Benarroch was joined by Dr. Diane Hiebert-Murphy, Provost and Vice-President (Academic), and Shelley Hopkins, acting-Chief Financial Officer and Comptroller. They presented an update on UM’s 2025-2026 budget, with a focus on the operating budget.

The university’s total 2025-26 budget is $1.16 billion, encompassing both operating and non-operating funds. Non-operating funds include restricted revenues such as sponsored research, endowments, and capital funding. The main focus of the presentation,  available on the Budget Town Hall website, was the $835-million operating budget.

The operating budget is funded primarily from provincial grants (55%) and tuition (31%). As the presenters noted, though, provincial grants have neither kept pace with our costs, nor inflation. Manitoba’s domestic tuition rates are also some of the lowest in Canada and do not cover the full costs of academic programming. This shortfall is usually offset, to a degree, by revenue gained from international tuition fees, but recent changes in federal policies is making it harder for Canadian universities to attract international students. As a result, UM is experiencing a decline in international student enrolment and expects to see continued declines through 2029. Meanwhile, UM is seeing an increase in domestic student enrolments and although it is great news for Manitoba that our university had a record enrolment for Fall Term this year, it means we are educating more students with less money.

Despite these and other financial constraints, UM made key investments in competitive wages, capital renewal (including accessibility upgrades and learning space renovations), Reconciliation and Indigenous student excellence, student financial supports, experiential learning, internal research grants, and interdisciplinary team-building grants.

“The good news is that we are still tracking toward a balanced operating budget this year,” President Benarroch said. “The two biggest challenges facing us moving forward are the decline in international student enrolment and the significant capital deficit on our campuses.”

UM has 155 buildings and a town’s worth of infrastructure, and it receives very little funding from the province to maintain these assets. The president said UM has been developing a Major Capital Plan that identifies our needs and lays out what this university can look like in 30 years. This plan will be launched in January 2026 (details to come).

The Provost and acting-CFO presented on UM’s financial health and investments we are making into enhancing our teaching, learning and research mission, as guided by the strategic plan, MomentUM: Leading Change Together, and Time for Action: UM’s Truth and Reconciliation Framework, as well as Change Through Research: UM’s Strategic Research Plan and other institutional plans.

“We’re working to create an environment where everyone feels welcome and can succeed,” Provost Hiebert-Murphy said. “Most importantly, we recognize that everything we do depends on the people that we have so as you’re going to hear throughout this presentation, we continue to invest in  competitive wages for our faculty and staff. We want to attract and retain high quality faculty and staff because they are critical to us achieving the mission and the strategic goals that we have agreed are important for the University of Manitoba.”

The full presentation will be made available on the Budget Town Hall website. Anyone with further questions or comments can submit them to Budget.consultation@umanitoba.ca.

This document includes all scheduled Senate, Board of Governors, and Committee meeting dates and submission deadlines and are updated throughout the year.

The Chancellor of the University of Manitoba services as the titular head of the University.  A volunteer role, the Chancellor confers all degrees and is a voting member of the Board of Governors and Senate.  The Chancellor serves as an ambassador, advisor, leader and essential contributor to the governance and advancement of the institution.   

Chancellor Anne Mahon has served with great distinction for two terms as Chancellor since June 1, 2019. Chancellor Mahon has indicated that she will not be standing for a further term as Chancellor when her current term ends on May 31, 2025.  Accordingly, a new Chancellor will need to be identified and elected. To that end, the Chancellor Search Committee has been formed and will meet throughout the fall/early winter to undertake the process.  

The Chancellor Search Committee welcomes nominations for the Office of the Chancellor from members and assessors of the Board of Governors and the Senate, Students, Academic Staff, Support Staff and Alumni of the University of Manitoba.  Nomination forms can be found on the Committee of Election website.

Nov. 27, 2024 – Update: Nominations for Chancellor are now closed.

“I wish to thank all of the candidates for allowing their names to stand, and all Faculty and School council members who took the time to vote in this important election process,” said Jeff M. Leclerc, University Secretary.

On April 7, 2021, the University of Manitoba Senate approved the addition of five Indigenous Senators over and above any Indigenous Senators already serving on Senate for their respective Faculty and school councils.

This addition is intended to add Indigenous participation and voice in Senate governance and is not to preclude Indigenous Senators to continue to be elected by individual Faculty and School Councils as well.

