Birkbeck finances: our income and how we spend it

Introduction

Birkbeck is an educational charity and this creates obligations about how we use the income we receive. We take great care to ensure that our financial resources are used to deliver life-changing education for our students and research for the wider community. We work to ensure that your course is of a high quality whether you are studying online or on campus, part-time or full-time, and that the qualification you receive will maintain its value over time.

The fees that you pay as a student each year at enrolment contribute to everything in that year of study and to your lifetime association with Birkbeck and the University of London. Around a third of students pay their fees via Student Finance England. Regardless of how you pay your fees, we always use our income for the benefit of students and on the things students care most about, such as continuously improving our learning resources and facilities, ensuring assessments are fair, and providing academic and other types of support. You can find more information about how we spend our income in our annual accounts.

The charts below show how we spend the income we receive, starting first with the money we receive as income.

Birkbeck's Income

Figure 1: Analysis of income 2023-24

Tuition fees

• Most of the University's income comes from tuition fees whether these are paid via Student Finance England, direct from students, sponsors or other sources. Around 61% of our income in 2023-24 came from these types of fees and almost all of our expenditure is concerned with delivering and supporting the learning and teaching associated with those fees.
• The chart shows that 23% of fees came from home full-time students, 22% from part-time students and 16% from international students in 2023-24.

Recurrent grants for teaching and research

• The next largest area of income is from grants for teaching and research, a total of 21% of our income. This includes a government grant of around 2% of our income in grants towards teaching. It also includes a recurrent grant of 11% of income to support our research.
• 8% of our income comes from our research activity, which includes several exciting research projects. These include the use of chemical compounds alongside existing antibiotics to combat strains of tuberculosis which have developed resistance to anti-bacterial drugs; an innovative project aimed at enhancing human spaceflight through brain stimulation; and research into theatre's potential as a form of political engagement and cultural diplomacy.
• In the national Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment in 2021, an impressive 41% of our research achieved the highest possible grade of world-leading (4*) and 83% was classified as world-leading and internationally excellent.

Other sources of income

• Around 4% of our income comes from our investments and other donations.

How we spend our income

Figure 2: Total staff costs and other expenses (excluding pension provision) by activity 2023-24

Academic and related services

• The majority of our expenditure (64% in the chart above) and the income from tuition fees is spent on supporting teaching and research. This includes providing specialist facilities and infrastructure such as laboratories, software and technology; the salaries of teaching and research staff, as well as support staff such as programme administrators and learning development tutors. Being taught by research-active academic leaders, with a curriculum that has been informed by the latest thinking, is fundamental to your future success and the mission of Birkbeck.
• We've invested a lot of money in our digital infrastructure in recent years. This includes the adaptation of 30 classrooms for hybrid teaching to enable students to choose whether they join classes in-person or online, providing a high-quality interactive learning experience in both modes. A new Virtual Reality and Immersive Learning (VRIL) suite has also been launched to enhance the range and scope of our teaching and support for the longer term, through the use of modern software and technology.

Administration and professional services

• Our next largest area of expenditure is on the central professional services and administrative staff (19%), such as Human Resources, Estates and Facilities, and Admissions services. We also give an annual grant to the Birkbeck Students' Union, even though it's independent of the University, to enable them to deliver services and activities to enhance your time with Birkbeck.

Premises, buildings and IT infrastructure

• Like any organisation, we have the day-to-day costs of keeping the buildings maintained with light, heat, power and ventilation. In 2023-24, we spent 11% of our total income on this. Our estate is consolidated around Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia and includes the Birkbeck Central building next door to our Malet Street building. Construction was underway in 2023-24 to launch the new Student Lounge at Malet Street along with a new café. The new facilities are available to staff and students and are designed to enhance the campus experience for Birkbeck's entire community, part of an ongoing programme of work to provide state-of-the-art student and teaching spaces on campus.

Research grants and contracts

• Around 5% of our expenditure is directly spent on research grants and contracts for research (3% is spent indirectly on research grants and contracts). Birkbeck is known for the quality of its research and it is fundamental to us as a University, pushing forward the boundaries of knowledge.

Other expenditure

• Other expenditure of 1% includes costs in relation to the USS Pension charge.

Further reading

Birkbeck, University of London Financial Statements 2023-24