Update on UBC’s Budget for the 2021/22 fiscal year
A message from Peter Smailes, Vice-President, Finance and Operations, Andrew Szeri, Provost and Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver and Lesley Cormack, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Principal, UBC Okanagan
The 2020/21 fiscal year was unprecedented and challenging in many ways for our community as UBC navigated the effects of COVID-19, along with other higher education institutions across Canada and around the world.
In that context, and enabled by the knowledge and experience gained through the past year, our finance teams across the university have worked hard to prepare the 2021/22 budget. The proposed budget was formally presented to UBC’s Board of Governors today, and we are pleased to announce that it has been approved.
As we prepare to share the budget report with our community this week, we want to reiterate our thanks to you and your teams for supporting mitigations targeted at managing the financial impact of COVID-19, and for your efforts to prudently manage spending across the university. These actions have been essential in helping UBC weather the impact of COVID-19 more positively than initially anticipated.
We would also like to thank you for engaging in this year’s budget process, which has been unique for a variety of reasons — from our transition to collaborating through online channels, to our shared efforts in supporting UBC’s academic mandate and priorities while effectively responding to the continuously-changing demands of COVID-19.
While the 2021/22 operating budget projects a $61m deficit, the total consolidated budget — which includes capital spending and income earned from land development proceeds, research, and endowments — is projected to result just above a balanced position with a $10m surplus.
This financial projection is based on rigorous financial analysis and planning and, while we still face uncertainty ahead as UBC and the global economy recover, we want to reassure our community that UBC’s financial affairs have strong oversight and governance through the UBC Executive and the Board of Governors. Our financial position is closely monitored and remains in good health, and UBC continues to be highly rated by leading credit rating agencies.
The full budget report will be made available on the UBC Finance website shortly. We encourage you to review the information, to understand more about how our financial approach is advancing UBC’s academic mandate and priorities. By working together and continuing to focus on our core academic mission, as well as the health and wellbeing of our diverse and inclusive community, we will continue to grow our impact as a world-leading university.