Two related policies are currently up for review: The Respectful Work and Learning Environment (RWLE) policy and the Sexual Violence policy. Regular reviews are required by legislation. These reviews will take place after the anti-racism and anti-ableism policies are established by fall 2024, in order to ensure alignment between all community policies.

Existing policies remain in effect, and there will be formal opportunities to provide input during the review process.

Until that time, the community is welcomed to offer comments that will inform the review of the existing Respectful Work and Learning Environment (RWLE) and the Sexual Violence policies. Interim feedback may be sent via email to Marci Davies.

UM’s Sexual Violence Policy was recently updated to include a duty for supervisors and managers when they receive a disclosure of sexual violence to refer the person to the Sexual Violence Resource Centre and to the supports available to them.

For full details about recent changes, refer to the updated Sexual Violence Policy; this UM Today story also provides further details about this change. Other resources available to community members include the Sexual Violence Awareness course on UM Learn, and Sexual Violence Resource Centre.

Community policies and procedure can be found online on the University Governance website. 

More about UM’s Sexual Violence Resource Centre (SVRC)

The SVRC uses a trauma-informed and survivor-centred approach to provide information, resources and support to anyone who has been affected by sexual violence. It’s a place where survivors, or people supporting survivors, can find a safe space. Their confidential services are available to all faculty, staff and students in the UM community who need their help.

*Please call or email to make an appointment:

svrc [at] umanitoba [dot] ca

Phone: 204-474-6562

He was joined by Dr. Diane Hiebert-Murphy, Provost and Vice-President (Academic), and Mike Emslie, UM’s CFO and comptroller. They presented on the current budget year and some of the decisions that this community has been making around how to allocate revenue.

Benarroch recalled hosting similar town halls as a former Dean and former provost at Toronto Metropolitan University. He praised the UM community for being engaged in the process and learning about how financial decisions are made at the university, which has led to more informed discussions on how UM can adjust its budget model.

This year’s presentation once again focused on UM’s operating budget.

About 54 per cent of UM’s operating revenue comes from a provincial government grant. Tuition revenue represents the second largest source of funding (31 per cent), with tuition fees for domestic students being regulated by the Province of Manitoba. On the expenditures side of the ledger, salaries and benefits account for 75 per cent of operating expenses.

“Government policy has a significant impact on the university’s financial resources, and salaries are a very significant component of the university’s operating expenses,” said Emslie. “As salary increases from recent collective agreements have been implemented, and activity on campus has returned, the university’s annual operating surplus has declined relative to prior years.”

The Provost reminded the audience that tuition levels at UM are well below the national average. Hiebert-Murphy noted that if UM was at the national average, it would have an additional $30 million to invest in its teaching and learning mission annually.

During the question period, a biological sciences instructor asked if the university had a plan to invest in professor-track faculty positions in the same way it has a plan for addressing its deferred maintenance. The Provost agreed this is an area that needs collegial discussion but that ultimately staffing issues are addressed at the unit-level.

“These decisions are difficult when you are given a flat grant,” Hiebert-Murphy said. “We are continuing to invest in salary increases to support our faculty and staff while also investing as we can in other academic priorities such as filling faculty positions and providing supports for student and research.”

The President also noted that he doesn’t want our community to see this conversation as deferred maintenance versus faculty investment.

“We’ve actually fallen way further behind on deferred maintenance than we have on supporting the people here at the university,” Benarroch said, stressing that separate government grants are helping address deferred maintenance, which is key to ensuring functioning teaching and learning spaces. “And so it can’t be an either-or… We’ve got an infrastructure issue here on campus and we’ve been pushing government hard to be able to fund that.”

This budget, Benarroch and Hiebert-Murphy noted, is weighing these considerations responsibly and is investing $14.5 million in one-time, strategic priorities, including:

• scholarships, bursaries and student financial aid (additional $3 million)
• research grants ($2.5 million to provide matching funds)
• classroom and lab upgrades ($4.5 million)
• accessibility enhancements ($3 million)
• HVAC upgrades to ensure UM operates optimal ventilations systems ($1.5 million).

The budget also allocated a $7.7 million pool of Strategic Initiative funds < https://news.umanitoba.ca/strategic-initiatives-fund-projects-announced/>  to faculties and units that are advancing institutional priorities.

Yet UM, like most of Canada’s top universities, is an aging university and that comes with hefty financial costs to deal with maintenance.

“We have over 100 buildings past an average age of 50. I think we all know that past 50, things start to go bad, and we are experiencing that on campus,” Hiebert-Murphy said.  

