Report: UTM Campus Affairs Committee - March 23, 2021

REPORT NUMBER 46 OF THE CAMPUS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

March 23, 2021
 

To the Campus Council, University of Toronto Mississauga,

Your Committee reports that it held a meeting on March 23, 2021 at 3:10 p.m. via a Virtual Meeting Room.

Present:
Joseph Leydon (Chair), Robert Gerlai (Vice-Chair), Alexandra Gillespie (Vice-President & Principal), Amrita Daniere (Vice-Principal Academic and Dean), Saher Fazilat (Chief Administrative Officer), Mark Overton (Dean of Student Affairs), Laura Taylor (Chair, Academic Affairs Committee), Nagham Abdalahad, Diana Aldaz, Lee Bailey, Dario Di Censo, Noha Farawi, Imre Gams, Claudiu Gradinaru, Shelley Hawrychuk, Yuhong He, Tanya Kenesky, Ashley Monks, Hans van Monsjou, Stephanie Santos, Joanna Szurmak, Laura Taylor, Ryan Tomlinson, Anthony Wensley, Fatima Yakubi, Mitra Yakubi

Non-Voting Assessors:
Tammy Cook (Executive Director, Facilities, Management & Planning), Christine Capewell (Executive Director, Financial & Budget Services)

Regrets:
Adriana Grimaldi, James Parker, Allen Lu, Brandon Nageer

In Attendance:
Anne McIlroy (Principal and Lead Architect, Brook McIlroy), Tneshia Pages (Associate and Project Manager, Brook McIlroy), Lorretta Neebar (Registrar and Director of Enrolment Management)

Secretariat:
Cindy Ferencz Hammond (Assistant Secretary of the Governing Council)

1. Chair’s Remarks
   
   The Chair welcomed members and guests to the meeting.
    
2. Overview of the UTM Campus Operating Budget: 2021-22 (for information)
   
   At the invitation of the Chair, Ms Christine Capewell, Executive Director, Financial & Budget Services, gave a presentation outlining considerations and projections for the 2021-22 UTM Campus Operating Budget. She began her presentation by referring members to the background materials which were made available on the governance portal, such as the Long-Range Budget Guidelines, the Annual Report on Student Financial Report 2019-20, and the Enrolment Report for 2020-21. During her presentation, she highlighted the following points:

• The total enrolment intake target would remain similar to the numbers of the past three years;
• Actual results varied, as evidenced in 2020, where due to the pandemic, enrolment was under target by about 429 in total, 75 of these international students;
• Focus this year will be on meeting intake enrolment target;
• Total headcount predicted for 2021-22 was 15,202 undergraduates and 481 graduate students;
• Although enrollment actuals for fall 2020 were lower than expected, retention was higher than expected;
• Ongoing negative impact for at least the years 2022-23 to 2023-24;
• Budget has been greatly influence by the Provincial 10% cut in tuition in 2019-20 and the tuition freeze in 2020-21; the assumption is that tuition will remain frozen for 2021-22.
• International tuition saw an increase of 2% in 2021-22 instead of the planned 4%, which resulted in a cost of $3-4 million annually;
• As is the University’s practice, UTM has a balanced budget for 2021-22, with gross expense budget allocated to UTM of $348 million and the same amount allocated to individual UTM Budgets.
• UTM’s revenues consisted of $423 million, with the sources of funds made up primarily of tuition (69%), followed by operating grants (14%), divisional revenue (9%), University Fund allocation (6%), and other revenue (2%).
• Out of the $423 million, $53 million is allocated for University wide costs, such as the University library system and the pension plan; and $22 million is set aside for student aid, which includes the international scholarship program;
• The remaining $348 million is made up of primarily compensation (58%), capital construction (14%), infrastructure renewal (17%), self-funded student services (6%) and other (5%), which includes equipment and other services;
• Key spending priorities focused on students, the faculty and staff complement, COVID-19 related costs, mental health and space;
• New intake for 2021-22 is projected at 3842 and the international share of that intake at 30.7%;
• International diversification efforts were underway, including through an international scholarship, to temper the 67% share from a single source home country;
• UTM contributed a percentage of international tuition to scholarships, in 2023-24, this will be at 6%; in 2021-22, UTM expected to spend $7 million in this area;
• $1.6 million was added to student awards in 2020 fall to bolster recruitment efforts and the same is planned for fall 2021, with two additional academic advising staff;
• The current 2020-21 faculty search schedule included a total of 31 FTE’s, consisting of 17 replacements and 16 growth positions;
• UTM participated in the U of T Diversity in Academic Hiring Fund and Indigenous Hiring Fund
• Staff complement hires to include staff attached to the Academic Plan implementation and facilities staff to maintain the Science building and the proposed ACT building;
• UTM mental health and Wellness saw a high level of engagement with online supports; plans were underway to add two nurses to Centre;
• With respect to space, a substantial portion of the budget was set aside for state of good repair spending and capital construction projects, such as the ACT building and the Student Services Commons;
• Tighter budget situation than in previous years due to COVID related costs, but UTM’s budget was in good standing to meet its stated goals and planned capital projects.
  
