List of universities in the United Kingdom by endowment

The following is a list of British universities ordered by their financial endowments, expressed in pounds sterling at fair value.

British charity funds are made up of restricted reserves, which can only be used for specific purposes, and unrestricted reserves, which could be used for any activity within the charity's scope. The statement of recommended practice (SORP) defines endowments as specific funds with both restrictions over the endowments' income and intention from the donors to establish such endowments. In addition, these reserves must either be held indefinitely and cannot be converted into income without permission (known as permanent endowment funds) or could be converted into income at trustees' discretion (known as expendable endowment). Updated SORP guidance published in 2007 prohibits donations with no specific purpose by the donor (unrestricted) and "with no requirement for maintenance of the original capital" from being treated as endowment. While restrictive funds are not considered endowments under the SORP's accounting guidance, institutions sometimes use the term "endowments" broadly to refer to the sum of all funds that generate income for the institution's operation and activities. Figures listed below account for funds defined by the SORP as endowment.

All sources are official audited financial statements published in the respective fiscal years. Note that changes to the Financial Reporting Standards (FRS 102) and the SORP in 2015 mean endowments as of 2016 are not directly comparable in all cases with those for previous years.

Endowments over £1 billion

Rank Institution Endowment (GBP billions, End of Financial Year) Change
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 1‑year 5‑year 10‑year
1 University of Oxford 8.708 8.066 8.120 7.746 6.327 6.349 6.057 5.592 5.069 4.702 +8.0% +37.1% +85.2%
—Excluding Colleges 1.833 1.602 1.622 1.537 1.221 1.143 1.090 0.921 0.844 0.767 +14.4% +60.4% +139.0%
2 University of Cambridge 7.134 7.802 6.073 5.044 NA NA NA
—Excluding Colleges 2.259 2.119 2.123 2.031 1.648 1.674 1.562 1.449 1.269 1.213 +6.6% +34.9% +86.2%

Endowments from £100 million to £1 billion

Rank Institution Endowment (GBP millions, End of Financial Year) Change
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 1‑year 5‑year 10‑year
3 University of Edinburgh 580.4 559.8 541.0 565.2 487.7 459.9 424.1 392.1 342.8 317.2 +3.7% +26.2% +83.0%
4 King's College London 324.8 301.0 291.1 300.6 252.2 258.1 233.5 213.5 194.1 179.4 +7.9% +25.8% +81.0%
5 University of Glasgow 262.4 234.3 225.8 225.2 177.2 201.9 200.6 188.4 170.9 164.3 +12.0% +30.0% +59.7%
6 London School of Economics 255.5 229.3 229.4 240.8 198.4 155.0 141.6 132.7 119.2 112.9 +11.4% +64.8% +126.3%
7 University of Manchester 240.2 221.6 223.5 242.2 220.5 238.4 235.1 222.2 196.8 188.9 +8.4% +0.8% +27.2%
8 Imperial College London 235.2 220.1 219.6 202.1 176.0 178.1 157.1 141.7 126.2 113.6 +6.9% +32.1% +107.0%
9 University of Liverpool 193.8 182.7 184.4 190.2 168.3 171.7 167.1 166.5 155.8 147.9 +6.1% +12.9% +31.0%
10 University College London 174.8 156.8 158.8 163.3 143.2 138.7 118.0 111.4 101.0 103.6 +11.5% +26.0% +68.7%
11 University of Birmingham 155.8 142.5 138.0 134.5 116.7 121.6 120.3 112.6 103.8 97.0 +9.3% +28.1% +60.6%
12 University of St Andrews 125.9 114.9 113.1 117.7 95.6 89.9 77.8 69.4 58.6 56.8 +9.6% +40.0% +121.7%
13 University of Reading 111.4 101.9 102.8 107.4 250.7 17.5 14.7 14.0 14.8 13.9 +9.3% +536.6% +701.4%
14 Durham University 106.6 101.7 99.4 98.2 86.4 81.9 74.0 72.0 67.6 71.1 +4.8% +30.2% +49.9%