UM is responsible for its own roads and sewer, which carry large price tags. Then there is the $90 million that has to be invested over the next 10 years to upgrade UM’s power grid, which can no longer be maintained and must now be replaced. If there is a bright spot here, it is that the Province provided UM with $12.6 million to address some of these maintenance matters in the 2023/24 budget.

Going forward, Emslie noted that UM is projecting expenses to grow more quickly than revenue over the next few years—an issue raised at last year’s Town Hall—and so to better enable the university to weather this period, UM will continue its multi-year budget approach in the expectation that this makes units better able to react and responsibly manage funds over the next few years.  

“Overall, however, the university is in pretty solid financial shape,” Emslie said. Hiebert-Murphy added, “We are taking a balanced approach to managing our budget, reviewing our budget model to ensure that resources are allocated to sustainably support the University’s mission.”

Missed the town hall? Access the presentation online, watch the archive on YouTube and submit any questions to BudgetConsultation@umanitoba.ca.

This document includes all scheduled Senate, Board of Governors, and Committee meeting dates and submission deadlines and are updated throughout the year.

The overwhelming participation in the online course demonstrates our collective commitment to the highest standards of honesty, ethical conduct and fiduciary responsibility.  

Though the promotional campaign concluded Nov. 18, the online course entitled Financial Stewardship & Ethical Conduct will remain on UM Learn. If you have not yet had a chance to complete the course, please take some time to complete it now.

The course is a simple and helpful 45-minute video that explains financial stewardship, ethical conduct, fraud and financial irregularities and how to recognize them. There is no quiz component. 

All members of the UM community are strongly encouraged to review the policy and complete the associated UM Learn course. As members of the UM community, we all have an obligation to report good faith concerns or suspicions of fraud and irregularities and to follow processes to report concerns to protect funds and property owned by or in the care of the University. 

A reminder that the course is mandatory for all staff reporting under: the Office of the President; Provost and Vice-President (Academic) – members of the Provost’s Office; Vice-President (Administration); Vice-President (External); Vice-President (Indigenous); and Vice-President (Research and International).

Please note: Course attendance is also being recorded in VIP on a weekly basis; managers can review progress in their areas through the Manager’s portal in Employee self-service.

Learn more about the policy and how to access the course in UM Learn.

If you have not yet reviewed the new Fraud and Financial Irregularity Reporting Policy and completed the associated course, please take some time to do so now. All members of the UM community are strongly encouraged to review the policy and complete the associated UM Learn course by Nov. 18, 2022.  

The course is mandatory for all staff reporting under the following portfolios:

• Office of the President
• Provost and Vice-President (Academic) – members of the Provost’s Office
• Vice-President (Administration)
• Vice-President (External)
• Vice-President (Indigenous)
• Vice-President (Research and International)

Faculty participation is optional but is encouraged. Student participation is optional. Student employees (teaching assistants, lab assistants, etc.) are strongly encouraged to complete the course.

The new policy, which can be found on the Governing Documents website, reflects UM values of accountability and integrity and our commitment to the highest standards of honesty, ethical conduct and fiduciary responsibility.

How to access the course in UM Learn 

You can access the course, entitled Financial Stewardship & Ethical Conduct (“Fraud”), on UM Learn, the university’s online learning platform.

It takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. (To access, you must be logged in with your UM email address and password.)  

1. Find UM Learn on the Faculty and Staff webpage or access from UM Intranet.  
2. Log in to UM Learn and select the waffle menu (a square made up of 9 dots located near the middle top of the screen). 
3. Select the course from the waffle dropdown menu by clicking on it. Most users have been automatically registered in the course, which means the course will appear in the waffle dropdown menu. 

____________________________

OCTOBER 12, 2022 —This summer, the Board of Governors adopted the University of Manitoba’s first fraud and financial irregularity reporting policy.

The new policy, which can be found on the Governing Documents website, reflects UM values of accountability and integrity and our commitment to the highest standards of honesty, ethical conduct and fiduciary responsibility.

As members of the UM community, we all have an obligation to report good faith concerns or suspicions of fraud and irregularities and to follow processes in order to protect funds and property owned by or in the care of the University.

A course has been created to review the policy and associated procedures. The course can be accessed on UM Learn and is entitled Financial Stewardship & Ethical Conduct (“Fraud”). It takes approximately 45 minutes to complete.

All members of the University community are strongly encouraged to review the policy and complete the course by Nov. 18, 2022. 

Questions regarding the new policy and procedures can be directed to Audit Services at audit.services@umanitoba.ca