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The numbers
UCT’s Communication and Marketing Department’s (CMD) work is delivered against annual activity and financial plans, which are signed off by the vice-chancellor as the line manager of the executive director.
We had a total annual budget of R34 759 366 for 2020 with an operating budget of R11 454 708 and a salaries budget of R23 304 658. The total budget was split into:
- University-wide budget: R8 106 128
- Operating budget: R26 653 238
University-wide budget analysis
The university-wide spending plans were dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with lockdown restrictions resulting in the cancellation or postponement of many university events and necessitating the need to conduct others virtually.
At the end of 2020 the university-wide budget had a surplus of R725 470. This was largely due to most events being hosted online, where the workload is still significant, and often more complex, but some costs was reduced.
In 2020 CMD ran or supported 45 online VIP events. Some of the Marketing and Stakeholder Relations budget, which would’ve been spent on events, was reassigned to producing Vision 2030 merchandise, which was delivered in the first quarter of 2021.
Operating budget analysis
At the end of 2020 we had an operating budget deficit of R238 658. This was largely as a result of overspending on staffing in the areas of digital media, media monitoring and responses, and event planning and re-organising. This additional expenditure was critical to our success in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing the university’s strategic imperatives and managing the myriad communication crises which affected the UCT community.
The budget per unit is broken down below:
