

The operating companies of EUR Holding are substantively linked to a unit of EUR (usually a faculty). This link is established in a governance agreement between the operating company in question and the unit/faculty. Each agreement elaborates on the document entitled ‘Management Organisation of EUR Holding & Operating Companies’, which defines the structure of the relationships between the shareholder, the Supervisory Board, the management of EUR Holding and the management teams of the operating companies.

These agreements provide for oversight, with each company having a supervisory board including a representative of the affiliated unit/faculty who ensures that the interests of the unit/faculty are safeguarded. The management of EUR Holding oversees financial continuity (with the operating companies providing regular reports and budgets in accordance with the Planning & Control cycle prescribed by EUR), compliance with laws and regulations and strategic alignment between the operating companies’ activities and EUR’s objectives.

The activities of EUR Holding are related to EUR’s core activities. They thereby follow the strategy of EUR and its faculties. The added value for EUR lies in increasing the academic and societal profile of EUR as a whole. In addition, awareness is raised among the faculties of the opportunities for encouraging and fostering entrepreneurship within EUR as a whole.

EUR Holding and its operating companies have identified and documented the key risks and management measures. The resulting summaries serve as a guide for regular discussions between the management teams and supervisory boards of the companies. 

EUR Holding’s total income in 2025 amounted to €48.1 million, against €47.3 million in expenses. The result for the calendar year amounted to €0.8 million. In 2025, EUR Holding achieved net revenue of €33.8 million, of which €3.2 million came from the central government grant and €30.1 million was income from research, contract education and other activities.

RSM BV

RSM BV primarily offers executive and post-graduate education. In 2025, RSM BV’s activities generated net revenue of €24.8 million. Total expenditure amounted to €25.3 million. The investment of public funds amounts to €1.6 million.

The programmes offered are in line with the mission and brand of the RSM Faculty at EUR. RSM BV works closely with the faculty to align its programmes, policies and processes with those of the faculty wherever possible, but operates independently in terms of funding and management. When lecturers are seconded, the faculty is charged the full cost by RSM BV. The rent paid by RSM BV to EUR covers the costs and was set in accordance with EUR’s letting policy. To ensure that public and private funding streams remain separate, RSM BV regularly reviews its transfer prices. It also uses service level agreements and keeps them updated.

In collaboration with the faculty, RSM BV is committed to taking a proactive approach to developments around the political debates on globalisation and the added value of universities and business schools for EUR in general and RSM in particular.

The directors named in the Articles of Association are responsible for day-to-day management. The main risks are financial, legal and strategic in nature. EUR manages the risks related to RSM BV through a clear governance and reporting structure and various financial and legal control mechanisms. In 2025, RSM BV received an interim dividend of €770,000 from EUR Holding, via EUR, in accordance with the shareholders’ resolution of 27 November 2024.

FGG/Erasmus MC

The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FGG) is organisationally embedded within Erasmus Medical Centre (EMC). Public funds are allocated in accordance with EUR’s standard allocation model, in line with the other faculties. EMC maintains separate accounts for its faculty activities, which are therefore kept separate from its healthcare activities. The public funds allocated by EUR to EMC are intended solely for the performance of its public-interest task. In this context, Erasmus MC has a holding company within its scope of consolidation, comprising a separate Healthcare holding company and an Education & Research holding company. Uniform arrangements apply to the secondment of faculty staff to the holding company, under which both direct costs and overheads are passed on.

1. Outsourcing of education

At EUR, government-funded education is provided by the faculties in collaboration with parties related to the university (private organisations). Fees are paid in return for the education provided. This applies to both initial bachelor and master programmes and post-initial master programmes. 

Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) outsources a small part of its curriculum to FEI BV. This relates to specific topics. The faculty remains responsible for educational quality. FEI BV charges fees for this teaching.

Erasmus School of Philosophy (ESPhil) outsources a small part of its curriculum to the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) BV.

2. Investment of public funds in private activities

This theme no longer applies.

3. Granting of exemptions

EUR does not grant exemptions to students for the sole purpose of attracting students and thus increasing the central government grant, without students making a commensurate effort in return. In order to qualify for an exemption, this effort must be established by the Examining Board.

4. Funding for international students

Only students whose name and address details are known to EUR and who also meet all funding requirements are counted for the purpose of funding.

5. Tuition fees not paid by students and the Student Support Fund

EUR does not pay tuition fees for students. The arrangements provided for by the Profiling Fund grant financial compensation for study delays due to personal circumstances, for board membership grants and for fee waivers. Appendix 8 of the Annual Report contains the required information relating to the Student Support Fund , formerly known as the Profiling Fund.

6. Students participating in degree programme modules

It is possible for non-students to participate in modules or parts of degree programmes. This is known as contract education. It involves taking one or more stand-alone courses, and registering as a course participant rather than a student.

7. Allowing students to participate in a degree programme other than that for which they are enrolled

Not applicable. Students at EUR participate in the degree programme for which they are enrolled.

8. Funding for customised programmes

With regard to initial education, no customised programmes have been set up with companies or other organisations.

 9. Funding of arts education

Together with Codarts Rotterdam, EUR has set up a Double Degree RASL programme (Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab). The students are enrolled at both institutions, but are funded through Codarts rather than EUR.

10. Number of students to be included in the funding calculations

EUR registers students who meet all of the enrolment and funding requirements as funded students in BRONHO, the master database of students in higher education. Provided that all funding requirements have been met, a successfully completed examination is also registered as funded in BRONHO.

The grants are awarded to grant holders by faculties based on faculty plans and policies. The majority of starter grants were awarded by the end of 2024. The number of awarded starter grants increased to 252 in 2025. Spending on grants has doubled compared with last year. The grants were allocated to support independent research and reduce workloads: research staff or support for unfettered research (70%), increasing researchers’ research time (19%) and research facilities (11%).

The number of incentive grants awarded increased to 144 in 2025. 

Spending on grants increased by 65%. Here, too, the grants were used to support unfettered research and reduce workloads. The grants were spent on research facilities (46%), research staff or support for unfettered research(31%) and increasing researchers’ research time (23%).

In previous years, EUR capped the overhead percentage for starter and incentive grants at 20% of the funds received and recognised this in the results. As no new funds were received in 2025, no overheads were recognised in 2025. 

For a detailed explanation of the starter and incentive grants, see Chapter 1: Leading academic education and research.

The mid-term reviews of the sector plans are currently being finalised. The results and recommendations from these reviews are expected in 2026.

Compared with the SSH/DSW budget, there has been an underspend of €0.5 million, mainly due to lower staffing costs and reduced expenditure on equipment and supplies.

Expenditure under the medical sector plan was €0.2 million higher than in the annual budget. This expenditure drew on funds that had been set aside in previous years. 

Substantive reporting on this matter is made to the umbrella organisation for university medical centres, UMCNL.

The Administrative Agreement (2022) stipulates that, with effect from 2025, the student loan system funds (formerly Higher Education Quality Agreement (HOKA) funds) will be permanently incorporated into the lump-sum funding allocated to institutions. This year, EUR received €23 million from these Administrative Agreement funds. Two-thirds of these funds were allocated directly to the faculties (€15 million), while one-third (€8.2 million) was earmarked for strategic and interfaculty themes that serve the interests of EUR as a whole.