The University of Western Ontario may consider expanding first-year enrolment of undergraduate students beyond the current frozen level of 4,350 students.
Construction of the new $100-million home for the Richard Ivey School of Business is racing ahead on the fields in front of Brescia University College. Projected growth in the Ivey’s HBA program could open the door to expanding undergraduate intake on campus.
With limited areas for budgetary growth, Fred Longstaffe, Provost and Vice-President (Academic), says the university should consider new revenue sources to help ease a potential financial strain in the next stage of university planning.
Longstaffe provided an update on Western’s operating budget at last Friday’s Senate meeting.
Western is in the third year of a four-year plan built on no change in undergraduate ranks. When the current plan ends, Longstaffe says there’s room for change.
“The bottom line is we are going to have to find additional revenue through a combination of initiatives, that we take here at Western, and also through any initiative we can encourage the provincial government to take in the successive plan to Reaching Higher.”
Reaching Higher was a groundbreaking, multi-year commitment by the provincial government in 2005 to rebuild post-secondary education in the province, highlighted by a $6.2-billion cumulative investment by 2009-10.
For many years Western has held firm to 4,350 as the ‘magic number’ for first-year undergraduate enrolment, but pressures for expansion and more revenue might drive the intake higher.
“I think the time is soon upon us to look at the 4,350 (target for undergraduate intake) again,” he says, explaining the Richard Ivey School of Business HBA expansion will open space on campus for more students in some faculties.
“I think we will be coming back to you, not this year, but in the next four-year plan … with some suggestions for some modest growth on the undergraduate side.
“We’ve come more or less to the end of the provincial government’s Reaching Higher Plan,” he explains, noting it is unclear what provincial funding for post-secondary institutions will look like in the future.
Meanwhile, the past year has taught lessons in economic restraint.
“We are not anticipating that we will have investment income for use within the operating budget for the coming year,” he adds. “
We are anticipating going forward in terms of the revenue estimates … that we may see optimistically three per cent in terms of revenue growth.”
But even as revenues slowly inch upwards, so too does spending which, Longstaffe cautions, must be restricted to the same three per cent level.
Looking to the final year of the four-year plan (2010-11), undergraduate enrolment will remain stable, graduate student numbers will increase according to the university’s plans, and financial guidelines put into the operating budget earlier this year should remain the same, says Longstaffe.
It is uncertain whether further budgetary reductions will be needed, he says, adding this will depend on funding promises from the provincial government, and Western’s ability to secure revenue sources and control costs.
Possible new revenue sources
Undergraduate expansion
High-end or elite undergraduate programs Coursed-based master’s programs Offering graduate diplomas Increasing international student enrolments
Forming partnerships with the City of London and private sector.