The financial situation of K2 is, as we have pointed out several times in this column, tight. Even after a thorough review with the faculty where we got approval for our view that salary obligations related to old BFS-agreements must be compensated, we still face a year of deficit.
One of the initiatives implemented to balance the situation is the introduction of technician pay. This means that research groups must pay for the technical services received from the institute. It should be stressed that this only applies to technicians receiving salary directly from annum. Technical positions at K2, funded from external sources, or technicians that have been bought free, will not be affected by this.
The principle of technician pay has been discussed in the institute, which has given its support to the initiative. It has been decided that the technician pay will be kr 50 000 pr man-year per year. For research groups where several scientific employees share one technician, the leader of the research group must divide the amount based on internal use of the technician. The financial section at K2 will contact each research group in order to clarify the practical aspects of payment.
The technician pay is calculated to yield approximately 1 million kroner annually to the institute finances, and thus reduce the deficit this year to about kr 900 000. This is a manageable amount which, with tight cost control during the year, may be reduced further.
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