Ideas received
Cost-saving and revenue generation suggestions from the community
Below is a summary of suggestions received anonymously from the Memorial community. It is not indicative of planned actions. Any actions to be taken will include the appropriate decision making processes within Memorial's bicameral system of governance. Suggestions will be added as they are received.
Administrative efficiency and process improvement | Policy and governance reform | Revenue generation | Cost Reduction Measures | Space and infrastructure optimization | Academic, program and unit restructuring | Employee engagement and morale | General improvements |
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Streamline travel approvals and reimbursements using third-party software | Develop a formal Cell Phone Eligibility Policy with cost limits and allowances | Rent out campus facilities to external organizations | Reduce employee travel and professional development budgets | Establish a Space Optimization Working Group to review and repurpose underused space | Centralize administrative functions (HR, Finance, IT) across faculties | Offer tuition discounts for children of long-term employees | Increase Indigenous programming/partnerships |
Automate repetitive administrative tasks | Strengthen oversight of carryover use and deficit spending | Develop Johnson Geo Centre assets, including pay-per-use parking | Encourage virtual meetings to cut travel costs | Promote remote work to reduce utility and maintenance costs | Review and merge/consolidate administrative departments with overlapping roles | Increase visibility and community engagement with SeaHawks sports | Improve employee and student retention through mentorship program |
Implement a better system for direct deposits or EMTs | Review and modernize course cost recovery models | Negotiate reserved-seat agreements with provincial (non-NL) and international governments for program access | Limit university spending on personal office supplies | Centralize procurement and student recruitment and other services for cost saving and efficiencies | Provide earlier employee recognition gifts (e.g., at 5 and 10 years) | Improve how faculty interact with students with more in-person and overall access | |
Standardize organizational terminology and hierarchy to reduce confusion and inefficiencies | Strengthen financial accountability for Separately Incorporated Entities (SIEs) | Encourage voluntary faculty contributions (monetary or in-kind) | Review software licensing to eliminate unused subscriptions | Conduct a strategic program review based on enrollment, cost and relevance | Promote “Team Memorial” spirit through events and merchandise | Increase awareness of (and possibly income for) Memorial research with more public signage (i.e. along Prince Phillip Drive) | |
Increase articulation and other partnerships with CNA, NSCC | Reevaluate shared services and funding arrangements with the Faculty of Medicine | Explore micro-credentials and stackable credentials for adult learners | Decrease hosting and gifts | Align academic offerings with provincial and national labor market needs | Review remote work effectiveness | ||
Upgrade technology and systems such as banner finance and HR | Improve access for local community and high school students | Eliminate where possible outsourcing contracts and consultants | Merge housing operations between St. John’s and Signal Hill campuses | Better access for employees to recreational facilities to support physical health, connection, workplace morale and a meaningful investment in employee well-being. | |||
Provide low-cost or free software training to employees on commonly-used software to improve employee efficiency and foster innovative solutions to administrative roadblocks. Leverage and better utilize the Gardiner Centre's to provide training to Memorial employees. |
Expand online course/program offerings | Allow unpaid leave to reduce costs without eliminating jobs | Restructure MI and Grenfell to align with other faculties (e.g., replace VPs with deans) | Improve chronic absenteeism by increasing employee accountability, and Reassess Memorial's leave policy to provide reasonable amounts of sick leave that are in line with other public institutions and use software that provides a visual calendar tracker | |||
Utilize the university auditor's office to identify and act upon recommended areas of efficiency | Increase enrollment by building student-centred culture with supports, streamlined application process, etc | Reduce the number of senior admin positions - Grenfell, MI and Labrador campuses are smaller than two faculties on the St. John's campus which are run by dean's; these campuses do not need a VP/AVP but could be run by a dean | Merge the School of Music with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences | Reduce the number of stat holidays and provide greater flexibility to employees instead | |||
Marine Institute should invest in strategic hiring so it becomes feasible to propose and execute more projects, which would generate additional revenue. The Reserarch and Technical Personnel position also needs to be reviewed and reclassified. At present, they cannot apply for most research grants because they are not considered faculty. This change would be fair, given the role RTPs play, but it would also allow them to apply for more and larger grants to help generate more revenue |
