Tuesday, February 3, 2026

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• The facts of the forum
• New teaching tool pilot: register for Createspace
• Love Data Week is coming!
• Board of Governors meets today and other notes

The facts of the forum

More than 1,300 members of the University community tuned in to hear senior leaders discuss Waterloo’s current and future financial situation on Tuesday, January 27 at the Winter 2026 Budget Information Forum.

President and Vice-Chancellor Vivek Goel opened the event with introductory remarks that outlined the University of Waterloo’s impact and influence, and how Waterloo was supporting provincial and regional priorities in areas such as AI adoption and community safety initiatives. He highlighted the recent Global Futures launch event and an upcoming economic impact study that will demonstrate to the provincial government the value Waterloo provides to the people of Ontario.

Internal initiatives such as the new institutional values and Waterloo at 100, which introduced rolling planning cycles and the regular review of institutional priorities, were also highlighted in the president’s presentation.

Interim Vice-President, Academic and Provost Thomas Deuver gave an overview of the University’s operating budget, revenues and expenses. In 2025/2026, the University’s operating revenue totalled $842M, with expenses of $886M for the fiscal year, resulting in a deficit of $44M.

“The University is continuing to work to balance its budget through its three-year plan,” Duever said, noting several initiatives aimed at finding efficiencies and mitigating the deficit, including organizational and operational reviews, voluntary retirement, the limited hiring program, and the use of one-time funds to reduce the deficit in the short term. Deficit mitigation strategies in the 2025/26 year included a $41M cut, realized in part by a 3 to 6 per cent cut to most units, as work on functional reviews ​continued.

Vice-President, Administration and Finance Jacinda Reitsma spoke about the functional reviews and how the University is using UniForum data in its decision-making process. One of the key findings was that Waterloo spends a higher proportion of core teaching and research revenue on day-to-day operations than most of its similar global peers – an 18-point difference from the Canadian median.

“We do spend more than other universities on operating expenses,” Reitsma said, “but the data allows us to go into the details of our institution, like our co-op program, where we spend money differently. It still shows that there is capacity for efficiency and areas we can look at more closely.”

“We’ve set ourselves up to deliver excellent service but we’re not doing it at a scale we can afford,” Reitsma said. “It’s an opportunity to see things differently.”

This led the discussion back to the topic of efficiencies and finding opportunities for revenue generation.

Provost Duever explained how the integrated planning and budgeting process approach, standardized across all units in 2024, improved collaboration and coordination across the institution for a more transparent and streamlined approach to budgeting. In addition, the faculties have been putting together multifaceted proposals to increase revenue based on their unique strengths and offerings, enhancing existing programs in response to changing societal needs and creating cost recovery programs – the new major in financial management and the pursuit of overseas education collaborations with the Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE and the pre-med science program with St. George’s University held up as just three examples.

Vice-President Reitsma provided an overview of the current functional reviews that looked broadly at communications, marketing, financial and IT activity across the University. Looking ahead, the human resources functions on campus will be reviewed internally. Reitsma said that campus will hear more about the next phase of reviews as the year progresses.

Looking at workforce reductions, Reitsma highlighted that 122 employees had accepted voluntary early retirement programs in 2024 and 2025, and fewer than 60 people had been laid off, with most headcount reductions achieved through attrition, the hiring freeze, and the aforementioned voluntary retirement program. “Functional reviews outcomes in many cases will mean that we further reduce headcounts in those areas,” Reitsma said. “I do want to share as a commitment to the University that we do want to minimize layoffs. We’ve continued to put a lot of effort into that goal and have redeployed effective employees wherever possible.

Speaking about the three-year plan to return to a balanced budget, Provost Duever said that eliminating the deficit will require significant annual expense reductions through organizational transformation. “We must manage the transition of our academic model to a sustainable future-oriented model, focus our resources on priorities, and use and manage our one-time resources carefully,” he said.

The question-and-answer period took up the final third of the forum, moderated by Associate Vice-President Communications and Institutional Relations Nick Manning, who noted that many questions had been submitted in advance via the Ticketfi registration page.

Question topics included the impact of workforce reductions on employees, balancing across-the-board cuts with strategic budget reductions, how the University is continuing the conversation with various levels of government on PSE funding and support, the state of the University’s pension and benefits, and staff salary negotiations.

On pensions, Reitsma said that the pension plan was well-managed and in a strong financial position, and that investments were held outside the University in a separate trust, unaffected by operating budget changes. On salary negotiations, Reitsma mentioned that the University and the staff association were reviewing the memorandum of agreement, and once that review was complete, the University would be able to confirm the salary adjustment and merit-based allocations. “We’re committed to a transparent approach,” she said.

The final question was along the lines of “when does this all end?” President Goel responded that the University has substantial activity on the revenue side underway. “It’s going to take some time for some of those new programs to really get to maturity,” he said. “We have this period of time until the new revenues start to come through that we have to contain our expenses.”

“We need to find a new sustainable equilibrium with the government and people of Ontario,” President Goel said. “What has become clear, not just in Ontario but around the world, that the kind of model we had for the last 60 or 70 years in post-secondary education is no longer one that governments are able to support.”

“As the Prime Minister said, we are in a time of significant rupture and change, and we have to navigate our way through as an institution, as individuals, as families,” President Goel said, “and the more we work together on this with our shared vision and values, the easier it will be for us to get through it.”

The recording of last Tuesday’s Budget Information Forum has been uploaded to the Budget Information Forum website.

New teaching tool pilot: register for Createspace

A message from the Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic and Instructional Technologies and Media Services (ITMS) 

Instructional Technologies and Media Services (ITMS), in partnership with the EdTech Sandbox is inviting University of Waterloo instructors to participate in a pilot of Createspace, a new course authoring and collaboration environment from D2L. 

