The finances of UK unis are a hot topic right now, as loads of university staff are on strike. A new report from Universities UK revealed unis are getting £6.4 billon less money from teaching income than they did ten years ago. So, here’s a look at which UK universities are making the most money, and how big their incomes really are at the moment.
It’s not exactly news that Oxbridge are truly loaded. It helps that the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford are really famous, really old, and own really large amounts of land. They still have the largest annual income of any UK uni. Quite a few universities aren’t too far behind, though. Seven other Russell Group unis are also raking in over a billion dollars each year.
24 out of the 25 UK universities that make the most money are the 24 Russell Group unis. This makes sense, as these unis do lots of research. Plus, the added prestige of more famous unis makes them more popular among international students, who can be charged way higher fees than UK students.
This data all comes from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and refers to the 2023/2024 academic year. Keep in mind that these figures are the total income, not the total profit. Unis are expensive to run. The vice-chancellors don’t just pocket a billion a year (well, not quite, anyway).
So, here are the 30 UK universities that make the most money, ranked by their incomes in 2024:
30. University of Hertfordshire – £419,096,000
29. University of Strathclyde – £432,476,000
28. Nottingham Trent University – £434,451,000
The one Instagrammable building at Nottingham Trent Uni
27. Manchester Metropolitan University – £460,526,000
26. University of the Arts London (UAL) – £465,979,000
25. Queen’s University Belfast – £472,337,000
24. Durham University – £514,465,000
23. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – £530,722,000
22. University of York – £533,043,000
21. The Open University – £582,285,000
20. Newcastle University – £634,744,000
19. Cardiff University – £649,068,000
18. University of Exeter – £665,028,000
I’m pretty certain Exeter students spend most of their money travelling to the beach
17. University of Liverpool – £708,291,000
16. Queen Mary University of London – £722,469,000
15. University of Southampton – £751,535,000
14. University of Nottingham – £849,432,000
13. University of Warwick – £859,993,000
12. University of Sheffield – 894,952,000
11. University of Birmingham – £944,801,000
10. University of Glasgow – £958,614,000
A sunny day in Glasgow (a real rarity)
9. University of Leeds – £1,054,190,000
8. University of Bristol – £1,091,888,000
7. King’s College London (KCL) – £1,269,668,000
6. Imperial College London – £1,329,440,000
5. University of Manchester – £1,364,783,000
4. University of Edinburgh – £1,433,831,000
3. University College London (UCL) – £2,074,584,000
2. University of Cambridge – £2,630,784,000
1. University of Oxford – £3,054,211,000
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