A message from Thomas Duever, Interim Vice-President, Academic and Provost, and Jacinda Reitsma, Vice-President, Administration and Finance
As the University continues to advance our three-year plan to return to a balanced operating budget, we want to update you on our progress and the steps underway to strengthen Waterloo’s long-term financial sustainability.
Understanding last year’s financial results
At its October meeting, the Board of Governors approved the University’s audited financial statements for the year ending April 30, 2025. These statements provide a comprehensive picture of the University’s finances across all funds — operating, research, capital, ancillary, trust and endowment.
While the statements show an overall institutional surplus of $22.4 million, this figure reflects the financial results across all funds and includes restricted revenues and investment gains that cannot be used to cover day-to-day operating costs. Within the operating fund, our tuition revenue was better than we had budgeted for, and we also generated significant income from interest that helped us meet our operating budget shortfall in the 2024/25 fiscal year.
The University continues to meet its financial obligations and is maintaining reserves that we are drawing down. These reserves are one-time resources, designated for risk and transition, strategic priorities, and much is already committed to research support, essential IT infrastructure renewal and capital projects. They do not resolve the underlying structural gap between recurring revenues and expenses that our three-year plan is designed to address.
The financial results of the University are complex and as part of our commitment to transparency, for the first time, our audited statements include commentary to help readers better understand the year-end financial picture. The summary above is a very high-level snapshot and we encourage those interested to read the commentary to gain a deeper understanding of our financial results.
Progress on expense reductions from the operating budget
Our largest category of spending remains salary and benefit costs. We continue to focus on reducing expenses in a way that protects core academic and research activity, and seeks to limit the impact on our people. Our voluntary retirement incentive programs in 2024 and 2025 were accepted by a total of 122 employees, including 75 faculty members, 29 staff, and 18 union staff. Those programs, together with the ongoing hiring freeze, are helping to generate meaningful long-term savings that contribute to reducing the structural operating deficit.
Since the start of 2025, fewer than 50 people have lost their positions as a result of budget reductions. In total (as of October 31, 2025), the University has eliminated 165 staff positions and 49 faculty positions, with most reductions achieved through voluntary programs, attrition, and the hiring freeze. We recognize that these changes are difficult. As we move forward, we remain committed to minimizing further layoffs by redeploying affected individuals to open positions, identifying efficiencies, streamlining processes, and exploring new sources of revenue.
The Hiring Freeze Working Group, Staff Relations Committee, UW Staff Association, Faculty Relations Committee, FAUW, CUPE, OPSEU and Human Resources teams continue to support units affected by the hiring freeze, helping to share resources and identify opportunities for collaboration across departments.
Data-driven decisions and institutional innovation
To support evidence-based decisions on how we work, Waterloo has engaged Nous Data Insights to provide benchmarking data through the UniForum program. UniForum compares administrative service delivery models and costs across leading universities worldwide to help institutions understand how effectively their services are operating.
Two key activities — the Service Effectiveness Survey and the Activity Collection — were completed this spring and summer. The resulting reports are now being reviewed by University leadership and will inform the work of the ongoing Functional Review Implementation Teams (FRITs). More information on these findings and next steps will be shared at a Budget Information Forum in the new year. You can expect to receive an invitation to this in early January.
Functional reviews
The Budget Information Forum will also include an update on the functional reviews now underway. The implementation teams for finance and IT continue to advance their work and the marketing and communications function is moving to a new phase. While each review is at a different stage, all are focused on reducing duplication, strengthening service quality, and supporting a more coordinated administrative model across the University.
For marketing and communications, the implementation team has been building on the recommendations from the initial review and the extensive input gathered from function leads across faculties and academic support units. The FRIT’s analysis has identified opportunities to reduce duplication and generate significant savings while improving coordination and service quality. This work has highlighted the need for external support to help us refine organizational structures, strengthen processes, and address the behavioural and cultural dimensions of change – particularly trust, role clarity, and consistent ways of working.
Following a competitive RFQ process, Nous Group has been selected to support this next phase. Their role is to work with Waterloo’s marketing and communications leaders to further develop the proposed operating model and guide a transition process rooted in best practice tools, templates, and change management support. In the new year, we will undertake further engagement across the campus community before any finalizing organizational changes.
We have also launched a functional review of our Human Resources activities. Led internally, this review will assess how HR services are delivered across campus and identify opportunities to reduce duplication and improve effectiveness. Additional administrative functions are expected to undergo review next year.
Innovation action
In parallel, the Innovation Action Group (IAG) and the Academic Innovation Working Group (AIWG) continue to identify opportunities to improve efficiency and generate revenue across both operational and academic areas.
The IAG is initially focusing on travel administration, hardware and software procurement, access to information and transparency, and departmental process reviews. Aligned with this work, we have recently combined the Safety Office, Special Constable Services, and Sustainable Transportation to provide more integrated and effective services across these related portfolios. Read about the progress of IAG working groups.
The AIWG is exploring approaches to deliver programs more efficiently, leverage technology in teaching and learning, develop new revenue-generating programs, and enhance academic decision-making processes. Updates on their work will also be shared in the months ahead. Read about the progress of AIWG working groups.
Strengthening academic coordination
Following a year-long review of the Associate Vice-President, Academic (AVPA) and Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) portfolios, a series of changes are being implemented to strengthen coordination and support for teaching and learning.
For the AVPA portfolio, the Centre for Teaching Excellence, the Centre for Extended Learning, and the Teaching Innovation Incubator are being integrated into a single unit. The Writing and Communication Centre will transition to the Associate Provost, Students portfolio, and the AVPA Office is being redesigned to centralize services.
Within GSPA, changes are underway to clarify its distinct role in the graduate student experience, streamline its leadership structure, and improve access to information on policies and decision-making. Details of both reviews are available on the Provost’s website.
Looking ahead
As we enter the second year of our three-year plan, our focus remains on achieving long-term balance while preserving the University’s academic and research excellence. The progress made this year — in workforce planning, benchmarking, process review, and academic coordination — positions Waterloo to make the thoughtful, data-informed decisions needed to strengthen our financial foundation, but we do expect to have to continue to find budget reductions as we enter year two of our three-year budget plan.
Thank you for your continued commitment, collaboration, and creativity as we move through this important period of change together.