  In response to a member’s question Ms Capewell confirmed that costs related to the vaccination clinic located at UTM were not part of the operating budget, but rather funded by the Province. A member asked whether there were any budget savings related to reductions in occupancy on campus. Ms Capewell explained that the University was currently analyzing utility costs from the previous year and remarked that there may be a small savings, however, these may be offset by increased rates last year and energy costs were still being incurred since all the buildings were heated, cooled and lighted, even when not fully occupied.
  
  A member asked Ms Capewell to comment on the University Fund (UF) and how its funding might evolve given the coming budget constraints. Ms Capewell noted that the UF was a university-wide program and that UTM’s contribution had gone from 10% to 14% in recent years. She added that UTM did receive back an allocation from the fund, for example, for a diversity hiring program.
  
  In response to a member’s question about how the budget was planned with respect to anticipating enrolment and retention, Ms Capewell explained that her office had assumed lower retention rates than this year in its planning, adopting a conservative approach to budget planning.

3. UTM Master Plan (for information and feedback)
   
   Saher Fazilat, Chief Administrative Officer, began the presentation by explaining that a campus master plan outlined what was needed to realize a University’s strategic plan in a physical sense. Master plan design objectives guided an institution’s short term project support and work towards its long term plans and goals. UTM’s Master Plan 2020, was an active process where campus priorities and goals were identified and would be used to inform future projects and initiatives, building on the framework set out in the campus’ 2011 master plan.
   
   Ms Fazilat noted that the 2020 plan was focused on the following objectives:

• a stronger preservation and use of campus open spaces;'
• improved user mobility and safety within the UTM campus;
• renewed and modernized transportation methods to campus
• the creation and continuation of sustainably designed academic buildings and mixed use spaces;
• increased ability for all campus users to use outdoor spaces in all seasons;
• increased campus awareness in and participation in cultural place making;
• increased campus appeal from visual aesthetics and from a health and wellbeing perspective.
  
  The CAO noted that consultations on the plan had been ongoing since early 2020, and have continued via remote platforms. UTM had also updated the City of Mississauga on its plans and would be bringing final plans for governance approval starting in the fall of 2021.  She then invited a presentation from Anne McIlroy, Principal and Lead Architect and Tneshia Pages, Associate and Project Manager, from Brook McIlroy.
  
  Ms McIlroy and Ms Pages gave a comprehensive presentation, covering the following topics:
   
• the design approach to future development;
• campus wide guiding principles;
• campus precincts and environmentally sensitive sites;
• the campus commons and a consolidated sports complex;
• spaces for indigenous place keeping and placemaking;
• potential development sites and future nodes and connections.
  
  Ms Pages noted that the campus transportation network had been an important focus of consideration for the master plan. She explained that a traffic study would be undertaken in the future to analyze issue related to the congestion entering and exiting the campus, particularly during peak hours. To date, analysis had shown that the middle campus entrance from Mississauga Rd had spare capacity. Another important transportation consideration for UTM included the creation of a complete street network along Outer Circle Road, with dedicated cycling lanes and generally improving access to infrastructure for cycling, walking and transit to promote multimodal opportunities. She added that the traffic study would be using existing 2016 and 2018 transportation data given that the pandemic had altered traffic patterns at UTM. The University had plans to conduct further transportation studies after the completion of the master plan once transportation patterns had returned to normal levels, which may result in further revisions to the master plan recommendations as part of phase two of the project. In the presentation, Ms Pages showed two options that aimed to improve traffic flow throughout the campus and to provide improved mobility options for pedestrians and cyclists. A decision on the final option will be informed by the final transportation study.
  
  The Chair thanked the presenters from Brook McIlroy and encouraged members who had feedback on the master plan to forward them to Tammy Cook, Executive Director of Facility Management & Planning.
  
  CONSENT AGENDA
  
  On motion duly moved, seconded, and carried YOUR COMMITTEE APPROVED
  
  THAT the consent agenda be adopted and that Item 5 - Report of the Previous Meeting, be approved.
   

4. Report on Capital Projects – as at February 28, 2021
    
5. Report of the Previous Meeting
   
   Report number 45, dated February 10, 2021, was approved.
    
6. Business Arising from the Report of the Previous Meeting
    
7. Date of Next Meeting – April 27, 2021 at 3:10 p.m.
    
8. Other Business

There was no other business.
 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m.

March 29, 2021