Frequently asked questions

Horizon is a multi-year initiative with one simple goal: help ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ work better. We aim to cut costs, generate revenue, decrease turnaround times, increase community satisfaction, and make ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ a better place to study and work.

More specifically, Horizon has a mandate to examine and improve ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s processes University-wide – from procurement to administrative processes to academic program delivery, admissions and more.

The Horizon Office and its small team will act as a central hub – providing training and resources and connecting changemakers across ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ. But the real change will be made University-wide, by people like you.

Much of our work will be distributed among ten working groups, each focused on an institutional thematic area and involving faculty and staff with relevant expertise. They’ll examine processes and structures and assess needs, and where appropriate, they’ll propose better ways of working. Some will also focus on generating new revenue, to help support ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s mission, help offset reductions in government funding.

But the work won’t stop there. We’ll also support Faculties and Units directly – providing guidance, expertise and resources to help them improve their internal ways of working, connect them with training and learning, and build communities of practice across ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ to share what’s working, what isn’t and how we can all work better.

As well, good decisions require good data. That’s why we’ve joined a group of institutions across Canada and beyond, as members of an international benchmarking program tailored for universities. It standardizes each university’s data (e.g. expenditures on a given process, community satisfaction with the process, time spent on it, etc.) and benchmarks this data against our peer institutions. The idea is to see what we’re doing well compared with others, and what we’re doing less well, and then identify ways to improve. Then, we’ll use that data to develop homegrown solutions that work for ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈians.

±á´Ç°ù¾±³ú´Ç²Ô’s project office will include six ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈians, seconded from their regular roles in Faculties and Units. They’ll work closely with the working groups, coordinate with ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ-wide subject-matter experts supporting the co-leads’ work, and support Faculties and Units in their own, local change initiatives. 
This work is being overseen by ±á´Ç°ù¾±³ú´Ç²Ô’s Steering Committee and two executive co-sponsors:

• Prof. Chris Manfredi, Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic)
• Prof. Fabrice Labeau, Vice-President (Administration & Finance)

It’s already underway. The 2025 initial UniForum data collection exercise has ended, we’ll review the quality of the data over the summer, and benchmarking will happen in the fall. Simultaneously, the working groups will look for quick wins – process improvements and other changes that trim costs, decrease delays, or improve satisfaction and require relatively minimal effort.
Some redesigned processes could begin to roll out as early as Fall 2025, ramping up further in the first few months of 2026 – all based on ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ data and the results of our interuniversity benchmarking.

In 2026, we aim to launch a new satisfaction survey and begin a fresh round of activity data collection to see what’s changed, how we’ve improved, and how we can improve even more.

As we said at the May 2025 , we expect that government measures will impact ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s revenues by a staggering $185 million over four years – with even bigger impacts in the years to follow. That’s why cuts were needed in FY25 and FY26, and it’s why we’re projecting deficits of $30 million in FY27, $73 million in FY28, and even more in subsequent years if this trend goes unchecked. To fix this, we’ll need both savings and revenue growth. But that’s not the whole picture.

Like many large longstanding organizations, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ has developed inefficiencies over time. In some areas, processes have too many steps, take too long, cost too much, and haven’t incorporated new technologies that could improve service to students, faculty and staff. Our budget situation has made change more urgent – but even if that weren’t the case, we’d want to fix these issues anyway. Horizon is our opportunity to do this.

Drawing on surveys, focus groups, KPIs, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, benchmarking and more, ±á´Ç°ù¾±³ú´Ç²Ô’s working groups will study ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ processes and design better ways of working that meet our community’s needs.

Each group will focus its efforts on a particular thematic area – advancement, procurement, reporting, admissions and more.

The working groups’ composition will vary according to theme, with each co-led by academic and administrative leaders.

Working groups will solicit community feedback via focus groups, communities of practice, outreach to subject-matter experts, and more. If you’d like to contribute, please reach out to us horizon [at] mcgill.ca (here).

UniForum does three main things:

1. Determine how satisfied each university’s faculty/staff are with various institutional administrative services.
2. Compare those satisfaction rates with the amount of time and money ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ spends on those activities.
3. Benchmark that data against other universities participating in the program.

If it turns out that we’re spending a lot more on a particular administrative service than other universities, and that at the same time our community is less satisfied with that service than their peers elsewhere, that service may be a strong candidate for improvement.

The University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, the University of Ottawa, Queen’s University, and eight additional Canadian universities are also UniForum members. Others include the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the Australian National University, Monash University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and other leading institutions.

Once a year, for at least two years. If it proves cost-effective and useful in identifying areas for improvement, we may continue in subsequent years. If not, we won’t.

Horizon is a homegrown effort, and its success will depend on the ideas and efforts of people all across ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ. The working groups will reach out to different areas in different ways (surveys, focus groups and more), and these will be great opportunities to share your expertise and help shape solutions.

If you have a great idea for trimming costs or generating revenue, or a success story to share about a revamped process that’s helped your team operate more efficiently – or if you’d just like to participate in some way – we hope you’ll take a moment to horizon [at] mcgill.ca (get in touch).

Absolutely. It’s not too early to connect with your supervisor and begin streamlining your processes, trimming procurement costs, or helping your team run better. Horizon is a ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ-wide initiative, but much of the most important will be local, in Faculties and Units like yours.

If you have an idea or a story to tell, we’d love to hear it – feel free to horizon [at] mcgill.ca (reach out) and let us know, request guidance or change management support, or let us connect you with the appropriate working group to ensure alignment with their work.

Unfortunately, there might be. We expect that government measures will have a $185 million impact on ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ over four years – with growing, compounding impacts in subsequent years. As a result, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ is projecting large, unsustainable deficits.

In this situation, we need to consider all options, including staff reductions through attrition (e.g. retirements) and regrettably potential layoffs as well. But if ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ needs to make hard decisions, Horizon will work hard to ensure they’re the right ones. That’s why we’re gathering as much data as we can, soliciting your ideas, and benchmarking our activities against universities across Canada and beyond.

It's clear, though, that you can’t build a sustainable institution on cuts, layoffs, and hopes for more favourable economic and political conditions in the future. That’s why Horizon isn’t fundamentally about cuts – it’s about redesigning our processes to make the most of what we have, and to ensure ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s financial sustainability. That means focusing our resources on the activities that are most vital to our mission. It means redesigning organizational structures and longstanding procedures that are inefficient and no longer meet our needs. It means revamping processes to save time, money and frustration. Ultimately, it means making ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ a better place to work and study.

Yes! ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s Organizational Development team offers a wide range of courses including Six Sigma process improvement, change management, and much more. You can also find their summer training calendar .

As well, the Horizon Office includes dedicated specialists in change management and communications who can advise your team on how to make your revamped processes and structures a reality. horizon [at] mcgill.ca (Contact us) for tailored support.

There are no plans to offer retirement incentives across ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s workforce.