The University of Western Ontario will host a town hall meeting next week for faculty, staff and students to discuss preliminary budget recommendations, which include proposed tuition hikes, continued graduate growth and reduced operating budgets.
Western faces several challenges in the wake of the global economic crisis, including a $41-million operating revenue shortfall expected between 2008-09 and 2010-11. Retirement incentives, layoffs and tuition increases have been tabled as possible ways to meet budget constraints.
With uncertainty about the fallout of the pending budget, university administration is offering the Western community a chance to present questions at a public meeting March 3, at the Richard Ivey School of Business, Room 1R40 from 3-4:30 p.m.
The Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) released its Preliminary Recommendations on Faculty and Support Unit Budgets, and Tuition Fees on Feb. 13. The document reviews progress made since last year’s budget and the priorities and new initiatives for 2009-10 fiscal year.
The recommendations will be presented to Senate for discussion on Feb. 27. Senate meetings are open to the public.
Given heightened interest in the university’s operating budget this is the first time recommendations for the support units have been included in the preliminary document.
Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Fred Longstaffe says the university wants to ensure “all units can have as much time as possible to plan in detail to meet the budgetary reductions that are necessary in 2009-10.” Support unit recommendations have been traditionally first released in the full budget document in April.
Budget information has been posted on Western’s homepage at www.uwo.ca.
The report says the recommendations “are a direct reflection of the increased constraints. We understand that the reduction in resources available will be difficult for all units, but it is required if we are to maintain a balanced budget at the end of the four-year planning period.”
According to the document, the provincial government permits a modest increase in tuition rates. The university is proposing a 4.5 per cent increase for most first-year undergraduate programs, with the exception of Engineering (eight per cent) and Media, Theory and Production (four per cent).
The university reports significant progress on initiatives set out in the 2008-09 budget, particularly in the areas of professoriate and graduate expansion.
The university is on course with its program to increase diversity in the professoriate, appointing 12 women to tenured or probationary positions.
Longstaffe says the university has worked hard to recruit graduate students, meeting its aspirations for growth at the master’s level and nearly reaching its goal for doctoral-level students. These recruitment achievements have been rewarded with significant provincial funding, he adds.
“Our graduate students make enormous contributions to Western’s success in scholarship, research and education – and we are very happy to see their numbers grow along the trajectory laid out in Western’s strategic plan,” he says.
“The budgetary program that helps to support the recruitment of women faculty is also continuing to making a positive difference. That said, there is still much work to be done in increasing diversity amongst Western’s professoriate, and in that regard, we will continue to make every effort to encourage the success of highly qualified candidates.”
Longstaffe says graduate expansion will continue to be a priority. The university plans to double doctoral enrolment every 10 years. Longstaffe sees graduate expansion as securing Western’s position among the best research-intensive universities in the country. He is hopeful provincial funding earmarked for graduate growth will remain in place to support this expansion.
The provincial budget will be released in late March.
“We are hopeful that revenues will continue to flow as committed by the province in its Reaching Higher plan. However, we all recognize that the global recession will have a negative impact on the province’s revenues, and that this has potential to have implications for the university’s operating revenues,” he says.
Whatever the provincial funding level, the university is committing to continue providing resources to faculties in support of graduate expansion, including through the new Doctoral Supervision Internal Grant.
This one-time recommended program supports an increase in full-time domestic doctoral students and provides research funding directly to supervisors of doctoral students to support their research.
The new budget also includes the Employee Retirement Incentives program, designed for eligible faculty and staff positions.
Faculties and support units are expected to reduce operating budgets by an average of 5.5 per cent for each of the next two years, which may require layoffs. The Employee
Retirement Incentives is intended to reduce the number of layoffs.
The University Operation and Capital Budget recommendations for 2009-10 will be presented to Senate in mid-April.
To view the Preliminary Recommendations on Faculty and Support Unit Budgets, and Tuition Fees document visit https://www.ipb.uwo.ca/documents/FebDoc2009_FINAL.pdf.
