The press very recently revealed President Trump's decision to suspend federal funding for the most prestigious American university: Harvard. More than $2.2 billion is said to have been frozen, and there are further threats to the tax incentives enjoyed by American universities. Numerous federal research agencies have also been subjected to drastic cuts, and thousands of researchers have been laid off on the spot. These decisions are undoubtedly aimed at muzzling these knowledge-producing institutions, particularly by limiting academic freedom.
Although this is not where we are today in Belgium, it is clear that there is a great deal of concern in the academic world.
The various governments, grappling with budgetary and even political choices, are exerting considerable pressure on universities. There are many reasons for this concern. They relate to the overall reduction in funding for Universities and the FNRS; to funding from the Walloon Region, which is on the decline, and which is increasingly geared towards short-term applications to the detriment of basic research, essential to the continuum of the innovation process; to questions about future funding for the humanities and social sciences, to the questioning of appointments in the academic sector or to the "new" funding of research drastic cuts in retirement pensions. If all the measures announced are implemented, academics could quickly see their pensions reduced by 30 to 40%. No other professional category, apart from magistrates, will experience such a fall in pensions, not least because of the late entry into the career. And all this without any possible short-term compensatory mechanism, to the detriment of the principle of acquired rights.
These issues are not only linked to the pure financing of university activities. They also affect the very attractiveness of academic careers, which play an essential role in the sustainable development of our contemporary societies. This is a far cry from the statements made by the Senate in 1965 during discussions on university expansion: "The costs of education, far from being a dead weight, are eminently productive expenditures, making a powerful contribution to the country's economic development" (Senate, Session 1964-65, doc. 162).
The savings sought on the backs of universities exert considerable pressure on the latter in a context where their funding structures lock them into an economically absurd model: continuous increase in student numbers within a closed envelope, competition between establishments on the basis of student numbers, low capacity to capture alternative resources to public subsidies, and so on. Nevertheless, universities do a remarkable job with their limited resources. They train citizens, produce and disseminate knowledge, contribute to Belgium's R&D objectives, and have an international presence. They also carry out numerous missions of general interest: public health policy, support for students in precarious situations, participation in numerous expert or advisory bodies, business creation, associative and cultural life. Any modification or erosion of their resources without a deep understanding or reflection on the cost structure and financial basis of universities is as dangerous as it is destabilizing. The universities understand that society is facing many challenges, but they believe that all the reforms currently under discussion at various levels of government need to be assessed in their entirety. We need to be able to measure their combined and cumulative effects.
Other threats to public universities and research centers include the reform of the withholding tax exemption system for those who carry out research in the public sector.
This measure was initially[1] designed to promote scientific activity in the public sector. It has gradually been extended to the private sector, which now accounts for 69%[2] of the measure's beneficiaries. On several occasions, the Court of Auditors and the Federal Council for Science Policy have called for increased controls on the application of these measures, and for clarification of the system. Not that they should disappear. Quite the contrary, in fact.
Today, however, it seems that, that only the public sector, and therefore also universities, are being targeted by the Arizona government's reform plans. And yet, this system represents, more or less, 7% of the Universities' structural revenues! Revising its scope would have dramatic consequences for the academic sector, as well as for the teaching provided in universities, which, along with scientific research and service to society, constitute the essential missions of universities. Students, too, would suffer.
Yet the relevance of this political ambition is questionable.
In fact, of all the withholding tax exemptions available under the Income Tax Code (CIR-92), those linked to research in universities account for just 4% of the total amount of exemptions granted by the Belgian state[3]. The budgetary argument is therefore not credible.
Could there be other motives behind this political ambition, especially given the financial situation of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which would be unable to compensate for such a reduction in federal tax measures? The weakening of the academic world and its missions would, in any case, be dramatic for our Community, and would further jeopardize one of the essential driving forces behind the redeployment of Wallonia, Brussels and their populations.
The French-speaking Rectors are determined to ensure that this essential measure is preserved as it stands, and that a stable, predictable and appropriate methodology is confirmed through the drafting of clear circulars applicable to all regional tax audits.
[1] Loi-Programme of December 24, 2002
[2] And only 16% for universities.
[3] According to data from SPF Finances (2022), 34% of all resources made available by the Belgian State through withholding tax exemption schemes (€3.9 billion) are allocated to the research measure. And only
entre 10 et 15% aux universités.
On September 21, ULiège welcomed its international students to an evening of socializing and getting to know one another, marking the start of their new university life.
ULiège Sports fait sa rentrée : des installations rénovées au Blanc Gravier et 64 disciplines pour bouger à votre rythme !
On September 16, 2026, the Board of Trustees of ULiège gave its approval in principle to continue reviewing the proposal to relocate two of its faculties to the city center.
