An internal study commissioned by the University of Ottawa is recommending budget cuts of up to $ 31.1 million to address a looming deficit.

The university recently asked a panel of financial experts and university board of governors chaired by University of Ottawa management professor David Zussman to look for ways to reduce spending and increase revenues to deal with a $25 million budget shortfall expected next year.

The report by the panel includes over 180 suggestions to scale back expenditures and increase revenue in an effort to balance the 2010–11 budget. The suggestions include administrative cuts, increased class sizes in the faculties of education, engineering, and civil law, elimination of vacant teaching positions and reductions in several graduate scholarships.

Other proposals include launching large-scale renovation projects to reduce energy costs, initiatives to reduce the amount of furniture, paper and bottled water purchased; and reduction of travel and training budgets in various departments.

The cuts are not inconsequential. Prof. Zussman’s acknowledges in an article in the Ottawa Citizen, that the cuts "could negatively impact on the student experience with secondary impacts on fundraising and recruitment."

“This entire project is terribly disquieting and could have an extremely detrimental impact on the quality of our education,” Student Federation of the University of Ottawa president Seamus Wolfe is quoted as saying in the Fulcrum, the university newspaper.

A 2008 survey of university students across the Canada asked "if you could start over, would you go to the institution you are now attending?" The answers provided by University of Ottawa students placed their school 52nd out of 53 Canadian universities ranked.