Academic and administrative leaders have been working with quiet diligence on the university’s ongoing operations and budget review (OBR) since it began in February 2014.

The goal of the review is continuous operational excellence to ensure the university is using its resources to pursue the right opportunities now and into the future. Today, the secretariat’s co-chairs, Bruce Gorman and Andy Fisher, published an update to the university community on its website, www.mun.ca/operationsbudgetreview.

“We’ve received an incredible amount of support and co-operation from across the university as this process unfolds,” said Mr. Gorman.

“Groups have been eager to identify areas for potential improvement and efficiency and we are seeing the results of those efforts already,” said Mr. Fisher.

In the spring, a process of reporting and assessing a comprehensive set of data and metrics for university operations was undertaken. This data collection focuses on two areas – academic and administrative/ancillary services.

As a result, parallel streams of activity were undertaken to review the organization’s current activities in these areas. The academic focus is led by Dr. Noreen Golfman, provost and vice-president (academic), pro tempore.

The academic data gathering was completed by an academic data team created by the provost, and led by Sheila Singleton, university registrar.  Data gathered and analyzed related to all areas of academic activity, including enrolment, areas of study, degrees awarded, class size, course grades and distribution of faculty and instructional staff.

The administrative/ancillary services focus is led by Kent Decker, vice-president (administration and finance); the initial data gathering for that area was conducted by Ernst & Young. Their report is now available on the OBR website.

Information gathered from these first stages has helped to define the next steps for the review, including the identification of potential review projects. To be considered under OBR, projects must identify concrete outcomes that fall into one of these categories: cost or space savings; cost avoidance; revenue generation; or improved efficiency or effectiveness within current resources. Each project is undertaken by a project team consisting of representation from the unit, and in most cases representation from outside the unit and other appropriate support as identified.

As part of the academic focus, an academic budget review committee was created this fall to lead the process that will result in the recommendation of sustainable models for the relative allocation of resources within the budget envelope of the vice-president (academic).

Since April 2013, when the provincial government announced in its budget speech that Memorial would be undertaking an efficiency review, the university has identified six initiatives which have generated a total of $3.1 million in efficiency savings.

Details on these initiatives, newly approved projects and other OBR information is available at www.mun.ca/operationsbudgetreview.