How has the fall in the value of the stock market since The THES' first analysis of university wealth in 2001 affected the financial health of UK institutions? Claire Sanders and Alison Goddard report.
Cambridge University is still the richest institution in the UK, despite a fall of 26 per cent in the value of its endowments since 2000.
In the second analysis of university wealth by The THES - the first was carried out in 2001 based on 2000 figures - the fall in the value of the stock market can be clearly seen. Bristol University has seen the value of its endowments fall by more than a third.
Others have fared extraordinarily well. Surrey University, which The THES identified in 2000 as one of the up-and-coming wealthy universities, has seen its endowments fall by just 0.1 per cent. Since the publication of the last set of league tables, Surrey has announced that it is looking at plans to go private.
Other institutions that have performed strongly include Reading, Coventry and Wolverhampton universities.
The balance sheets used by The THES were supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency and are for the year to July 31 2002. They have been compared with those for July 31 2000.
Net assets
Net assets, or total funds, show the value of an institution's fixed assets such as buildings, its endowment assets and its current assets minus its liabilities. A university's net assets also include whatever it owns in spin-off companies. They reflect the size of a university as well as its wealth.
Cambridge has net assets of just over £1.2 billion, a 0.6 per cent increase on 2000. Oxford University's net assets are smaller at £809 million, a 0.2 per cent increase on 2000. Unlike Cambridge, Oxford does not include buildings more than 50 years old in its fixed assets.
Two years ago, Cambridge estimated that its colleges' net assets amounted to £1.5 billion. Oxford put the figure at somewhere between £1.2 billion and £1.5 billion. Neither university could provide updated estimates.
The ten universities with the biggest assets account for more than 35 per cent of the sector's assets.
The highest ranked new university is Manchester Metropolitan at 16. Leeds Metropolitan, Coventry, Wolverhampton and Brighton universities all come in the top 30.
These all tend to be universities with large student numbers. A spokesperson for Wolverhampton said: "We are in the process of a major building programme, called New Horizons. This has significantly increased our net assets. We are also the tenth largest university in the UK in terms of head count."
The past two years have seen serious swings in the net assets of some universities. The University of East London has seen a fall of 28 per cent, Greenwich University a fall of 19.6 per cent and Heriot-Watt University a fall of 17.4 per cent.
A UEL spokesperson said: "This fall is due to the sale of properties, including Maryland House in Stratford." The university has also changed the basis of the valuation of its Longbridge Road campus.
At the other end of the scale, Exeter University has seen an increase in net assets of 64.4 per cent, York University an increase of 52.8 per cent, Sussex University an increase of 46.6 per cent and London Guildhall University an increase of 40 per cent.
A spokesperson for Exeter said: "The £65 million increase is due to investment in new facilities, particularly the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. We have also carried out a revaluation of the university's estate and seen its value go up due to big increases in property and land values in this area."
Cambridge University is still the richest institution in the UK, despite a fall of 26 per cent in the value of its endowments since 2000.
In the second analysis of university wealth by The THES - the first was carried out in 2001 based on 2000 figures - the fall in the value of the stock market can be clearly seen. Bristol University has seen the value of its endowments fall by more than a third.
Others have fared extraordinarily well. Surrey University, which The THES identified in 2000 as one of the up-and-coming wealthy universities, has seen its endowments fall by just 0.1 per cent. Since the publication of the last set of league tables, Surrey has announced that it is looking at plans to go private.
Other institutions that have performed strongly include Reading, Coventry and Wolverhampton universities.
The balance sheets used by The THES were supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency and are for the year to July 31 2002. They have been compared with those for July 31 2000.
Net assets
Net assets, or total funds, show the value of an institution's fixed assets such as buildings, its endowment assets and its current assets minus its liabilities. A university's net assets also include whatever it owns in spin-off companies. They reflect the size of a university as well as its wealth.
Cambridge has net assets of just over £1.2 billion, a 0.6 per cent increase on 2000. Oxford University's net assets are smaller at £809 million, a 0.2 per cent increase on 2000. Unlike Cambridge, Oxford does not include buildings more than 50 years old in its fixed assets.
Two years ago, Cambridge estimated that its colleges' net assets amounted to £1.5 billion. Oxford put the figure at somewhere between £1.2 billion and £1.5 billion. Neither university could provide updated estimates.
The ten universities with the biggest assets account for more than 35 per cent of the sector's assets.
The highest ranked new university is Manchester Metropolitan at 16. Leeds Metropolitan, Coventry, Wolverhampton and Brighton universities all come in the top 30.
These all tend to be universities with large student numbers. A spokesperson for Wolverhampton said: "We are in the process of a major building programme, called New Horizons. This has significantly increased our net assets. We are also the tenth largest university in the UK in terms of head count."
The past two years have seen serious swings in the net assets of some universities. The University of East London has seen a fall of 28 per cent, Greenwich University a fall of 19.6 per cent and Heriot-Watt University a fall of 17.4 per cent.
A UEL spokesperson said: "This fall is due to the sale of properties, including Maryland House in Stratford." The university has also changed the basis of the valuation of its Longbridge Road campus.
At the other end of the scale, Exeter University has seen an increase in net assets of 64.4 per cent, York University an increase of 52.8 per cent, Sussex University an increase of 46.6 per cent and London Guildhall University an increase of 40 per cent.
A spokesperson for Exeter said: "The £65 million increase is due to investment in new facilities, particularly the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. We have also carried out a revaluation of the university's estate and seen its value go up due to big increases in property and land values in this area."
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