from Dr. Annette Trimbee, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Winnipeg – April 11, 2017
“The funding for UWinnipeg in today’s budget is far less than what we require in order to maintain our operations. This creates a major challenge for The University of Winnipeg. We receive much less per student from the province than any other Manitoba university. The University of Manitoba and Brandon University receive operating grants of almost double that received by UWinnipeg. This disparity goes back decades.
UWinnipeg needed at least a 2.5% increase plus a catch up sum of $1.5 million in order to maintain our operations. We are receiving far less, so we will be looking at doing less.
As Manitoba’s inner-city university we are dedicated to educating a diverse and non-traditional student population, including one of the highest proportions of Indigenous students in Canada, whose talents are needed in order for our province to flourish. We are an investment in the future.
UWinnipeg is already a lean operation. Since July we have eliminated one fifth of senior management positions. Additionally, over the past decade, UWinnipeg has streamlined administrative operations and cut more than $16 million in annual expenses. That amounts to a 15% reduction in our operating budget.
Today’s provincial budget means that we will be examining further reductions.”
