Budget Information Session Q&A - February 2021

No, we are not planning on lay-offs this year

Correct, there has been a strategic priority put on returning a portion of the funds back to professional development activities while travel funds remain reduced.

We have heard the concerns about employee morale, whether due to budget cuts, COVID fatigue or other. As a part of the Broader Public Sector Act and its specified spending restrictions, we cannot use our operating budget for employee gifts or team meals.  However, there are a number of groups working on other morale-boosting activities. 

The university continues to explore alternative sources of revenue to support our operations. To ensure we strategically approach this challenge, it is critical that any new venture be tied to our core mandate of learning (i.e., teaching and research). To this end, increased student retention aligns closest with our mission than any other initiative. If we increased the Year 1 to Year 2 persistence rate by 1 per cent in each of the next three years we could add more than $2M to our annual revenue base. The next strategy is to invest in recruitment initiatives, both domestically and internationally, to raise annual enrolment levels. There is also a correlation between enrolment growth and the introduction of new undergraduate and graduate programs. Ontario Tech is currently reviewing 22 new programs with a focus on creating short programs (i.e., diplomas) and more pathway partnerships. We will also be looking at expanding our outreach to non-traditional learner groups (e.g., people who work full time) through investments in continuing education initiatives (e.g., micro-credentials).

The university has always been a leader in offering college diploma-to-university degree pathways. However, the other institutions have caught up. We are now looking for programming that moves past these types of initiatives. For example, we are developing:

• Policies to allow seniors to take a single course.
• Short programs, certificates, and diplomas so the mature learner does not see having to complete the full degree as too much of a commitment.
• International partnerships.

Our current digital recruitment efforts are designed to recruit non-traditional learners. By using enhanced technologies and collecting detailed prospect information, the recruitment team is able to nurture prospects. Moreover, we offer daily chats, enhanced virtual content and text messaging to students to connect at important times in the applicant process.

We are ensuring software and hardware needs are met. Software is set for curriculum-specific needs plus basic administrative and security functions. Acquisition of PCs was suspended last year, but we have resumed purchasing based on the standard lifecycle (four years for faculty, five years for administrative staff).

For clarity, as noted in previous papers, in 2011 the university made a commitment to improve on its 36:1 student to faculty ratio. Over the past few years we have been at, or below, the 31:1 level. The Provost’s Office monitors the faculty and discipline enrolment data closely and strategically invests in new faculty positions where warranted.

Appendix E in the Budget Discussion Paper illustrates that Faculty budgets have in fact increased over time—mainly as a result of salary increases. However, the Budget Working Group acknowledges that although Faculty budgets increase annually there is pressure on the other operating expenses with in the Faculty.   

For External Relations, you will see a decrease of $1.5M for budget compared to 2019-2020 actual. This reflects a $700K decrease for campus signage and a $500K decrease in promotional items. These losses are being mitigated by efforts to enhance our digital presence and increases in earned media (i.e., external media outlets carrying our stories).

Affordability of education continues to be a matter of concern for students and Ontario Tech as a whole. We will continue to consider ways to improve access and affordability. For undergraduates, we implemented the continuing student support fund last year. This year we are focusing on graduate supports. With the recognition that we have limited funds to invest in this area, a focus has been placed on enhancing supports for international PhD students. The Dean of the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies is working on a scholarship proposal now—with more information to follow shortly.

This will not occur in the short-term but is a key longer-term strategy as some of our building leases near their end dates. We recently distributed a discussion paper to start conversations on the use of space in general. In the meantime, we are looking at how to reduce facility costs by removing old portable structures (rather than investing $400K in renovations) and finding energy savings.

The success of our students is core to the university’s mission. Students expect a high‐quality experience and programming both inside and outside the classroom. Students are more mobile and have more educational options available to them than ever before. We continually monitor student needs and practices out in the field to provide appropriate programming and services to meet student interests and needs in order to be able to attract students and support their success. This includes continually assessing and improving physical and mental-health services, as well as advising, writing, career counselling, and learning options.

International and domestic recruitment are equally important. However, there is increased competition in the GTA for university-aged students so we will work harder on the international front. Specifically, we aim to retain our current market share of international students, especially during the pandemic times. We will continue to expand our efforts in order to work towards international growth. We currently bring in about 150 undergraduate students and are looking to grow to about 180 next year, thereafter increasing to about 400 in the medium term. This should bring us to the current Ontario average of about 15 per cent of the total student body being represented by international students.

It is important to first note that these new staff are all funded through Ancillary Fee dollars rather than discretionary operating dollars.

Over the last few years, a number of reviews have been completed in an effort to directly or indirectly improve our student advising services. The key themes include enhanced consistency of service and increased training for staff, both of which will move our advising model from less of a focus on transactional tasks, and more focus on proactive advising. The Ontario Tech Student Union and the Provost’s Office have worked together to support this initiative.

The Budget Working Group reviews this issue each year. Capital investments for 2021 will be focused on the opening of the new building in September, the consolidation of energy-related research labs into the Energy Research Centre, and the move of Kinesiology teaching labs out of the leased J-Wing.