Nearly 200 students gathered in protest on Tuesday at Ghent University (UGent) to demonstrate against the planned cuts.
The demonstrators also targeted the Flemish Minister of Education Ben Weyts (N-VA), who was visiting the Ghent University of Applied Sciences (HOGENT) that same day.
The UGent Board of Governors is considering budgetary cuts to raise some €30 million a year. Under threat, among other services, are the Green Office, which deals with sustainability issues at Ghent University, is under discussion and at least 300 jobs are on the line.
The department will not be cut completely but simply "reduced", both in terms of staff and work resources, the university management said on Tuesday.
"UGent will fully implement its climate, sustainability and energy policy plans, even in these times of austerity," chancellor Rik Van de Walle maintained.
The university's management, which is due to endorse a memorandum allowing for the effective savings of €22 million this year, is defending its budget, but also denouncing the Flemish Government which is allegedly failing to fulfil its financial commitments.
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Environmental activists had already protested against these budget cuts on the university campus from 2 to 5 May, demanding the chancellor's resignation and suspension of the planned savings.
Members of End Fossil Gent then planned to occupy a university building in protest on 16 May, but relevant departments were made aware and security guards prevented around 20 environmental activists from entering the premises.
In 2021, the occupation of another university building, the UFO, lasted for three weeks, with activists rallying in solidarity with hunger-striking undocumented immigrants in the Saint John the Baptist at the Béguinage in Brussels.
