Posted on Dec. 16: Financial plan, sports complex highlight Board of Governors, Senate meetings
The Board of Governors approved McMaster's three-year financial plan.
The plan presents the University's operating fund, including income from government grants, tuition and miscellaneous fees, expense recoveries, other income, contracts and interest from endowments and other investments.
Operating income funds the expenses in the University's six faculties, academic support areas, institutional infrastructure and student financial assistance.
Recently the government froze tuition fees, eliminating a planned two per cent increase in undergraduate fees at McMaster. To make up for the tuition shortfall, the government is looking at increasing grant income, although details of the new funding have yet to be worked out.
The basic grant McMaster receives from the Ministry of Training, College and Universities has been frozen at $94 million for the past several years and there is no indication the allocation will change.
A performance fund also is allocated to Ontario universities based on how they perform on three specific indicators: graduation rates, employment rates six months after graduation and employment rates two years after graduation. McMaster's share is expected to be just under $1.8 million in 2003/04.
The Accessibility Fund allocation is projected to increase from the $16.5 million projected in 2003/04 to an estimated $24.6 million in 2006/07, representing a nearly 50 per cent increase.
Income from the Quality Assurance Fund (QAF), designed to address concerns raised by universities about the challenges of the double cohort, is estimated to be $4.5 million based on a province-wide fund of around $72 million and McMaster's roughly six per cent share of total enrolment in the province. Based on an expected increase of the province-wide QAF to $200 million in 2006-07, it is expected McMaster's share will be $12 million.
Remaining income, including research overhead grants, investment income and other donations and grants, revenues/transfers and recoveries and other income, has been set at $63.4 million.
Compensation for salaries, wages and benefits is $183.3 million. This represents more than 63 per cent of total expenses. Year-over-year inflation increases average 3.5 per cent.
A year-over-year inflation factor of five per cent has been added to the plan for utilities and maintenance expenses. Each one per cent equals about $250,000.
An additional $1.2 million will be provided for undergraduate scholarships and bursaries. This increase is in response to attracting more top-quality students. Entering students with an entering average of 80 per cent or higher qualify for entrance scholarships. Student financial aid projections increase by an inflation factor of two per cent.
Except for the debt payment/financing charges of $7.38 million that represents the interest cost of the University's long-term debt to fund capital expenditures, all other expense items have increased by an annual inflation factor of two per cent.
The University is moving ahead immediately with a business plan for its proposed $30-million multi sport complex, but wants to identify a lead-gift donor — or donors — before approving a business plan for a $12-million stadium. That means finding someone willing to donate close to half the cost of the stadium.
Click here to read more in The Hamilton Spectator
(The Hamilton Spectator, Dec. 12, 2003)
Three gifts to the Faculty of Health Sciences and a gift to the Faculty of Humanities will establish new chairs at the University.
A gift to the Faculty of Humanities will support the establishment of the L.R. Wilson Professor in Canadian History. The incumbent, who will possess a specialization in Canadian history, will serve as the first director of the proposed L.R. Wilson Centre for Canadian History at McMaster University. Holding a five-year term, the professor will be financed by an annual pledge payment of $200,000 from a donor and $50,000 from the University.
The Richard Hunt AstraZeneca Chair in Gastroenterology will be established in the Faculty of Health Sciences to address a broad range of gastroenterology and pharmacology issues, including gastrointestinal clinical research, with a specific interest in clinical pharmacology research.
A Chair in Minimally Invasive Surgery and Surgical Innovation will be part of the establishment and maintenance of a world-class centre of excellence in minimally invasive surgery. A Mortgage Intelligence/GMAC Residential Funding of Canada Chair in Thoratic Surgery will focus on the field of thoratic surgery and will help create a Centre of Excellence in Thoracic Surgery.
Only Ontario and Canadian flags will be flown from the University flag poles, states a new policy on flying the flags. This excludes a visiting head of state's flag, provided that it is not flown higher than the Canadian flag.
Flags will be lowered for one day on certain occasions throughout the year: Remembrance Day; upon the death of a faculty member, staff, student, current Senate or Board of Governor member, national or community member or of a person who played a prominent role in serving the McMaster community or on days specified as national days of mourning by the Parliament of Canada. In addition, the flag can be lowered at the discretion of the President.
The official flag poles are located in front of the Burke Science Building.
The process of hiring of an employee's spouse as part of a competitive offer is currently under review at McMaster.
The review was prompted by a recent case at the University, where a distinguished researcher/teacher would accept an offer only if the individual's spouse received an appointment. While the spouse was suitable for the appointment, the case raised concerns about the University's policy in hiring and recruitment of new faculty.
As a result, a formal procedure for spousal hiring is currently in development. A joint Senate/Faculty Association committee, with two representatives from each side, will develop a supplementary policy statement to the Tenure and Promotion Policy to address spousal hiring issues. The policy will indicate under what conditions and in what ways units may depart from the normal procedures and guidelines, including requirements for advertising positions and identifying qualified candidates, to accommodate a desirable spousal appointment.
Given the expected growth of the Office of International Affairs (OIA), the executive director title has been changed to associate vice-president (International Affairs) to better define the strategic goal of the position and need of OIA to take a proactive role in dealing with major international agencies.
A committee was struck this fall to review the internationalization at McMaster and the organizational structure of the OIA — the central university office responsible for liaising wit external agencies and co-ordinating international activities on behalf of the University.
A Senate Committee on Academic Integrity has been formed to oversee matters relating to the University's new Academic Integrity Policy. Approved in March 2002, the policy outlines the new procedure for hearing cases of alleged academic dishonesty by faculty adjudicators. Formerly such cases were heard by tribunals drawn from the membership of the Senate Committee on Academic Dishonesty.
An MBA loan fund for full-time MBA students, administered by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce since 1971, is being discontinued, effective April 30, 2004. The loan is given to students requiring interest payments only until six months after graduation of leaving the program and repayment of the loan within the following 54 months. The University is a guarantor of one-half of any unpaid principal and interest. The resolution restricts the maximum of loans outstanding at any time to $200,000.
The loan is being discontinued as a result of the consolidation of administration and loan activity in centralized offices. Loans outstanding at April 30, 2004 may be repaid under the existing program.
Nancy Wilk has been hired as the new manager of Environmental and Occupational Health Support Services (EOHSS). The office is now staffed with three full-time health and safety specialists.
The audited financial statements of McMaster's pension trust funds for hourly and salaried employees were presented to the Board of Governors.
KPMG chartered accountants audited the statements and found they present fairly the net assets of the fund as of June 30, 2003.
The audit was conducted in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards. The standards require that the pension trust fund statement is audited to ensure it is free of material misstatement.
