A new report from accounting firm KPMG LLP says that University of Toronto Mississauga injects $1.3 billion to the local economy in Peel and Ontario.
After 46 years in the area, vice-president and principal Professor Deep Saini said the university felt it was a good time to conduct an independent assessment of their economic impact, especially after their recent growth.
The final overall figure was a pleasant surprise for Saini. “We had expected UTM’s impact to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” he told YourMississaugaBiz.com. “We went back to them actually and looked very carefully at how they computed those numbers and we found them to be credible.”
In the report, KPMG noted UTM’s economic contribution included $317.4 million in ongoing spending through the production of goods and services, and $44.7 million of that allocated for capital spending.
Additionally, the income earnings of alumni living in the GTA totalled nearly $1 billion.
The report also noted the campus’ creation of an estimated 2,930 full-time jobs in the province with 480 of those jobs created by capital spending which will continue over the next five years.
UTM is now well known for being a campus focused on growth and investment in infrastructure, expanding from its initial start of one building in 1967 to its current campus with 26 buildings. “It shows how far UTM has come from a little college that was founded here,” Saini said.
Other key findings in the report include:
- UTM generates about $9.1 million in research revenues per year
- This past academic school year students dedicated about 45,000 hours of volunteer service, valued at $1.1 million, to programs for at-risk populations, helping the environment and raising awareness about social justice issues
- In 2012, international students made up approximately 19 percent of UTM’s new undergraduates
- Nearly 2,000 people from the community, including recent immigrants and newcomers, take classes at UTM through the School of Continuing Studies for various skills and accreditations
- The campus’ Mississauga Academy of Medicine is scheduled to enroll 216 students by 2015 and will help address an urgent local need for more physicians and family doctors
Saini said UTM would “absolutely” use the information from KPMG’s report in future fundraising campaigns or as evidence in talks with governments about additional education investments. “This is part of the reason why these things are done,” he said. “So our supporters can understand what we are doing in return for the support we are receiving.”
“When the question comes up ‘What is the value of a university on the community?’ this report speaks very loudly to that question. And we will use it when we can.”
Established in 1967, the University of Toronto Mississauga has about 12,800 students and employs 800 faculty and staff. The campus sits on 225 acres of land along the Credit River in Mississauga.
Karen K. Ho 