December 2024

Happy Holidays from CAUBO!

The entire CAUBO team extends its best wishes to you, our members, for a peaceful and joyous holiday season and a very happy new year!
We look forward to connecting with you again in 2025.

Current Initiatives

Framework to Inform Higher Education Student Housing Plans 2022-23

CAUBO has initiated a new project with the primary objective of providing members with a framework and key considerations that can be used as they develop their long-term institutional housing plans.

A survey was launched in November and remains open for response. All members are encouraged to participate in the survey, to ensure the report includes valuable information at the national and regional levels.

The data collected through the survey will inform the report by providing context on the current state of student housing in higher education, including the age and condition of current stock, sources of financing and plans for future acquisition. The final report will show data aggregated nationally, by region, or in other broad groupings.

For more information about this resource, please contact Elizabeth Taylor at etaylor@caubo.ca.

Program Sustainability

A new CAUBO project is planned to focus on the sustainability of academic programs. An advisory committee has been established to oversee the project and includes both academic and administrative leaders from the sector.

The main objectives of the Program Sustainability project are to: increase financial literacy on campus with respect to core components of the university operating model, starting with educational costs, and provide a framework for use by institutions who wish to understand the current state of their academic portfolio economics, costs, and market positioning, improve the efficiency of their programs and build frameworks for prioritization and resource allocation decisions that are mission-aligned and market-responsive.

Stay tuned for more information on this project.

Coming Soon to the Knowledge Centre

Updated Financial Health Indicators Dashboard and Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) (Available to Senior Finance and VP members only)

A series of four sector-wide indicators of financial condition have been compiled by CAUBO based on publicly available information contained in Universities’ financial statements. The indicators are being updated now and will include a twelve-year period (2011/2012 through 2022/2023).

The 2024 Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) will provide updated information regarding the metrics, provincial policies, and includes commentary on the 2022-2023 results. 

The financial ratios will provide an overall picture of the sector’s financial condition, identifying specific strengths and weaknesses. At the institutional level, the ratios can also provide a baseline for institutions to set priorities. By viewing the indicators in a dashboard format, users can compare nationally, provincially, and/or by institutional size or with selected institutions. 

The MD&A Report will provide a review of the methodology followed in compiling the indicators and discusses their value and limitations. To provide context to the indicators, an overview of provincial policies that may influence the indicators is included. High-level analysis and commentary on the indicators have been included, such as reasons for provincial differences and other factors affecting comparability will also included.

Updated Data Insights Series

CAUBO’s Data Insights series highlights key financial trends in the university sector. The insights provide concise, fact-based analysis of some of the sector’s most pressing risks and challenges.

The first two entries in the series address changing patterns in spendable income and general operating expenditures. The third entry in the Data Insights series, highlights key considerations to properly assess university finances and provides context for the impact of the pandemic on university financial data.

The series will be updated soon to reflect the most recent available data (2022–2023). The current entries in the series are available for institutional members here.

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities

Visit the CAUBO website for upcoming events in the months ahead:

  • CASPAR webinar – Wednesday, February 19, 2025
  • Budget Models Virtual Roundtable (Part 2) coming soon!
  • HE Onboarding Workshop March 4-5, 2025 – Registration is open!
  • FORE course will be offered in the winter/spring

New On-Demand Webinars:

CAUBO offers topical webinars on trends and issues affecting higher education administrators. Institutional members can explore CAUBO’s extensive archive of on-demand webinars, as well as some annual conference presentations, on our website. Recent additions to our webinar library include:

CAUBO 2025 Annual Conference – Save the Dates!

From June 9-11, 2025, the CAUBO Annual Conference takes place in Edmonton, Alberta—a city that earned a place on Lonely Planet’s 2025 “Best in Travel” cities list! The conference is CAUBO’s biggest professional development event of the year. Sessions focus on providing examples of best practices and discussions of current topics and trends that you can put to use immediately. There are also multiple opportunities during the conference to relax and connect with friends and colleagues while enjoying great food and entertainment. Plus, six functional seminars on June 9 offer members a chance to focus on their specific areas of work and discuss relevant issues with others in their field.

Conference registration will open in February 2025. More details coming soon!

Recent Analytical Releases

We are pleased to share several new resources with our members, some of which are the result of months of work by our team and volunteers.

Financial Sustainability Survey: State, Stressors, Barriers, and Strategies (2024)

CAUBO released a survey to identify the key factors that impact financial sustainability across the country and barriers to the implementation of mitigation measures. A report that provides a high-level summary of the information collected, outcomes of regional discussions held to identify how CAUBO can support members, and the ensuing next steps for CAUBO is now available for all institutional members here.

The survey results indicated that the most significant stressor to financial sustainability related to funding or insufficiency thereof. Two of the top five most significant barriers were experienced across all institutional sizes and pertained to the university operating model:  clauses embedded in collective agreements that constrain measures management can take, and the shared belief that institutions should not be run like a business.

Results of the CAUBO 2024 ERM Benchmarking Survey

The results of the CAUBO 2024 ERM Benchmarking Survey are now available for institutional members. In early 2024, members of CAUBO’s Enterprise Risk and Assurance (ERA) Community of Practice group developed a survey to collect information on enterprise risk management (ERM) program design. The objective for the survey was to help inform how institutions can implement or adapt the ERM program strategy at their institution. A report summarizing the results of the survey is available for institutional members here.

The member survey collected information regarding members’ ERM programs, including the organizational structure, framework and technology used as well as institutional strategic risk registers, risk appetite frameworks and reporting practices.

Key results from the survey were presented during the Risk Management Seminar at the CAUBO Conference in June, and the presentation is available for institutional members here.

Updated Financial Dashboards (2022-23)

The Financial Dashboards have been updated with the most recent Financial Information of Universities and Colleges (FIUC) data (2022-2023) and are available for all institutional members here. Through these dashboards, members have the ability to study sector-wide long-term trends in university finance and expenditures at both the institutional and national levels, as well as see how various institutions, including their own, compare in this regard.

The FIUC is the only common source of financial data of Canadian universities and colleges and facilitates statistical and trend analysis on an aggregate level. The FIUC data is based on an annual return completed and submitted by each of CAUBO’s member institutions and it is a joint undertaking between CAUBO and Statistics Canada. The data collected through the FIUC is essential for many of CAUBO’s analytical resources, including the Financial Landscape Series and the Financial and FTE-based Dashboards.

Updated National Financial Landscape

The updated National Financial Landscape provides a high-level analysis of current trends in university finances and identifies important differences between provinces and regions. The report serves as a valuable starting point for understanding the key issues affecting universities and informing discussions at the provincial and institutional level.

The updated Financial Landscape provides an overview of trends observed over the last decade, while highlighting significant year-over-year financial shifts. The report underscores the increasing focus on financial sustainability among higher education leaders as well as the implications of the introduction of student visa caps in Canada and identifies the challenges which have impacted university operating costs, such as rising inflation, higher interest rates, and supply chain disruptions.