My colleagues in the UK are buckling up for a bumpy ride in the coming years. Higher education in the UK should plan for cuts of up to 35 % to its public funding, if the Cabinet secretary is right. Assuming student numbers remain static, this means that the level of per capita funding of higher education in the UK would fall to historically low numbers. What levers can universities pull when faced with such cut backs? Increasing overseas student fees is one, for sure. Accelerating distance learning is another option. In the Netherlands, we are still holding our breath in the absence of white smoke from a new government coalition. Bet let’s assume that we, too, will suffer badly from cutbacks in public spending in the next, say, 5 years. Even a 10-15% budget cut would wreak havoc on Dutch universities. It is time we start doing some long range contingency planning. The recently announced intensified cooperation between the universities of Leiden, Delft and Erasmus is only the beginning of changes yet to come. Let us count the ways….