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Donations boom for Oxbridge

Due to government cuts to tertiary education, UK universities are increasingly being left to source their own funding – with Oxford and Cambridge leading the way, according to the findings of a recent report by the international credit rating agency Moody’s.

The report, which looks at data from the last six academic years, also suggests that universities are increasingly  following the funding model of American universities. Although the £13.8 billion in charitable donations received by top US universities still dwarfs the record £774 million that UK institutions received, the rate of growth of private donations was far higher in the UK. It was further suggested in the report that the growth in both the number and size of donations comes out of necessity.

However, the highest ranked universities received far more funding than their academic rivals, with Oxford and Cambridge collectively receiving almost half of all charitable donations made over the last six years.

The statisticians found that “in both the US and the UK, philanthropic support is concentrated among the market leading, elite and highly rated universities, showing that brand recognition and a strong market presence are keys to successful fundraising in higher education.”

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