Danish Universities and six private research funding foundations have taken responsibility for the financial resilience of universities with a new agreement covering indirect project costs. Based on the current project portfolio funded by the six foundations, the parties to the agreement estimate that it will shift approximately 700-800 million DKK annually from project funds to cover indirect costs. Overall, this represents a significant and welcome improvement in the financial resilience of universities.
There may be inspiration to be found in DFiR's report "Universities for the Future: Twenty Years with the University Act" when utilizing the increased financial flexibility. This could be an opportunity to involve staff more in decision-making and prioritization and to ensure researchers' academic freedom. Part of the flexibility could also be used to strengthen career guidance for PhD students and to facilitate earlier permanent employment for qualified PhD and postdoc candidates.
However, others can also take responsibility for improving the framework conditions for universities. The state can ease the administrative burden on universities by reducing the number of reforms. The agreement could also be an opportunity to investigate the coverage of public funds' overhead, the balance between basic and competitive funds, university ownership of buildings, the offsetting of EU funding, and the allocation of the research reserve. Additionally, other private foundations could join the new agreement in the future, which would simplify administrative processes and free up resources.