Grow endowments | Contract out certain facility services in key areas, such as cleaning and ground work, or, strengthen service level agreements in these areas |
Suspend or eliminate low-enrollment programs | ||||
Increase parking fees | During the summer semester when student enrollment is minimal, minimize staffing, especially those who are student facing. Offer staff the option to be laid off, or to have 9 months of salary paid out over 12 months, or some other mutually beneficial option. | Take a regional approach to program offerings. The Atlantic region universities could effectively work together to consolidate academic programming into specific sites. | |||||
Increase bookstore offerings and improve access | Senior administrative costs can be reduced by combining some existing portfolios, as was done with finance, administration and advancement. For example, the portfolios of equity, diversity, inclusion and indigenization can be combined (EDII). Eventually, even a combined portfolio should not be needed, as, through strategic planning, this work can be solidly done at the faculty level and overseen at the senior administrative level. | Look to the colleges for examples of successful and growing enrolment programs. e.g. Allow students to sign up for and achieve a credential for a year at a time. | |||||
Introduce lab fees for students | Work with the provincial government to reassess the funding model that sees health fund medicine separately from the rest of Memorial | ||||||
Campus run café on campus vs. outside vendor | MUN should pay particular attention to the clause in the collective agreement related to variations from the teaching norm. Faculty who are not actively researching should have to teach more. This would help with the teaching-term and PCI budget. It would reduce the number of either of these groups. | ||||||
Sell campus digital signs as ad space | |||||||
Increase costs for accommodations and space rentals | |||||||
Sell university property | |||||||
Increase residence fees | |||||||
Elevate our marketing strategy to better attract students from across Canada and internationally with unique strengths—in harsh environments, proximity to the ocean, and leadership in marine and Arctic research. These should be core features in our promotional campaigns. We should invest in targeted, professional marketing that highlights these differentiators. |
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Increase professional program tuition to be more in line with other universities across the country | |||||||
Provide virtual tours of rentable space on the MUN website so that community members can visualize the rooms/lecture halls/dining halls etc. | |||||||
Improve student campus culture. Beautify the campus so it does not look like one huge parking lot. This will make it more attractive for student recruitment | |||||||
Strengthen course material policies to compel faculty to direct students to the bookstore for paid course material or the library for open educational resources | |||||||
Reduce red-tape to encourage more businesses to rent on-campus facilities that are underutilized. Create rentable space on the ground floor of most buildings. |
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Monetize campus card operations so commissions are collected when students use their campus card as payment at off campus vendors | |||||||
Require more staff, faculty and students to be on campus instead of remote/flexible work, so our facilities are used to their full potential and vendors on campus make more money, returning more commission to the university | |||||||
Endowment grown and investment returns; Plan a multi-million dollar capital campaign to grow the current $184M endowment closer to peers; Expand legacy giving tools (e.g., gifts of securities, wills, property); Create a Memorial Endowment Investment Committee with expertise in ESG/impact investing | |||||||
For international student recruitment: Scale the mandate of the Student Recruitment Committee to include international partnerships; create Memorial Global with regional recruiters, branded pathways, and admissions incentives; offer guaranteed housing or micro-scholarships to reduce friction for applicants. | |||||||
Microcredentials & Lifelong Learning: Expand Lifelong Learning & Online Education with microcredentials in marine safety, Indigenous governance, climate resilience and data literacy; launch a Memorial Professional Academy (fully online, asynchronous short programs); Ppartner with employers to co-create curriculum and offer employer-funded seats | |||||||
Build on RIO's foundation by creating a Memorial Innovation Fund as seed capital for startups emerging from RIO and Genesis. Introduce faculty equity incentives and clearer revenue-sharing models |
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Establish a Corporate & Government Engagement Office, leveraging Memorial’s success ($58M+ corporate income in 2020) to attract partner-led R&D in ocean tech, energy, and climate resilience | |||||||
Scale the Signal Hill model to other assets (GEO Centre, parking, summer residences). Formalize asset rental strategy to include public events, tourism and film sector partnerships | |||||||