Vice-Chancellor's Report to University Council 2018/2019

FINANCE

Andrea McNish

UNIVERSITY BURSAR

FINANCIAL HEALTH The Financial Report and Combined Financial Statements for the year ended July 31, 2019, which represent the financial operations of the four campuses which existed at the year-end, certain of their subsidiaries and the University Centre, were approved by the University Audit Committee on April 27, 2020 and will be presented for ratification at the Annual Business Meeting of Council on May 13, 2020. Consistent with prior years, the Combined Financial Statements for the year ended July 31, 2019, received an unqualified opinion from the University’s external auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers which conducted the external audit for the first time. PricewaterhouseCoopers was appointed as the external auditors of the University on April 26, 2019 at the University’s Annual Business Meeting of Council.

The 2017-2022 Strategic Pla n of The University of the West Indies (The UWI), entitled “Revitalising Caribbean Development” and regarded as the Triple A Strategy, has three pillars; Access, Alignment and Agility. Restoring financial health to The UWI is one of the objectives of Agility . During the academic year 2018/2019, which was the second year of the Strategic Plan, the Office of Finance and the Campus Bursaries continued to effectively manage the financial affairs of The UWI in order to achieve this objective. The UWI continues to face funding challenges, as contributing governments which provide the largest portion of income in the form of contributions to economic cost, have been experiencing difficulties in honouring their financial obligations to the University. With the exercising of fiscal prudence and becoming more entrepreneurial by engaging in more income generating activities, the University has remained viable, without sacrificing the quality of teaching, learning and research.

A significant contributory factor to the deficit was the cost of post-employment benefits which totalled BDS$57.8 million in 2019 (2018: BDS$38.5 million), an increase of BDS$19.3 million. The increase in medical benefits was BDS$17.7 million while the pension supplementation element of the Federated Superannuation Scheme for Universities (FSSU) showed an increase of BDS$1.3 million. Costs associated with the defined benefit scheme for administrative and technical staff at the St. Augustine Campus contributed BDS$0.3 million to the increase. The increase in premiums for health insurance due to a benefit improvement in the scheme at the St. Augustine Campus, as well as an increase in past service costs for additional members not previously included in the results of prior years at the Mona Campus, were the main contributors to the increase in expenditure related to medical benefits. Included in other comprehensive income are costs related to medical benefits due to increased health insurance premiums at the Mona Campus.

A summary of the financial performance of The UWI for the year ended July 31, 2019 is provided below.

For the financial year 2018/2019, the operations of the University resulted in a deficit of BDS$91.5 million (2018: BDS$95.2 million deficit).

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