With the end of the fiscal year, post-secondary institutions have revealed their 2012-13 budgets – plans that forecast relatively modest cutbacks at both the University of Victoria and Camosun College.
Provincial funding to UVic and Camosun hasn’t increased, creating inflationary pressures on both institutions.
UVic’s budget reflects a 1.5 per cent, across-the-board cutback to account for a projected $2.89 million shortfall in the $310 million operating budget.
Areas exempt from cuts include student financial aid, library acquisitions, utilities, software and hardware maintenance, faculty research and travel grants, publications and medical sciences funding – which comes from from the University of British Columbia.
While UVic’s budget includes $500,000 in one-time funding to support student financial aid, it also implements a two per cent tuition increase.
“We are prepared to be flexible and to look critically at our operations, and later this spring we will embark on a broader campus discussion on how best to address the fiscal challenges facing us in the years ahead,” stated UVic President David Turpin in an announcement that didn’t offer any details on how shortfalls will be addressed.
Meanwhile, Camosun College plans to account for a $2.5 million shortfall on a $104 million budget by implementing a two per cent spending cut. Job losses are estimated at 15 to 20 primarily administrative positions.
Those positions are over and above cuts caused by attrition and early retirements. The job losses also won’t affect the creation of three full-time faculty positions and one administrative position for a new medical radiography technician program. That program, slated to begin in September, was made possible through targeted provincial funding.
“It’s the reality that many organizations are facing,” said Joan Yates, Camosun’s executive director of communications and advancement. “It’s not exceptional for Camosun at all.”
The layoffs at Camosun are likely to happen over the next two months as each department is assessed, Yates said.
nnorth@saanichnews.com
