Cash-strapped Memorial University restricts hiring to deal with enrolment drop
Enrolment dropped by 5.4 cent in fall semester, compared to fall 2023
Memorial University moved Friday to curb hiring professors, researchers and other staff to deal with a loss of more than $9.5 million in tuition fees.
In a statement, university president Neil Bose said the Board of Regents on Thursday approved a "limited hiring program" that is aimed at vacant and new positions, including both permanent and contractual jobs. Bose said the hiring moves apply to all campuses, including the Marine Institute.
Tuition fees will not increase, Bose told reporters Friday afternoon.
Memorial, which operates a main campus in St. John's, Grenfell Campus in Corner Brook, and Harlow Campus in the United Kingdom, said enrolment dropped 5.4 per cent for the fall semester, compared to fall 2023.
"The current environment — changing federal restrictions for international student visas, reduction in Memorial's tuition offset grant, increasing inflationary costs — has created a situation that requires decisive action to protect Memorial's academic mission," Bose said in a statement posted to the university's website.
Staff positions, including instructional assistants, lab demonstrators, and lab assistants and Marine Institute research and technical personnel are exempt from the limited hiring program, but that's limited to contractual hires to address immediate needs versus permanent hiring.
Some of the university's programs will also face cutbacks.
Bose told reporters that while there are no programs are under review yet, he will be meeting with faculty deans to discuss student enrolment.
"There will need to be a review of what programs are the ones we need to strongly support, which ones might be reduced in support," Bose said.
Students will not immediately be impacted by changes in course and program offerings.
"Any change is going to be slow, so there'll be plenty of time to be able to be advertised to the community and the student applicants," he said.
The university is not allowed to carry a deficit because of Newfoundland and Labrador legislation.
To keep in line with this policy, Memorial is restricting its ability to carry over surpluses and deficits. They are also changing the budget model.
Historically, MUN has used an incremental budget model. Every budget was built on the previous year's budget. This structure will change for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
MUN's new budget model will analyze expenses and budget allocations based on the university's needs, goals, and priorities rather than previous spending patterns.
The provincial government has spent the last decade cutting funding to Memorial University. In September, students, faculty, and labour unions launched a campaign called FundMUN to urge Premier Andrew Furey to restore provincial funding to the university.
Bose said the university is communicating with the provincial government. He did not confirm if MUN is asking for increased funding.
The result of the cuts, Bose says, will be a more focused, likely somewhat smaller, well-funded, culturally rich institution.
"We can't continue to do everything that we've done in the past at the level we've done it. So we need to actually pause and shrink back to a level which makes sense through the funding that's available," Bose said.
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