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Office of the Provost & Vice-President (Academic)

Academic Excellence

Budget Model Overview

Overview

Revenues are allocated to Faculties based on Activity (enrolment, teaching, research, other). Support unit (e.g. Library, SGS, HR, etc.) budgets are deducted from the Faculty revenues based on cost drivers. Unforeseen events and strategic priorities required the creation of a University Fund that is funded with a tax on revenue.

 

Graphic of McMaster's Budget Model Framework

 

Information Box Group

Step 1

Attribute Framework Revenue

Attribute Framework Revenue based on the Revenue Drivers

Step 2

Tax it

  • Contribute to University Fund & Research Infrastructure Fund (RIF)
  • Receive RIF Rebate

Step 3

Attribute Support Envelopes

Attribute Support Unit envelopes using Cost Drivers

Budget Details Components

FRAMEWORK REVENUE DRIVERS

The funds and activity distributed through the model

Revenue Source Revenue Attribution (Resource Allocation)
Students Tuition UnderGraduate – 100% to Faculty of Teaching (teaching faculty rate, residual shared 50/50)
Graduate – 100% to Faculty of Registration
Provincial Grant 100% to Faculty of Registration
Application Fees 100% to Faculty of Application
Research Research Overhead Grants 90% to Faculty using average Research Awards 10% to VPR Research Fund
Financial Position Interest – Short term

Short term – Annual Faculty balances in operating & research ledgers

Net general endowment interest (not targeted) – on total average expenditures
Source Revenue by Type graph

Support Units & Cost Drivers

All other Units and Envelopes requiring a Budget

Employee Support

  • HR, Suppl. Pension, Employee Programs

DRIVERS

  • Employee FTE or Pensionable salaries

General Administration

  • Admin, Financial Affairs, President, Advancement, Branding & Marketing

DRIVERS

  • 3 year average expenses or revenues

General Resources

  • Library, Museum, MIIETL, UTS

DRIVERS

  • Student & Employee or Faculty FTEs

Occupancy

  • Facilities, Utilities, Def. Maintenance

DRIVERS

  • NASM

Research Support

  • HROADS, Research Finance, MILO

DRIVERS

  • 3 year average research revenue

Student Support

  • SGS, Registrar, Scholarships

DRIVERS

  • Grad and/or UG FTEs

Activity Units

The 6 Faculties (and Arts & Science Program)

DeGroote School of Business

Faculty of Engineering

Faculty of Health Sciences

Faculty of Humanities

Faculty of Science

Faculty of Social Sciences

Arts & Science Program

The University Fund

The primary focus of the University Fund is to provide a pool of funds to be allocated for strategic purposes consistent with the University mission. The University Fund enables McMaster to fund areas of priority, on both a short and long term basis.

The first calls on the University Fund are to a number of ongoing commitments:

  • Distribution required to “Supplement” certain Faculties as a result of corridor constraints regarding growth programs.
  • Contribution to the Capital Reserve which ensures we continue to have funds to fund new infrastructure projects in the future.

The University Fund has been used to create two sub-funds that are directly linked to the support strategic goals. These are:

  • The Research Excellence Fund which is awarded on a formulaic basis to be used at the discretion of the Deans to enhance research excellence in the Faculties.
  • The Strategic Alignment Fund provides support to academic units for short term projects such as new program development and the support of pedagogical infrastructure that is transformative in nature.

The University Fund also provides an Unfunded Priorities pool depending on fund availability. This is used by the Budget Committee to address funding requests from all areas of the University through the regular budget submission process.

The remaining funding is for Other Priorities for unforeseen events, new initiatives and to support Faculties through matching funding for critical operations.