Campus News Briefs – Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Three-year Budget Strategy approved
Last evening, UWinnipeg’s Board of Regents approved a three year Budget Strategy (2016-2019) which will help ensure that operations are sustainable and aligned with the 2015 Strategic Directions. The overall goal is to be proactive and deliberate in using resources to support the following key areas: Academic excellence and renewal – development of an Integrated Academic and Research Plan is currently underway; student experience and success with a focus on retention and diversity; Indigenization including implementation of a mandatory Indigenous course requirement for undergraduates and increasing Indigenous language programs; research excellence, knowledge mobilization and impact with increased supports for researchers; and financial and institutional resilience which includes retiring UWinnipeg’s pension deficit by 2019.
The Budget Strategy includes deliberate choices, such as the desire for UWinnipeg to maintain its current size of approximately 10,000 students so as to maintain our culture of community. The strategy also makes several assumptions, such as tuition continuing to increase at the rate of inflation and that the provincial grant will increase in line with the commitments recently made by the Provincial Government.
In order to retire the pension deficit by 2019 the budget strategy outlines measures that will serve to increase revenues and decrease expenditures over the three years. These measures are in keeping with UWinnipeg’s Strategic Directions and will serve to focus our resources on our priorities.
The three-year Budget Strategy is a guiding document that is flexible and will be adapted annually through UWinnipeg’s regular operating budget consultations.
Sparling Hall vacated
Last evening the Board of Regent’s approved a plan to vacate Sparling Hall for the foreseeable future. In December 2015, ceiling plaster collapsed into an empty office, prompting an engineer’s evaluation. It has been determined that the building, which has been part of our campus for over 100 years, is neither functional nor accessible in its current state. Occupants of Sparling Hall are being relocated:
- Aurora Family Therapy Centre will be moving to the 5th floor of 491 Portage Avenue later this winter and has been temporarily relocated to Ashdown Hall
- International Student Services has moved to the main floor of 491 Portage Ave
- Klinic has moved to the Wellness Centre, main floor Duckworth Centre
- Remaining offices and spaces are being accommodated elsewhere on campus
UWinnipeg anticipates developing a new Capital Campaign and Campus Development Plan in consultation with the UWinnipeg community over the coming year. Sparling Hall will be part of those deliberations. In the interim, heating and security services will be maintained at Sparling Hall.
