Budget 2026-2027: Initial Reactions

On May 26, the University of Ottawa Board of Governors (BoG) approved the 2026-2027 budget. Some APUO members and APUO Staff attended the budget meeting and shared their reflections below. 

The next Board of Governors will be at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 25, in the Senate Room of Tabaret Hall (room 083). You can register here to join your colleagues to observe the meeting.

The approved budget was circulated to the campus community with an invitation to attend an information session on the university’s finances on June 2. A more detailed report of the budget presentation and information session is available here. Since the presentations were similar, we have created one summary for both.

Table of Contents

1. 2026-2027 Budget Highlights
2. In Their Words – Members’ Reflections Following the BoG Meeting
3. Summary of uOttawa’s Financial Situation

1) 2026-2027 Budget Highlights

• $15.6M projected surplus.
• +45 APUO professors positions:
  • 45 positions allocated to support faculty development plans, in addition to 32 new appointments due to take up their posts in the coming months, and a further 35 posts currently being recruited for.
  • APUO Note: The Employer is fulfilling their obligations under the 2024-2026 Collective Agreement (CA), in which we successfully negotiated language formalizing the APUO complement. This language requires the complement of faculty appointments be no lower than 1335. The current complement sits at approximately 1279.¹
• An injection of $8.6M into faculty development plans, allocated as follows:
  • Programme revitalisation (+$1.9M)
  • Course provision and teaching assistantships (+$1.5M)
  • Programme and internship management and coordination (+$1.2M)
  • Teaching laboratories (+$980K)
  • Digital transformation in teaching and faculty priorities in AI (+$555K)
  • Student experience (+$410K)
  • Student retention (+$194K)
  • Research and teaching: Indigenous affairs, Indigenous health, Indigenous communities (+$775K)
  • Library collection and educational resources, including French-language and open-access resources (+$545K)
• Professional fees and contractual services (Operating Fund) (in thousands of dollars, as presented in the 2026-2027 Budget):

• • APUO Note: uOttawa once again chooses to invest tens of millions on professional services and external contracts, a practice we have long been critical of. uOttawa choosing to spend increasingly greater amounts on professional fees and contractual services while expecting faculty and librarians to do more with less continues to be a source of frustration and evidence of misguided priorities.

2) In Their Words – Your Colleagues’ Reflections Following the BoG Meeting

a) “It was disconcerting, when I attended the Board of Governors meeting, to see the budget approved with very little discussion, and not even a vote. While the group congratulated themselves for having improved the financial situation, I was left with many questions. For instance, I wonder who, in the uOttawa community, will benefit from this positive budget. I genuinely hope it will impact more than the sciences, security and buildings, which were the main focus during the meeting.” – APUO member, Library

b) “It was interesting to spend an hour with APUO colleagues quietly observing the May 26 meeting of the Board of Governors. It is helpful to see the individuals who make the decisions about budget, and easier for Board members to remember the contributions of APUO members when they see us in the room. It is a small commitment. I encourage all APUO members to read the Budget Book sent out May 27 and attend the June 2 online information session, and to consider joining colleagues to observe the next Board of Governors meeting.” – APUO member, Faculty of Arts

c) “It’s quite incredible that such a budget could be adopted with so few questions. In the end, everyone applauded the team’s excellent work, highlighting the complexity of the process and the difficult decisions that had to be made… But no one asked to know what those difficult decisions were, or the compromises involved, which sectors were most affected by the sacrifices that have been made, what kind of impact this has had, and on whom.

This budget will guide the rest of the decisions within our institution, but I’m leaving the Senate chamber without knowing what’s in store. At least we’ve learnt that we have a surplus and that things are better than at other universities across the country. Let’s hope this money goes towards hiring faculty rather than new buildings! For years now, we haven’t been replacing faculty who retire, or only rarely. It’s not easy to ensure high-quality teaching and research under these circumstances.” – APUO member, Faculty of Social Sciences (APUO translation of the member’s original quote in French)

3) Summary of uOttawa’s Financial Situation (provided by the Central Administration)

The Provost and Vice-President, Academic Affairs Jacques Beauvais explained that the university’s operating fund, where the university keeps track of its day-to-day expenses and revenues, recorded increasingly significant deficits between the 2020–2021 and 2023–2024 financial years, despite a steady and continuous increase in income from tuition fees. He noted a small surplus in 2024–2025 that was the result of a significant grant the university received at the end of the year.

In 2023, the university decided to draw up a three-year plan (thus departing from its usual annual budgeting practices), to address the worsening financial situation. This plan included the imposition of the budgetary constraints we have experienced in recent years. 

A $16.1M deficit was previously forecasted for the 2025–2026 financial year however financial statements show that it is smaller than anticipated at $10.4M. A slight decline in tuition fee revenue was reported in 2025–2026, which was attributed to reduced international student visas. Tuition fee revenue is now on the rise. 

APUO Note: We have consistently contested the Central administration’s claim regarding the operating fund’s financial health. As explained in a 2023 bulletin, deficits in the operating fund are often the result of interfund transfers. Budgets reflect priorities, and the administration chose to prioritize funding elsewhere rather than invest in our shared core mission to support teaching and research. Our campus community continues to bear the brunt of years of budget reductions and cuts that have negatively impacted the working and learning conditions on campus.

1. An exact number is not available due to constant fluctuations in staffing. The APUO receives a monthly dues list which we combine with lists of members on various leaves to determine an approximate complement number.