A message from Dr. David Barnard, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manitoba

I am writing to you today about the serious budgetary challenges our University community is facing. Conversations about the budget are not always easy ones to have, but we all need to understand the subject in order to respond appropriately. As more information becomes available, I will share it with you in a timely fashion.

Post-secondary institutions in this province and country can no longer sustain their operations within the current funding model. Nationally, universities have been forced in recent years to cut budgets at the expense of essential programs and services. In Manitoba, many years of low provincial grant funding and frozen or controlled tuition rates have resulted in severe stresses on the capacity of our post-secondary institutions to deliver on their mandates. At the University of Manitoba in particular, the financial demands associated with operating our institution have outpaced the growth of our resources. Put bluntly, the funding model in place does not enable the University to fully support the outcomes our students, staff and faculty are capable of achieving for themselves and, ultimately, for the betterment of Manitoba. As we advocate for changes to the model and improved funding, we are at the same time faced with the immediate prospect of balancing the budget under current circumstances. Together we need to find ways to better align our expenses with our revenues while maintaining our commitment to our institutional priorities. This will be the focus of our work as we prepare a balanced budget for 2015/2016.

To read the full message, click here.