Salaries that are expensive, buildings to renovate ... The University of Rennes 1 eliminates 110 positions. Its president is asking for help from the Ministry of Higher Education. Explanations.

Rennes 1 is in deficit

Rennes 1 is summoned to save money. In question ? "We have a deficit of 6 million euros on a budget of nearly 300 million euros, says David Alis, the president. About fifteen universities are in this case. This deficit is due to regulatory increases that impact our payroll each year, which represents 80% of our expenses. "

Each year, the gap is widening with the automatic increase of civil servants' salaries. "An increase that was not compensated in 2017 and that forced us to pay a million euros, continues David Alis. We also have to pay one million euros of general social contribution (CSG) every year ... being compensated for only 600 000 €. "

Its buildings are expensive

Another big expense: an important real estate wealth expensive in energies. "We have more than 370,000 m² of buildings on our Rennes, Saint-Malo, Lannion, Saint-Brieuc and Paimpont sites. That represents more than 5 million euros in fluids every year, nearly 2 to 3 million euros in maintenance costs ... " , details the president.

Rennes 1 is committed "in a very important plan of energy renovation of the buildings" . But David Alis warns: "Alone, we will not succeed. He calls for support from the Ministry of Higher Education and asks for "a real estate campus plan for Brittany as there is a digital campus plan".

The anger of the unions

The president of the university has decided a plan to return to equilibrium, providing for a 5 million euros effort on the payroll. "This translates into 82 incumbent and contract staff positions not renewed ... out of a total of more than 3,000 agents. But we must note that we renewed 167 CDD and recruited 67 new doctoral students in September, " relativizes David Alis.

Not enough to convince the 12 unions (CGT, Ferc Sup, FO, FSU, CFDT, Unsa, South, Unef, etc.). They rejected this plan unanimously and plan to demonstrate during its presentation to the Board of Directors on Thursday. "Since 2016, more than a hundred positions have not been renewed or frozen. It's starting to pull hard. In the administrative services, we are three to do the job of five , squeaks Yann Le Page, elected CGT. "It is a non unanimous of all the unions, a first in Rennes 1, adds Christian Godet, elected FO. This is to say if the staff have reached the end. "

What money for research

The inter-union also denounces the additional drop of 15% of the credits allocated by the university to training and research laboratories, "while they have already experienced a decline of 25% in the last five years" and that the number of Students continue to increase (+ 12%). However, they agree with the management to question the lack of endowments paid by the ministry.

"Rennes 1 is renowned for its quality teaching, which is based on research," stresses Christian Godet. But this is not taken into account. The presidency has encouraged laboratories to diversify their resources by multiplying calls for projects. A lot of time spent mounting files at the expense of research, denounce the unions.

"I join them," says David Alis, who calls for "a dedicated envelope" to fund research: "You can not build a big university just on calls for projects. The stakes are high: "Rennes 1 is the scientific and technological showcase of the West. "