The Integrated Planning Committee (IPC) has completed its second annual operating budget report.

The report is available here.

The IPC report builds upon last year’s work, including university community consultations and final recommendations and considers the current fiscal climate at the university and in the province.

Feedback reflected

This final report was drafted over winter 2019 and reflects feedback from IPC membership, as well as comments and endorsement from the Senate Planning and Budget Committee, Vice-Presidents Council and Deans Council. The IPC committee is comprised of students, faculty and administrators.

“The report concludes with the IPC’s recommendations to help close the budget gap and, most importantly, to identify future options for revenue generation, including tuition increases tied to a progressive fee model, which, at least in part, will be crucial to ensuring the integrity of academic programming and responding to our deferred maintenance challenges,” said Dr. Noreen Golfman, provost and vice-president (academic) and IPC committee chair.

“The report also holds in view longer-term budgetary issues and priorities that will face the university in the coming years, and reflects the strategic priorities that emerged during the consultations we hosted with the university community.”

Operating budget

In fall 2018 the IPC consulted widely and across all campuses with members of the university community, including faculty, students and staff. The results of that process can be found here.

The committee’s report is the culmination of considerable analysis of the feedback and issues discussed through the consultations, as well as the analysis of Memorial’s past and present fiscal environment, institutional priorities and strategic direction.

The scope of the report is the operating budget of the university with the exception of the Faculty of Medicine, which receives its operating grant from the provincial Department of Health and Community Services.

The report begins by providing an overview of Memorial’s budget, including sources of operating revenue and how that revenue is allocated and spent. The next section details Memorial’s “budget gap” for 2019-20, which is the difference between total operating revenue and expenditure before decisions to balance the budget are made.

The remainder of the of the report focuses on key strategic issues that affect Memorial’s operating budget and presents recommendations based on an analysis of the issues, with emphasis on the two primary challenges facing the university as identified by the IPC: the deteriorating condition of the physical plant and the declining revenue base.

“This report is released on the heels of the provincial budget, which was delivered on April 16 and confirmed the third year of a three-year forecast of cuts to Memorial University’s base budget, with no additional cuts,” said Dr. Golfman. “Earlier this month Vice-Presidents Council established on ad-hoc budget framework committee to develop a budget plan for Memorial for the next four years, and I anticipate that the work of the IPC will inform and help lay the ground work for that important process.”

Information on IPC’s role in the budget planning process at Memorial is available here.