Sta/Medr/12/2025: Finances of higher education institutions, September 2023 to August 2024

Income

• The total income of Welsh higher education institutions was reported as £1.98bn in 2023/24, the same as in 2022/23.

Chart 1: Breakdown of Welsh higher education institutions’ income

• Income through tuition fees and education contracts increased by 5% to £1.11bn in 2023/24. Tuition fee and education contracts accounted for 56% of income in 2023/24.

• Funding body grants accounted for 14% (£276m) of Welsh higher education institutions’ income in 2023/24. Income from funding body grants fell by 15% between 2022/23 and 2023/24. As well as funding from Medr, funding body grants can include funding for further education institutions within higher education groups, and some other UK government funding paid via Medr.

• Research grants and contracts made up 12% (£239m) of Welsh higher education institutions’ income in 2023/24. Income from research grants and contracts decreased by 12% between 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Expenditure

• The total underlying expenditure of Welsh higher education institutions in 2023/24 was £2.04bn, 4% higher than the total underlying expenditure in 2022/23 (£1.96bn). Underlying expenditure excludes technical non-cash accounting adjustments to pension provisions which, if included, would distort total expenditure, giving a false reflection of the costs of the sector, and restructuring costs which are one off by nature. Wider market improvements increased the value of pension schemes, so in 2023/24 less was needed to be set aside for possible future changes.

• The underlying position of Welsh higher education institutions (total income minus total underlying expenditure) in 2023/24 was a deficit of £61m (2022/23 – £21m surplus).

• The total expenditure of Welsh higher education institutions (including adjustments and restructuring costs) in 2023/24 was £1.68bn, 11% lower than the 2022/23 figure of £1.89bn.

Chart 2: Breakdown of Welsh higher education institutions’ expenditure

• There was a 6% increase in staff costs (excluding changes to pension provisions and pension adjustments) from £1.05bn in 2022/23 to £1.11bn in 2023/24. Note: this differs from how the data has been provided in previous versions of this release where changes to pension provisions and pension adjustments were included with the staff costs.

Data

The 2023/24 figures are for the year ended 31 July 2024 and the 2022/23 figures are for the year ended 31 July 2023.

The 2022/23 figures in this release are the restated values collected during the collection of the 2023/24 finance record. This means the 2022/23 figures may differ from what has been published previously as providers are able to amend these if necessary.

The data can be found on the HESA Open Data website which also includes data for individual providers.