Board of Trustees approves 2017-18 budget

Board of Trustees approves 2017-18 budget

By Phil Gaudreau

May 19, 2017

Share

The Queen’s University Board of Trustees approved the university’s 2017-18 budget at its May meeting, ensuring the university can make critical reinvestments in its academic mission while maintaining a stable financial footing for the future.

“We have had to make some tough decisions over the past several years, and our hard work is paying off. The time has come for a serious reinvestment in our faculty, the primary creators of both our student learning experience and our research achievements,” says Queen’s Principal Daniel Woolf. “I am pleased that important priorities like faculty renewal, the hiring of faculty-based research facilitators, and diversity and equity initiatives can now proceed. It will be important, as we re-invest over the coming years, that we take advantage of this opportunity to diversify our professorial ranks while continuing to allocate resources in strategic ways.”

Balanced budget

The 2017-18 budget is balanced with projected revenues of $555.2 million. The university is committed to presenting balanced budgets for the next two fiscal years. This will be achieved both due to careful management of costs, and by achieving the enrolment targets set by the university’s Strategic Enrolment Management Group (SEMG). The undergraduate entry class remains the same size as in the previous two years, since the opening of the new residences, but the university will experience modest overall growth as the first of these slightly larger entering classes now flows through to third year.

The university continues to face challenges with a large pension deficit and deferred maintenance issues. Ongoing efforts are being made to mitigate these risks, with specific allocations amounting to $6.9 million for the pension reserve and $10.3 million for facilities repairs and upkeep.

Faculty growth and renewal

The approval of this new budget means Queen’s is hiring – up to 41 new tenure stream faculty will be hired in 2017-18, as part of a five-year plan that aims to bring up to 200 new faculty positions to Queen’s, including up to 20 Queen’s National Scholars positions.

“We remain focused on enhancing our student learning experience and bolstering the impact of our research, and these new tenure stream positions will make a difference today and ensure our continued success in the future,” says Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Provost and Vice Principal (Academic). “I want to thank all the stakeholders who took part in the 2017-18 budget planning process, especially the decanal team who has made this ambitious hiring plan possible.”

In addition, the university is adding four faculty-based research facilitators – individuals who will provide systematic support in the preparation and administration of grants to facilitate and advance the work of Queen’s researchers.

Ongoing funding has also been allocated for classroom renewals, IT upgrades, and staffing for the sexual violence prevention and student conduct office.

Institutional priorities

As per the final report from the Principal’s Implementation Committee on Diversity, Racism, and Inclusion, there will be ongoing central allocations for equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives every year for the next three years. Central funds also continue to flow towards the revitalization of our teaching spaces. Additionally, beginning in 2017-18, the university will be allocating money to support industry partnerships and technology transfer. This funding relates to the outcome of the technology transfer and commercialization review, the results of which were announced earlier this year as PARTEQ Innovations, the university’s technology transfer arm, was absorbed into the institution

The 2017-18 Budget Report can be viewed on the Financial Services website.