Spring, continued setting minimum course enrolments. It will also offer courses only at the Abbotsford campus, and limit some support services such as library hours. The Spring Semester will run May 2 —June 23 with most courses offered two days per week for three hours per day — during the morning, afternoon or evening. Although the time period will be compressed, students will receive the same amount of classroom instruction as they would by taking a once-a-week, evening course during the fall or winter. Registration is expected to begin by mid-February. Spring Semester coordinators Darryl Plecas (local 4553) and Doug King (local 4330) are now working with individual departments to determine which courses will be offered and to develop a timetable. Fact brochure available If you’re heading to a conference or luncheon, or representing UCFV at an official function, and want a quick and efficient way of letting people know the basic facts about the university college, then consider taking along some copies of the new facts and figures brochure. The °94 edition of the brochure is now available from Information Services. Phone 2819 or drop by the office in Chilliwack. PD/ed. leave deadlines The deadlines for PD applications for the remainder of the academic year are as follows: Deadline Allocations committee meeting Jan 18 Jan 26 Feb 25 Feb 23 Mar 15 Mar 23 Apr 19 Apr 27 May 17 May 25 The deadline for faculty and staff educational leave applications is Friday, Feb. 25. Guidelines about educational leave can be found in the collective agreement. The deadline for scholarly activity applications for Fall ’94 is Friday March 4. For more information about any of these programs contact Personnel. Headiines/January 18, 1994 ASSUMPTIONS FOR 1994/95 BUDGET The following is a budget assumptions report prepared by President Peter Jones: Once again there is a high degree of uncertainty regarding the Ministry’s intentions in funding the system for 1994/95. This makes institutional budgeting an extremely tentative process. One is led to believe that there will be a series of announcements forthcoming in the spring that will indicate (a) that we will all be expected to be more productive, (b) that the highest priority in funding will be given to programs that have a direct relation to the labour market, and (c) that capital funding will be very difficult to get. It is doubtful, therefore, that the budget schedule and consultation process that we have set for ourselves at UCFV will be very realistic. Nevertheless we will follow our agreed upon plan to share our sense of the necessary assumptions (this document) with UCAC and the Board, and, once they are approved, to move to a line-by-line budget for 1994/95 based on our best guesses of revenues and expenditures. Assumption I: We will receive a 0% increase to offset inflation. Assumption 2: The cost of increments, reclassifications and annualizations is expected to be about 2% of the total salary budget. Assumption 3: By virtue of the averaging provision in the contract, we anticipate salary increases will not exceed 1%. Assumption 4: With the advent of the province-wide common application centre, we need to prepare for a reduction in revenue currently provided by application fees. Assumption 5: We anticipate growth of something in the order of 350 new FTEs (as compared with 220 in 1993/94). Assumption 6: Tuition fee increases will be limited by the Minister to approximately 8%. Assumption 7: Benefit budgets were held to 14% in 1993/94 — a figure which turned out to be unrealistically low. This will need to be adjusted upward to about 16% in the 1994/95 budget. The benefits section of the budget will show separate figures for base benefits, education leave, professional development funding, sick leave and WCB contributions. Assumption 8: Revenue generating components (e.g., parking, bookstore, International Education, food services, Continuing Education, Spring Semester) will be included in the budget on a real-cost recovery basis, and, in some cases such as parking, charged with making a contribution to general revenues. Assumption 9: The first priority for allocating new funding will be to commitments already made, either contractually, or for programs already under way (e.g., funding the fourth year of the CIS degree program). Assumption 10: Priorities for the remaining new funding will be determined by reference to the strategic plan now nearing final approval. Major objectives such as the need to remain a comprehensive institution and the need to improve student access and success will determine these allocations. Assumption 11: Although we are fortunate in the amount of growth likely to be funded in 1994/95, the extent of the need for additional funding in existing areas will likely force some relatively modest reallocation of existing funding, consistent, however, with the “no layoffs” clause in the new collective agreement. Assumption 12: As in previous years, allocations from the one-time “start-up” funding for the University College (for Library, recruitment, computer systems, etc.) will be kept separate from the regular operating budget, and will proceed along the lines already indicated in the five-year budget already approved. Assumption 13: We will initiate a review of the ratio of support staff to faculty as called for by the collective agreement, and will make provision to begin to redress any imbalance that the review may reveal.