One of the main issues raised during this investigation was that students do not know enough about how OUSU gets its funding, what it spends it on, or how the money it receives finds its way to students. As such, Cherwell decided to take a closer look at OUSU’s finances.
OUSU’s budget for the year 2013-2014 was £801,318. A large proportion of that money is received in a block grant from the university; this amount is shown to be around £500,000. However, the value of this current sum is a one off, given that the University only agreed to increase the budget by £100,000 for this year. This decision was made following OUSU’s loss of £58,000 in 2009.
Current OUSU President Tom Rutland is in the process of negotiating that the increase to the university’s block grant becomes permanent. He is also attempting to secure a further increase to the budget. The request for a permanent increase in the amount of money the university provides is partly down to the fact that the average Russell Group student union receives around £80 per student from their universities, whereas the total grant that OUSU and the JCR’s works out as roughly £50 per student. Of this, only £17.50 per student goes to OUSU itself (if the £100,000 increase isn’t taken into account). It has been suggested that this funding deficiency significantly impinges on OUSU’s ability to bring about lasting and drastic improvements for Oxford students, given that the institution simply does not have the resources.
Until last year, this problem was compounded by the fact that OUSU’s budget was ring fenced. This meant that the University approved it line by line and assigned money for a particular purpose. Because of this, if OUSU then failed to spend the money on that specific university approved purpose or stopped providing a service which had been agreed upon, it lost the money.
An Oxford University spokesperson explained the situation to Cherwell, stating, “OUSU plays an important role in representing the interests of students at all levels of University governance, providing student support and guidance, and promoting key University agendas including widening access. The University has recognised the importance of continuing to fund these activities and support the full range and scale of OUSU’s work.
“Given constraints on resources, the size of the grant allocated to OUSU has to be considered in line with funding levels elsewhere in the University. The University is currently working with OUSU to address its grant allocation for 2014/15 onwards. We welcome the strides OUSU has made since becoming an independent charity and we look forward to continuing our close and productive working relationship in the future.
“With regard to other Russell Group universities, it is difficult to make a direct comparison. Given Oxford’s collegiate structure, including JCRs and MCRs, student interests are represented at both college and University level.”
One second year student inferred that the drive to increase OUSU’s grant as received from the university was perhaps unnecessary. He said, “I don’t really know what they’d spend it on. I imagine other universities need more money because they don’t have colleges but at Oxford the colleges and JCRs fund a lot of their own students’ activities. OUSU would probably need to get a really good project going to justify the increase in funding and I don’t think they’ve got one yet.”
It is also important to note that the grant from the university is not OUSU’s only income. While the block-grant forms the majority of OUSU’s funding, advertising and the Freshers’ Fair also contribute sizeable sums to the student union’s budget.
OUSU consolidates its budget with Oxford Student Services Limited. The full subsidiary of the two bodies comprises OUSU itself, the newspaper The Oxford Student newspaper, the Oxford University Freshers’ Fair and Oxide, the student radio station. The budget is ratified by the OUSU Council (which is composed primarily of representative from JCRs and MCRs), while elected students sit on the OUSU Budget Sub-committee. The committee and the Council have limited autonomy when it comes to deciding what OUSU’s budget is spent upon, since they are mandated to continue providing certain services.
In the year 2012-2013, for instance, £12,000 was spent on a safety bus, as the pie chart above shows. The Safety Bus scheme is one that is run jointly by OUSU and Oxford Brookes Students’ Union. It was set up to provide a safe means of transport to students in Oxford late at night. One student at the University of Oxford questioned how necessary this is to students. He told Cherwell, “While I see that such a service must be extremely useful for students at Oxford Brookes, who tend to live quite far away from the city centre, I’m not sure why OUSU are involved with it. Most of our colleges are really close to clubs and I personally do not know anyone who’s ever used the bus – does anyone even know the number?”
A significant amount of OUSU’s budget goes towards printing costs for The Oxford Student and other publication via OSSL, while money also goes towards OUSU’s campaigns, of which there are currently eleven. Much of the money also goes towards the salaries of OUSU’s elected sabbatical officers. Some students have queried as to whether more money should be spent on campaigns, which each currently receive £500 per annum.
OUSU’s budget is available online for anyone who wishes to examine it further. It can be found in appendix A of the Council minutes. Tom Rutland would like to stress that any student at the University of Oxford has the right to contact him at any time with questions regarding OUSU’s budget.
