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Board approves 2015-16 operating budget

Despite tight fiscal constraints, Concordia remains committed to supporting academic development
May 27, 2015
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By Alan Shepard


Over the last few months, we’ve been working as a community to talk about our future through our strategic directions initiative. It’s been a great way to get students, faculty and staff thinking about what we want to be, and offering ideas on how we can realize our full potential as a next-generation university.

But we’re living in a very tight fiscal environment that continues to be challenging. The Government of Quebec recently announced additional cuts of $73 million to the Quebec university network for the 2015-16 fiscal year. While our overall expenses have risen by 1 per cent, the government is only providing a 0.6 per cent increase to our grant while indexing tuition fees at 0.9 per cent.

In presenting our 2015-16 operating budget to the Board of Governors, I spoke about our ongoing commitment to preserving our academic mission. We must continue to make strategic investments if we are to thrive in the next decade.

This is not an easy task. Since 2012, Quebec universities have lost substantial base funding. Nevertheless, we continue to strengthen our resolve to invest in our future — leveraging the momentum we created through our strategic directions process so we can continue supporting our students, faculty and staff, and building this great university.

It’s within this context that I’m telling you about our 2015-16 operating budget, which has been approved by the Board of Governors. We’re projecting total revenues of $387 million and total expenses of $395.2 million, which will result in a deficit of $8.2 million. This deficit is inevitable given the cuts of the recent past and our commitment to maintaining academic development initiatives and planning for the future.

Units will soon receive their budgets and we’re planning to hold another series of budget conversations, beginning June 5 (see below for more information).

I continue to remain optimistic about our future – and about our potential. We’ve had much to celebrate this year, and I want to thank all of you for your ongoing commitment and dedication to making Concordia the best it can be.


Alan Shepard
President
alan.shepard@concordia.ca



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