Press release 87

 

RELEASE:

09:30 hours
Tuesday 26
April 2005

£16.9 BILLION INCOME FOR THE HE SECTOR

2003/04 HESA FINANCE DATA RELEASED

The higher education sector had a total income of £16.9 billion in the 2003/04 academic year. This compares to £15.7 billion in 2002/03. In contrast higher education institutions reported an expenditure of £16.6 billion in 2003/04 and £15.5 billion 2002/03. The surplus3 of income over expenditure increased from £218 million in 2002/03 to £241 million in 2003/04.

 

When analysing sources of income in more detail, grants from funding councils contributed the largest proportion of income at £6.5 billion. This marks a rise of 7.7 per cent on the £6.0 billion from funding council grants in 2002/03. Income from tuition fees and education grants & contracts saw the largest year-on-year increase at 8.9%, from £3.75 billion in 2002/03 to £4.08 billion in 2003/04.

  Sources of income 2002/03 and 2003/04  
        (£thousands)  
    2003/04 2002/03 % change  
  Funding council grants 6516597 6049216 7.7%  
  Tuition fees & education grants & contracts 4078976 3747081 8.9%  
  Research grants & contracts 2714591 2597074 4.5%  
  Other income 3320439 3061975 8.4%  
  Endowment & investment income 236438 235945 0.2%  
  Total income 16867041 15691291 7.5%  
           
Income from “other” sources rose by 8.4 per cent to £3.32 billion. Examples of income sources included in this category are: UK central government bodies, local authorities, health & hospital authorities; UK industry, commerce & public corporations; and residences and catering operations. Expenditure rose by 7.4% or £1.2 billion. This rise is fairly even across the various types of expenditure as shown by the table below, with the exception of interest payable which showed a small increase.

  Expenditure by type 2003/04 and 2002/03  
        (£ thousands)  
    2003/04 2002/03 % change  
  Staff costs 9728675 9032522 7.7%  
  Other operating expenses 5904120 5513683 7.1%  
  Depreciation 791329 727060 8.8%  
  Interest payable 201588 199885 0.9%  
  Total expenditure 16625712 15473150 7.4%  
           
The data is released in HESA’s annual CD-ROM product, HE Finance Plus 2003/044.

 

Notes to editors

  1. Press enquiries should be directed to:
    Byron Price
    HESA Press Officer
    01242 211133
    byron.price@hesa.ac.uk
    95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ.

  2. Where comparisons are made between the latest financial year 2003/04 and the previous year 2002/03, the previous year’s figures are those reported in the re-stated financial statements.

  3. The deficit/surplus is on continuing operations after depreciation of fixed assets at valuation and before exceptional items, tax and minority interest.

  4. HE Finance Plus 2003/04 is an annual CD-ROM published by HESA. It is available to the public from HESA Customer Services, telephone 01242 211155 for more information. The HESA reference volume Resources of Higher Education Institutions 2003/04, due to be published in May, also contains data on HE finances as well as detailed data on HE staff.

ENDS