Increased income helps Reading reduce financial deficit

The University of Reading has published its annual financial statements for 2024/25, which show ongoing resilience in the current challenging environment.

Despite student recruitment challenges in the UK and internationally, the University continued to grow its income – up by £9.9m to £363.6m. This was driven by tuition fees and more education contracts in comparison to the previous year.

Despite inflationary pressures, ongoing cost management meant overall expenditure of £377.1m remained broadly consistent with the prior year (excluding USS pension scheme movements).

The University’s overall loss for 2024/25 was £10.8m, reduced from a loss of £23.3m (excluding USS pension scheme movements) in 2023/24.

With consolidated net assets of £533.8m and an investment asset portfolio of £307.6m, the University's balance sheet remains robust.

Professor Robert Van de Noort, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading, said: “It is encouraging to see we are making progress with driving down our annual operating deficit, and tracking well against our annual targets.

“It is clear that further growth and savings work will be necessary to eventually eliminate our deficit. A number of initiatives are underway to help achieve this.

“Thanks to healthy financial reserves, we will continue to take a patient and considered approach to achieving financial sustainability over the coming years.”

The annual financial statement for 2024/25 is published in full on the University website.