The University is open and transparent about where its money comes from and how it is spent. Each year, full audited accounts are published which show how much income was received, where it came from and what it was used for. You can access the accounts for 2019/20 and for previous years here. The 2020/21 accounts will be published towards the end of 2021, once they are independently audited.
Funding diagram.
Where Does The University’s Money Come from?
The University’s total income for 2019/20 was £56.4m. The majority of this (79%) came from our students, their employers or sponsors, as payments of tuition fees.
A further 9% came from Government agencies that distribute public money to universities, including from the Office for Students and Research England. These grants have a range of purposes including providing supplementary funding for resource-intensive courses, such as those within healthcare and science areas, supporting the University’s efforts to widen participation in higher education and helping to fund research projects.
How Does The University Spend Its money?
In total, we spent £63.3m in 2019/20. This included £8.5m of technical accounting adjustments relating to staff pension schemes and the value of the University’s land and buildings. Excluding these adjustments, our total costs were £54.8m.
The difference between our income and our costs was £1.6m. This “surplus” was used to invest in buildings, equipment, IT infrastructure and facilities.
Our financial results in 2019/20 were affected by the Covid pandemic, with lower than expected income from areas such as contracts with some employers, conferencing and student accommodation, where the University chose to waive all fees for students who could not use their rooms in halls of residence. While some budgeted costs were not incurred as a consequence of the pandemic, additional investment was made in facilitating online learning and supporting students during this period, including in providing the required IT resources and systems.
The chart below shows how, overall, we used each £1 received in 2019/20.
How we used each £1 received
Teaching and Research and Supporting These Activities
We spent £26.5m on providing teaching, learning and research including the salaries of our academic staff. A further £1.6m was used to directly support these activities through, for example, quality assurance and academic compliance processes.
Student Support and Administration
The University provides a range of student support services including libraries at each campus, disability support, counselling, and student finance and careers advice. Eligible students also receive a range of bursaries and a hardship fund helps meet the short-term financial needs of our students. A grant is also provided to the Students’ Union to help fund their activities. Together with the administration of each student’s academic record, from application to graduation, investment in these student support and administration functions was £7.5m in 2019/20.
Facilities and Equipment
To ensure that we have appropriate learning and other facilities and equipment, together with running costs such as gas, electricity and maintenance, £5.8m was spent. A further £3.2m was spent on providing the IT Services our students and staff benefit from.
Running the University
We are committed to being an excellent employer and to ensuring that we effectively monitor and plan our finances. We also take our obligations to comply with legislation in all areas of its operations seriously and we have put in place robust decision making and planning processes. These activities are often not visible to students but are vital to ensuring that everyone who studies with us has an excellent experience at a well-managed University. £8.2m was spent on these and other general running costs in 2019/20, including marketing and communication with prospective students.
Accommodation, Catering and Conferencing
We spent £1.1m on providing student accommodation and catering as well as making facilities available for conference hire.
Outreach Programme
The University received and used £0.8m of grant funding from the Office for Students to lead work focussed on increasing the number of young people from underrepresented groups who go into higher education. Set aside for investment: The difference between our income and costs was £1.6m in 2019/20. The University is a charity and as such no dividend, bonus or other payment of profit is made; every penny is reinvested in the infrastructure that supports teaching, learning, research and the experience of our students.
Investment and Published Account Information
The amount set aside for investment was used in full in 2019/20 to fund an investment programme which has improved our buildings, equipment, IT infrastructure and facilities and to repay borrowings which were taken out for these purposes in previous years.
