USW's finances 2024 to 2025

Income

USW's 2024/25 income is generated from the following activities:

• £145.3m (65%) - Tuition fee and education contracts
• £27.8m (12%) - Funding body grants for teaching
• £12.1m (5%) - Funding body grants
• £6.4m (3%) - Research grants and contracts
• £15.5m (7%) - Other income
• £7.6m (3%) - Residences, catering, conferences
• £10.2m (5%) - Investment income, donations and endowments 

Our main source of income (£145.3m) relates to income generated from tuition fees and education contracts. This largely relates to tuition fees of £9,000 per annum from UK undergraduate students. Our UK fees are supported by the tuition fee loan system where repayments are made when the student earns more income than a threshold set by the Government. The other largest source of tuition fee income relates to tuition fees from postgraduate international students.  We also generate fees and income in relation to international undergraduate students, UK postgraduate students, part-time students, apprenticeships and education contracts.

USW also receives a funding body grant from Medr to support our higher education teaching activity. We also receive funding from the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills relating to fees for students who are studying further education within the Group. These funding body grants totalled £27.8m in 2024/25 and contributed to the cost of delivering part-time courses and delivering higher cost subjects. This also includes funding to deliver further education to students within the Group.

Medr also provide non-recurrent funding to support particular activities. In 2024/25, the University received £12.1m of income to support research activities and investment towards capital projects and infrastructure and achievement of net zero targets. This includes investment in our transformation, including the USW estate strategy, improving learning and teaching spaces and student experience. Other non-recurrent funding included funding for wellbeing, graduate and employability support and strategic investment relating to Screen Academies Wales, civic engagement partnerships and the expansion of Wales Institute of Digital information.

We also attract research grants from the Government, research councils, industry, and other organisations, which help us fund our world-class research activity. Income generated from research activity totalled £6.4m in 2024/25.

We offer supporting services to students, ensuring that there are catering facilities at all of our campuses, as well as a range of accommodation options. We also have excellent conferencing facilities, which are also used commercially. The University generated income of £7.6m relating to these activities in 2024/25.

Other income of £15.5m was largely generated from training, consultancy, printing, and commercial activity. This also includes income generated from our sports and leisure facilities.

The Group receives donations and endowments from private and business donors, supporting facilities and services provided to students and contributing to the future of the University. The University also generates investment income. These activities generated additional income of £10.2m for 2024/25. This comprised of interest on cash deposits of £4.9m, and gains on long-term investments of £3.3m, which is shown separately within our financial statements under ‘Gains of investments’.  The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama also received donations and legacy gifts of £2.0m. Most of these contributions are designated to benefit students through scholarships, prizes, and funding student-focused projects, while the remainder will support the College's core activities.

Expenditure

Providing high quality learning and a positive student experience is at the heart of USW, which is demonstrated in how our funds are spent. The Group's 2024/25 income was spent in the following way:

• £92.5m (41%) - Faculties
• £31.7m (14%) - IT, learning and academic services
• £5.2m (2%) - Student support
• £28.1m (13%) - Estates
• £34.7m (15%) - Running the University
• £2.4m (1%) - Surplus for reinvestment
• £7.9m (4%) - Research activity
• £6.1m (3%) - Residences, catering, conferences
• £16.3m (7%) - Commercial / other expenditure

The faculties spend of £92.5m relates to all of the costs incurred to deliver full-time and part-time courses. This includes the costs of lecturers and other academic staff and technicians, who support the delivery of courses. Other costs include materials, experiences, industry placements, specialist spaces and equipment, and the cost associated with maintaining laboratories and specialist spaces. This forms our greatest spend, ensuring that income from student fees is invested in providing the best possible education and student journey.

USW has also spent £5.2m on activities which support the student experience. This includes services such as disability support, counselling, mental health, financial and wellbeing support including scholarships and bursaries.

In 2024/25, USW spent £31.7m on essential services such as IT, libraries and wider learning services and academic services. All these services complement and enhance the overall learning experience for students at USW.

USW also spends money on our estate to ensure that we provide an excellent learning environment for students. This includes the cost of running USW campuses, and the wider group estate, totalling £28.1m in 2024/25. This spend relates to the cost of buildings, utilities, cleaning, and ongoing maintenance and security of the estate.

We also spend money on essential services to run the Group, this includes human resources, finances, and all other professional support activities. A total of £34.7m was spent on running USW in 2024/25.

USW delivers world-class research activity – the cost of this activity was £7.9m in 2024/25. This is largely funded by external grants with further funding from Medr.

USW provides supporting services to students, enhancing their overall student experience. There are halls of residences at the University of South Wales Treforest Campus and catering facilities are available at all of our campuses. The cost of providing these services in 2024/25 totalled £6.1m which is fully paid from the income the activity generates.

USW pays for costs associated with its commercial activity, in addition to pension charges associated with the staff employed by the Group. These costs totalled £16.3m for 2024/25, noting this includes voluntary redundancy costs as the university implements strategic plans to ensure its future sustainability. The pension charge is volatile and can change significantly from one year to another and therefore this charge is not shown against the specific employee activity area, in order to provide consistency to the financial analysis across years.

Investing for the Future

USW is a charitable organisation delivering activities and services to provide the best learning experience to its students and to serve its wider community. Once all of the above costs are paid, any surplus funds are reinvested into USW's infrastructure. In 2024/25, USW generated a surplus of £2.4m which will be reinvested into enhancing the student experience.

USW has a significant capital investment programme - some of the key areas of investments made during 2024/25 include:

• £14.5m this year on works in relation to the new Computing, Engineering, and Technology building (Calon) on the Treforest campus which is due to open in 2026
• An additional £4.1m on the new Chiropractic Clinic at the Treforest campus which opened in July 2025
• £1.4m on upgrading teaching and research equipment and facilities in Civil Engineering, Sciences, transformational learning spaces, clinics and studios across campuses
• A further £1.0m investment in facilities for staff and students at the Newport campus.
• £4.7m on IT equipment as part of the University’s digital transformation strategy
• £0.6 m on upgrading facilities and maintaining structures to the buildings across campuses
• £0.6m on consultancy work in relation to the building of a new CRM system
•  £0.8 m at The College Merthyr Tydfil on IT facilities for staff and students, further investments in Creative Arts studios and general enhancements within the buildings
• £0.7m at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama on the development and design stages of the Old Library and IT digital upgrades

Further Information

If you would like further information about USW's financial position, please refer to the full Annual Review and Financial Statements, 2024-25.