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Wonkhe SUs · The 2026 webinar box set

Understanding university finances

Why understanding your university's finances is key to the year ahead.

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This session turns to the university's own books. We cover where the money comes from and where it goes, why the sector is in financial crisis and what's already been cut, how to read the accounts, and the questions to put to your finance director – because the cuts are landing on students. This was recorded in the Summer of 2025.

What we cover

  • Why this matters now – university finances under unprecedented pressure, with cuts landing on students.
  • The state of the sector – more than a third of English providers in deficit, and many at elevated risk of market exit.
  • How we got here – frozen home fees, the international recruitment gamble, the visa crackdown and rising National Insurance.
  • Income streams – tuition fees, funding-body grants, research, commercial, investment and donations.
  • The four nations – why the funding mix depends on where you are and what kind of university you are.
  • Where the money goes – staff costs dominating, research that doesn't pay for itself, and restructuring.
  • Reading the accounts – budgets, the balance sheet, income and expenditure, and why liquidity matters most.
  • Your uni is not the sector – why no sector-wide figure tells your institution's story.
  • Questions to ask – the underlying operating position, days' liquidity, planned closures, and how the student experience is protected.

Things to read

← The 2026 webinar box set