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![\"JOHN](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4398113_web1_251125_U_of_W_11.jpg\")
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JOHN WOODS \/ WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The University of Winnipeg, Tuesday, November 25, 2025.<\/p>\n
U of W recently approved a $180.7-million budget for next year that includes a two per cent increase in operating expenses. Senior administration is raising tuition \u2014 four per cent for domestic students and 6.5 per cent for their international peers \u2014 and phasing out low-rate course fees to stay out of the red.<\/p>\n
Interim president Jino Distasio said yet-to-be-finalized capital plan expenses will be \u201creally reasonable\u201d and help the university community rethink where its energy and resources should be spent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re at a new point. There\u2019s change coming to the campus,\u201d Distasio said.<\/p>\n
The urban geography professor, a self-described \u201curban president,\u201d indicated the exercise will involve contemplating the footprint and identifying potential infill projects.<\/p>\n
Shortly before Distasio was tapped for his role in the fall, academics, administrators and representatives from U of W\u2019s community renewal corporation released a strategic plan for 2025-30, which includes campus revitalization as one of its five pillars.<\/p>\n
The university\u2019s last ground-breaking event was for Leatherdale Hall, a roughly $5-million expansion to Wesley Hall and the U of W Collegiate that opened in 2017.<\/p>\n
Citing recent budget pressures and development projects \u2014 including a major makeover to its library and more recently, a campus space audit \u2014 that have been stalled, Miller said he has mixed feelings about the undertaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat funding is there to actually enact a plan?\u201d the classics professor said.<\/p>\n
At the same time, he said it\u2019s worthwhile to consider how the Portage Place and former Bay building redevelopment projects, among others, will impact U of W.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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\u201cIf I\u2019m being optimistic, maybe a master plan makes sense rather than a piecemeal approach,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
U of W is made up of roughly 20 buildings that span more than 1.6-million square feet in downtown. Distasio said he anticipates the new plan to be \u201ca little more pragmatic, a little more inward-facing\u201d than its predecessor, which was developed under former president Lloyd Axworthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one can fill those shoes, but I was certainly inspired by his boldness.\u201d <\/p>\n
The plan is anticipated to be complete before the end of 2026-27.<\/p>\n
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Maggie Macintosh Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie<\/a>.<\/p>\n Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Education reporter
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