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Oxbridge gets double donation worth £55m

See here.

I'm very happy to see this happening. This damned state funding has put a handicap on Oxbridge competing with private institutions in the US. Hopefully the universities will be private again in my lifetime and once again at the top, as they already are in many ways, in all categories.

I would be very sad if Oxbridge were nationalized completely as the now-rubbish continental universities were. This donation is a step in the right direction.

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how delightful

Possibly the only cause less needy would be the local cats' home. Sheesh.

Reply 3

FyreFight

Oxford endowment: £3.6 billion
Cambridge endowment: £4.1 billion

I agree completely, it's a wonder they can even afford bread and water!

Reply 4

Tyraell

I disagree...

... On every count.

Reply 5

CarneLevare

chris1200

Harvard endowment: $35.6 billion
Yale endowment: $22.5 billion

... or do you not want British education to compete globally?

This. Having some of the worlds finest universities is something that pays itself back with respect to the British economy. Of course, they are worthier causes but then, there are ALWAYS worthier causes so, for all its virtue, it's not really a pragmatic line of reasoning.

Regardless, it's far more useful to give money to the university as a whole or to specific departments than the colleges themselves, particularly somewhere like ChCh.

Reply 6

CarneLevare

I'm not disagreeing with you.

Reply 7

dealbreaker

ScholarsInk

About time too.

Reply 8

hobnob

ScholarsInk

Those are two separate alumni donations to New Hall and Christ Church, not a double donation to "Oxbridge". Since the two colleges are obviously the only ones which will benefit from that money, I don't quite see why you think this will have any effect on the universities' dependence on state funding.

Reply 9

hobnob

chris1200

I think maybe the OP means that it's the start of a new method of fund-raising, similar to the Ivy-League methods, which might develop into funding for the whole uni (i.e. almost all colleges/faculties) rather than just these two.

I see what you mean, but how can a few extremely rich individuals who make large donations to their old colleges (which, as in the case of Christ Church may well be comfortably wealthy already) be considered a new method of fundraising? Apart from not being a particularly new idea, it's not methodical at all, really, as it hinges on the whims of a handful of wealthy alumni.

Reply 10

Zhen Lin

On the other hand we could begin to see the emergence of linked practices such as legacy preferences (positive discrimination for children of alumni) - which would be a complete about-turn after decades of work in improving access...

Reply 11

Gimperial

Lets not forget that when we talk about "endowments" when it comes to US universities a large part of that is to do with their sports teams, expensive stadiums and the such. Research wise, americans are still in the lead but not by such a huge ammount.

Reply 12

Zhen Lin

Indeed, the Ivy League is really just a football league (well, athletic conference but you get my point), not an association of highly-ranked universities. (That's just a coincidence.)

Reply 13

Gimperial

Zhen Lin

Indeed, the Ivy League is really just a football league (well, athletic conference but you get my point), not an association of highly-ranked universities. (That's just a coincidence.)

Not so mucha coincidence as good alumnus giving back lots more money (they are rich) so the universities pay more for their sports teams, increasing their reputation and possibly bringing in more money, and the cycle goes on.

Its a very american way of doing business :smile:

Reply 14

Ewan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Triangle_(UK_universities)

They get quite alot o_O

Reply 15

Gimperial

Off course :smile:

Imperial isn't awesome for no reason :P You can see that the differences in funding between oxbridge, lse, UCL, imp are minute. Maybe people can STFU now about how much ebtter oxbridge is and people at other unis should stop feeling like such insecure *****

Reply 16

SolInvictus

Zhen Lin

Yet Oxford has refused to do this. A former Trinity donor stopped giving to his college when Trinity rejected his son. The College said that they wouldn't sell themselves out.

It is not in Oxford's interests to allow for legacies. The intellectual snobbery of the institution would never permit it, and Oxbridge doesn't want to lower its standards.

Reply 17

SolInvictus

FyreFight

Oxford endowment: £3.6 billion
Cambridge endowment: £4.1 billion

I agree completely, it's a wonder they can even afford bread and water!

Those are endowments, not treasuries to be depleted. They are composed of non-liquid assets in many cases, such as landholdings, and have not been built up over the centuries to be depleted in no time. Endowments only work if the university only spends generated revenues.

So lets calculate this with Oxford.

3,600,000,000 pounds. Lots of figures, but lets hold on a while. A good annual return on the investments made would be 10%. This lands us with an annual income figure of 360 million, which when divided on staffing costs, the students union, upkeep of buildings, payment for research, grants and bursaries...... its nothing really.

Reply 18

ScholarsInk

hobnob

The fact that this donation somehow became so high-profile will, I think, inspire other Oxbridge alumni to make donations. Hopefully, it will establish a trend.