The adoption of the directive was recommended to the Academic Senate by its economic board. The directive stipulates the method of allocation of the normative component of the contribution from the state budget to education and creative activity, institutional support of long-term conceptual development of research organisations, individual cost centres defined by the Rules of Organisation and the subsidies for targeted support and specific university research. It also stipulates the amount of contribution of individual faculties and other parts of the university to the operation of joint facilities, university-wide activities and events.
The structure of non-investment resources is defined by the plan of revenues and costs based on individual sources, with the fundamental source being the contribution for education. The financial contribution from the Ministry of Education is divided into its fixed component and performance based component. The part of the contribution based on weight for the fixed component is divided among faculties based on the ratio applied for the preparation of the budget in 2015 and based on the ratio of each faculty within the sum of the normative quantity of studies (doctoral, bachelor, master’s, and follow-up master’s). The main indicators of the performance based component include achievements in research, development and innovations, as well as student mobility, external income related to education and creative activities, as well as the ratio of foreign faculty members and the so-called graduation rate.
Based on the institutional support for long-term conceptual development of research organisation, a component will be allocated for the support of science and research for the Grant Agency of Masaryk University (GAMU) for the financing of the Research support programme. Faculties, institutes and other units involved in cooperated teach will receive a contribution, while the outstanding amount shall remain with GAMU for the purpose of financing of other research and development activities based on applications which must be sent by 31 March 2025.
Centralise activities and approved costs of university-wide operations are financed from contributions of individual cost centres. The contributions for the financing of the centralised investment projects and repairs are included in individual faculties’ and institutes’ budgets based on their respective demands. The agreed-upon amount for the year 2025 shall not exceed CZK 50 million. The budgets for individual faculties are approved by their respective academic senates, with comments from the Scientific Board.
“The rules we adopted today reflect the predicted development. They are based on the pre-existing rules, with some improvements and adjustments. They also introduce certain new elements which attempt to predict something that shall happen nationally. Masaryk University can utilise strategic resources, but it must be able to get to them, which is why the rules are thought through and discussed. This allows getting a larger slice of the proverbial national pie whose slices are distributed among universities and colleges,” Rector Martin Bareš said at the Academic Senate session, adding that the preparation of the rules always requires a certain level of compromise. “Unanimous decision of the voting for the rules and the outcome are a key signal, and I would like to thank everyone for it,” Bareš added, praising the decision.
The introduction of the rules for the preparation of the MU budget is a direct result of the adoption of the so-called contract (long-term agreement between the management of MU and individual faculties) four years ago. The rules represent a key tool in the strategic management of MU. In addition to securing the necessary stability in financing of faculties and other parts of the university, they take into consideration the goals formulated in the Masaryk University Strategic Plan 2021–2028 through the monitoring of key indicators.