This pilot will run from February to April 2026 and provides instructors with early access to Createspace to explore how it can be more efficient, collaborative, and intentional course design within the Brightspace ecosystem.  

What is Createspace?  

Createspace is a dedicated content-creation workspace that allows course authors to create, edit, and collaborate on course materials before publishing them to learners. Rather than working in a course development shell or in a live course shell, instructors can develop and refine course content in a focused space designed specifically for authoring and iterating. Key features include:  

• Dedicated authoring environment: separates course design from course delivery and supports clearer planning and revision workflows.  

• Collaborative content creation: enables instructors, instructional designers and teaching assistants to co-author and manage course materials together.  

• Versioning and reuse features: allows content to be refined over time and reused.  

• Brightspace integration: provides the ability to publish finalized content directly to courses.  

Pilot participation and support 

Participating in the Createspace pilot will provide Waterloo instructors and staff with early access to the collaborative course authoring tool and provides participants with the chance to influence and shape whether the tool is adopted by our institution. Those interested in participating in the Createspace pilot are invited to register for the pilot. To support sustained engagement, the pilot project will offer participants with “accountability sessions” -- regular opportunities to return to the tool, make progress on course design, and reflect on their experience using the tool to assist in course development.  

Can’t commit to the pilot? Explore Createspace at a drop-in session 

As mentioned above, the Createspace pilot will run for a three-month window, between February to April 2026. There are limited spots in the pilot. As such, the EdTech Sandbox is hosting drop-in sessions for those interested in Createspace but do not have the capacity to fully commit to the pilot. All training and exploratory sessions of Createspace will take place in the EdTech Sandbox (LIB 329) and will be supported by Dr. Rebecca MacAlpine, EdTech Sandbox Supervisor. Participants are welcome to attend one or more sessions. Please confirm your intention to attend these drop-in sessions by registering through GoSignMeUp. Drop-in session dates include: 

• Tuesday, February 17, 2026 | 2-3pm  

• Thursday, March 5, 2026 | 10-11am 

• Monday, March 16, 2026 | 12-1pm  

• Wednesday, April 1, 2026 | 1-2pm 

Secure your spot in the Createspace pilot today 

To secure your participation in this pilot, please complete the expression of interest form. The expression of interest form will close on Friday, February 13.  In the meantime, if you have questions regarding the pilot, please contact edtechsandbox@uwaterloo.ca.

Love Data Week is coming!

A message from the Libraries.

Love Data Week is an international celebration of data that takes place every year during the week of Valentine’s Day, this year from February 9 to 13. The aim of this week is to celebrate data in all its forms, promote good research data management strategies, share data success and horror stories, and ask hard questions about the role of data in our lives. This year’s theme is “Where’s the data?” inviting us to think about the journey data takes, from collection to analysis, storage to preservation.

The Libraries are celebrating all things data with a series of online events on topics such as Indigenous data sovereignty, web scraping and data fundamentals.

Register now by going to the Libraries’ event calendar.

Board of Governors meets today and other notes

The University's Board of Governors has its first meeting of 2026 today in NH 3407 and online beginning at 1:30 p.m. Among the agenda items:

• A motion to endorse the proposed “Statement and Procedures on Principles for Institutional Partnerships;”
• A motion to approve in principle the University of Waterloo Campus Plan’s vision, principles and design frameworks, on the recommendation of the Building and Properties Committee;
• A motion to approve the following fees and rates for the 2026–2027 academic year, as presented:
  • a. Tuition Fees, effective May 1, 2026;
  • b. Co-op Fees, effective May 1, 2026;
  • c. Residence fee rates, effective Fall 2026;
  • d. Meal plan rates, effective Fall 2026; and
  • e. Student Services Fees for all full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students, effective May 1, 2026

These increases have been recommended by the Finance & Investment Committee.

• A motion to approve amendments to the Responsible Investment Policy on the recommendation of the Finance & Investment Committee and the Pension & Benefits Committee; and
• A motion to approve amendments to the Governance & Leadership Committee Terms of Reference on the recommendation of the Governance & Leadership Committee.

Items in the "consent agenda" include:

• A motion to approve sabbatical and other leaves in accordance with Policy 3– Sabbatical and Other Leaves for Faculty Members;
• A motion to approve amendments to the Statement of Investment Policies and Procedures for the Registered Pension Plan;
• A motion to approve the 2025 Annual Report on Cost of Educational Materials, which is part of the Bill 166 annual compliance reports.

In other campus news:

Rachel Figueiredo, Waterloo’s entrepreneurship librarian, is hosting an online workshop today entitled From Idea to Impact: Investigating Industries and Companies. "Want to learn more about the industries or companies you're interested in?" The Libraries ask. "In this final workshop of the From Idea to Impact series, you’ll explore strategies for researching industry trends, competitive landscapes, and specific organizations. Ideal for students preparing for co-op, launching a venture, or pursuing applied research, this session will sharpen your analytical and career-ready research skills."

Students, faculty members, and staff are invited to attend the workshop. The session takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The SRF (Sexualities, Relationships & Families) Student Society and SVPRO (Sexual Violence Prevention & Response Office) are hosting a screening of the 1944 film Gaslight to answer the question "what actually is gaslighting?" Attendees will watch the film while playing Gaslight Bingo and have a discussion of what gaslighting looks like in today's world, why it is harmful, and how we can intervene when we hear it. The event will be held tonight from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in SJU 2002.

The Winter 2026 Student Experience Survey is now open. Students can check their @uwaterloo email or visit LEARN to see if they have been invited to complete the survey. Those that submit their responses will receive $5 on their WatCard. The survey is open until February 27.