Financial and Institutional Resilience
We must create an environment of financial resilience in order to preserve and enhance our work. This is a weighty task that will first be approached by developing a three-year budget. We must make informed budget decisions guided by our strategic directions and based on available information such as enrolment trends and environmental challenges.
Alternate Sources of Revenue
In addition to pursuing an equitable level of support from the government, we recognize the need to develop alternate sources of revenue. Examples include providing additional support to faculty in their pursuit of research funding, and articulating the roles, plans, and goals of cost recovery units such as PACE, ELP, and the UWCRC. We must ensure that activities intended to generate revenue are aligned with the academic mission and priorities of UWinnipeg. Alternate revenue must support the strategic directions of the institution.
Our fundraising decisions must also be future-focused. While the past ten years have seen an exponential increase in the footprint of our institution, this phase of building has slowed. Other universities have considerable land assets that can be leveraged and developed to provide an ongoing source of revenue for their programming. We must examine the options and strategic opportunities that are available to us and develop a clear strategy.
Sustainability
Sustainability is a lens applied to all practices and processes to guide University activities (academic and operational) increasingly towards supporting the revitalization and resilience of ecosystems and communities. We have done a great deal to reduce our environmental impact, but more can be done to integrate the concept of sustainability into our institutional culture and our academic mission. We have played a leadership role in demonstrating that sustainability is not only possible, but a strategic advantage. We will continue reducing our impact and offer learning opportunities for our students as we ourselves are learning and leading within the broader community.
Accountability
UWinnipeg values self-governance. Our Board of Regents and Senate will continue to provide primary oversight regarding the major activities and operations of the institution. The strategic directions outlined in this document are intended to provide those governing bodies, as well as arms-length entities and advisory groups (e.g., Â鶹´«Ã½ Foundation Board, the UWCRC Board and the Indigenous Advisory Circle) with a consistent and clear frame of reference for their decision making. We must facilitate greater communication and transparency between all governing bodies. We also have a responsibility to be accountable for our use of public funds in pursuit of our mission.