Endowments from £10 million to £100 million

Rank Institution Endowment (GBP millions, End of Financial Year) Change
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 1‑year 5‑year 10‑year
15 University of Bristol 98.7 86.1 91.6 91.3 78.7 77.2 72.2 70.2 62.6 61.2 +14.6% +27.8% +61.3%
16 University of Leeds 94.8 83.2 87.4 90.5 82.1 82.3 77.2 72.7 67.7 66.7 +13.9% +15.2% +42.1%
16 Newcastle University 94.8 87.1 87.6 101.8 87.2 85.1 80.6 75.2 63.4 62.0 +8.8% +11.4% +52.9%
18 University of Nottingham 78.1 72.5 72.2 72.3 62.3 63.0 58.5 55.1 49.9 43.8 +7.7% +24.0% +78.3%
19 Royal Holloway, University of London 75.5 81.6 86.1 87.7 78.8 81.2 80.4 79.6 75.3 75.8 −7.5% −7.0% −0.4%
20 Queen's University Belfast 70.9 65.6 69.0 69.7 63.8 67.1 67.1 65.4 56.6 53.4 +8.1% +5.7% +32.8%
21 University of Aberdeen 65.3 58.6 58.1 58.4 51.9 52.0 49.7 46.9 41.3 38.0 +11.4% +25.6% +71.8%
22 SOAS University of London 57.1 53.9 54.8 56.2 49.3 51.2 47.0 42.2 39.0 35.4 +5.9% +11.5% +61.3%
23 University of Sheffield 55.2 47.1 46.5 46.7 45.5 46.0 43.8 42.2 39.7 39.0 +17.2% +20.0% +41.5%
24 Cardiff University 53.1 46.2 45.6 45.5 38.9 38.2 34.5 33.1 30.3 28.7 +14.9% +39.0% +85.0%
25 University of Exeter 51.6 48.6 48.7 49.5 41.5 40.7 38.2 37.2 32.5 33.2 +6.2% +26.8% +55.4%
26 Queen Mary University of London 48.0 43.7 43.4 41.3 37.3 33.4 34.1 34.3 34.7 35.1 +9.8% +43.7% +36.8%
27 University of Strathclyde 46.6 42.2 41.7 42.1 36.3 37.8 35.1 33.1 30.9 28.9 +10.4% +23.3% +61.2%
28 University of Dundee 34.4 33.9 35.0 30.2 31.3 29.6 28.3 25.8 25.0 NA NA NA
29 Aberystwyth University 36.4 33.5 30.3 30.9 35.6 36.6 43.3 57.7 48.4 44.7 +8.7% −0.5% −18.6%
30 University of Leicester 25.9 23.6 24.3 24.5 20.0 21.0 20.6 17.7 14.0 13.1 +9.7% +23.3% +97.7%
31 University of Sussex 21.1 16.4 15.3 17.9 14.4 13.6 11.6 11.0 10.1 9.4 +28.7% +55.1% +124.5%
32 Lancaster University 18.9 18.4 15.0 14.8 14.3 13.9 6.0 5.9 5.6 5.4 +2.7% +36.0% +250.0%
33 Nottingham Trent University 16.8 15.6 4.7 4.8 5.0 5.2 5.6 6.3 6.9 7.4 +7.7% +223.1% +127.0%
34 Ulster University 16.0 15.0 15.4 16.1 13.9 15.1 14.4 9.0 7.4 7.0 +6.7% +6.0% +128.6%
35 University of Hull 15.8 14.9 15.2 15.8 14.6 15.2 14.6 14.4 18.8 12.7 +6.0% +3.9% +24.4%
36 Goldsmiths, University of London 15.7 15.0 15.1 15.3 14.9 15.0 3.3 3.3 3.1 2.9 +4.7% +4.7% +441.4%
37 University of East Anglia 15.6 13.7 13.2 12.9 10.5 9.0 8.2 7.7 7.3 7.3 +13.9% +73.3% +113.7%
38 Birmingham City University 14.2 12.2 11.9 11.8 10.2 8.1 6.6 6.2 5.7 5.3 +16.4% +75.3% +167.9%
39 Heriot-Watt University 13.2 12.2 12.4 12.0 10.5 10.5 9.6 8.9 8.3 9.5 +8.2% +25.7% +38.9%
40 University of Southampton 12.4 11.9 12.8 14.9 12.9 13.0 13.1 12.9 12.5 12.5 +4.2% −4.6% −0.8%

Specialist Higher Education Institutions

Rank Institution Endowment (GBP millions, End of Financial Year) Change
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 1‑year 5‑year 10‑year
1 London Business School 69.6 62.4 60.3 57.9 59.5 56.5 53.3 51.9 47.7 46.1 +11.5% +23.2% +51.0%
2 Royal Academy of Music 68.5 58.3 53.0 48.8 36.4 38.1 39.5 36.5 33.8 31.6 +17.5% +79.8% +116.8%
3 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 48.3 25.6 19.1 27.6 24.9 17.5 17.0 16.3 14.9 13.4 +88.7% +176.0% +260.4%
4 Royal College of Music 47.9 44.3 44.6 49.3 42.4 45.6 42.8 37.8 36.5 32.4 +8.1% +5.0% +47.8%
5 Courtauld Institute of Art 41.7 38.7 36.0 35.7 44.4 44.9 39.7 37.6 34.4 29.1 +7.8% −7.1% +43.3%
6 Royal College of Art 38.5 34.0 28.5 26.7 22.3 21.3 20.3 20.1 19.5 17.9 +13.2% +80.8% +115.1%
7 Royal Northern College of Music 22.5 20.3 21.1 21.7 18.6 18.9 17.5 21.2 19.3 18.4 +10.8% +19.0% +22.3%
8 London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine 19.7 18.1 18.5 20.6 17.5 16.1 14.3 13.3 11.4 11.4 +8.8% +22.4% +72.8%
9 Royal Veterinary College 11.7 10.7 10.7 10.5 8.7 9.1 9.2 9.8 9.8 10.1 +9.3% +28.6% +15.8%

Endowments per student greater than £10 thousand

Rank Institution Enrolment
(FTE - 2023/24)
Endowment per student
(2024, student population over 1000)
Change
(1‑year)
1 University of Oxford 22,150 £393,138 +7.1%
2 University of Cambridge 21,140 £337,465
3 London Business School 1,685 £41,306 +18.2%
4 London School of Economics 12,430 £20,555 +12.7%
5 University of Edinburgh 36,260 £16,007 +0.2%
6 Royal College of Art 2,740 £12,734 +10.3%
7 University of St Andrews 10,860 £11,593 +11.9%
8 Imperial College London 21,265 £11,060 +10.9%

Notes:
Only 2022/23 figures available for Cambridge

See also

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