The University of Manitoba campuses and research spaces are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak, Anisininewuk, Dakota Oyate, Dene and Inuit, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. More
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, R3T 2N2
The development of the university’s annual operating budget is led jointly by the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) and the Vice-President (Administration). The budget development process is coordinated by the Financial Planning Office. The Financial Planning Office also provides guidance to senior leadership, academic units and administrative units in support of short and long-term financial and strategic planning while preserving the long-term financial health of the organization.
With total revenues of 1.16 billion, the University of Manitoba is the largest post-secondary educational institution in the province.
Approximately two-thirds of the university's total revenue is recorded in the university’s general fund, which funds its academic, administrative, operational and ancillary costs. The remainder of the revenue is recorded in the restricted funds, which support the capital expenses, research and other special activities, and staff benefits and trust funds.
The annual budget development process occurs over several months. Priorities are identified and shared, institutional data is used to inform tuition revenue projections, and preliminary planning parameters establish a starting point. Academic and administrative units prepare detailed operational plans and budgets for review by various individuals and committees.
Financial Services collaborates and consults with relevant stakeholders to prepare a university-wide restricted funds budget.
The Financial Planning Office plays a central role coordinating and overseeing the overall development and consolidation of the annual operating and restricted funds budgets.
The university All Funds budget is approved by the Board of Governors each year. Below are the Board of Governors submissions and additional documents which support budget and planning transparency, accountability and communication to the members of the university community.
These resources have been developed to ensure the university community has access to the organization’s financial and planning information, including linkages to related and relevant information that assist in our decision-making.
The university budget serves two purposes:
The budget represents the culmination of many months of planning and the decisions of academic, ancillary and central units. Through the annual budget development process, planning assumptions related to revenue and expenditures are developed and informed by relevant economic factors, risk assessments, university and provincial policies, collective bargaining agreements and, but not limited to, provincial direction.
The budget submissions for each year has a corresponding budget framework until the 2018-19 fiscal year. For example: The 2018-19 budget submissions correspond with the 2018-19 budget framework.
Please note there is no budget framework or supplementary information for the 2020-21 or 2021-22 fiscal years.
Resource allocation is among our most important annual initiatives. This process allows us to operationalize our strategic priorities and ensure we are appropriately supporting student success, research and scholarly work, and our academic mandate overall.
The Financial Planning Office supports the resource allocation process, which is led by the Provost and Vice-President (Academic). Some of our main responsibilities include:
In 2018/19, the university implemented a redesigned budget model with the objective of moving the university's annual resource allocation process and financial operations toward the following core goals:
A budget model review conducted in 2023, five-years after implementation, validated that these principles still hold true today. Recommendations from the review suggested that revisions to the model and the University's carryover process in addition to a cost to educate review, would help to support these principles by improving resource allocation and transparency.
The University of Manitoba employs a decentralized hybrid Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) budget model. The RCM budget model was implemented in 2018/19 and was a shift from an incremental base budget model. In 2025/26, after a five-year review of the hybrid RCM budget model, revisions were made to provide more stability and predictability in Faculty/Unit budget allocations.
The model incorporates three primary components:
A balance driver-based allocation and a stable base within budgets is a key concept of the revised budget model. The allocation rules ensure that enrolment activity drives tuition allocations while the allocation of the provincial grant is aligned with a base grant similar to how the province funds the University. This helps portray our internal economy here at the university and, particularly with the revenue allocations, provides more stability and predictability and less variability.
Tuition revenue that is planned centrally is allocated to academic units based on one or more variables referred to as drivers or directly to the unit generating the revenue. The provincial grant revenue forms a base in an academic unit budget that is adjusted each year for the change in the level of provincial grant funding and tuition rate changes. Targeted Provincial funding is budgeted directly to the academic unit/activity it is intended for.
Because revenue is planned centrally, academic units are responsible for managing within their approved budget. Fluctuations in actual tuition and operating grant revenue against plan are monitored and managed centrally.
Units are also responsible for budgeting some revenues directly themselves. This includes course-related fees and all of the income-funded activity and various grants and revenues from industry partners and from federal and provincial governments.
Central cost allocation is another fundamental component of the model. Allocating costs to the academic units is intended to enhance transparency around costs incurred to operate the university.
Central unit net costs are allocated to academic units using one overhead rate that is applied to the revenue allocated to the Academic unit.
The final main element of the budget model is the University Fund. Designed to address university strategic priorities and operations, it is funded by contributions from investment income and revenues earned from the International College of Manitoba and Ancillary Services. The funds are used to invest in strategic priorities, including mission-critical subvention.
Find a brief description of how the revenues and costs for the UM budget are pooled and what drives the allocation of those pools to the academic units.
The university's annual budget development process includes the following steps and groups with primary accountability and responsibility for their completion.
Purpose: Forecast and allocate university revenues in the model and collect variable data.
Participants: Financial Planning Office, Office of Institutional Analysis and the budget management committees.
Timing: May to June.
Purpose: Review central support unit budgets and allocate costs.
Participants: Central support units, Financial Planning Office and the budget management committees.
Timing: June to October.
Purpose: Collect funding requests from academic and ancillary units.
Participants: Deans and ancillary units.
Timing: June to December.
Purpose: Review funding requests and set university budget.
Participants: Financial Planning Office, executive leadership and the budget management committees.
Timing: December to May.
Purpose: Update the forecast based on current data and emerging information.
Participants: All units are involved, as well as Financial Services and executive leadership.
Timing: April to March.
Develop institutional fiscal projections, including estimates required by the provincial government.
Coordinate budget process, including support for the budget model.
Monitor and report actuals and forecast to the UM Board of Governors and provincial government.
Generate enrolment projections.
Create budget model driver data.
Produce other data (student, faculty, tuition) in support of budgeting.
Guide planning and coordination of academic programs, enrolment, academic hiring and other processes and initiatives that inform and support budget planning.
Develop proposed budgets based on budget planning parameters and other budget development guidelines.
Present to Central Unit Allocation Committee.
Monitor and manage within approved budgets.
Develop faculty or school plans and priorities in context of institution-wide priorities and plans.
Determine faculty or school operational requirements.
Direct unit budget development.
Manage approved unit budget, including resource allocation within the faculty.
Analyze unit budgetary requirements in relation to budget guidelines and unit plans and priorities.
Develop unit budget requests within UM Plan.
Support unit leaders in budget planning, resource allocation within the faculty or unit, and in-year financial monitoring.
UM Today
UM Today
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)
Financial Planning Office
105 Administration Building
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB R3T 5V6 Canada
