The University of Edinburgh confirms there is no funding deficit

Edinburgh University’s latest financial accounts have been released for the period 2024 to July 31st 2025, and the university has confirmed there is no funding deficit.

The accounts show the university’s total income for this period being a staggering £1,477 million. This is up from £1,424 million in the 2023/4 period.

This puts the university into a surplus of £43 million pounds. Tuition fees contributed the largest rise growing by £29 million.

The university set higher surplus targets in the summer of 2024, which increased the perception that it is not meeting its financial targets.

Additionally, the latest accounts show areas in which the university is improving and falling behind what its greatest expenses are.

The annual report shows a commitment to improve student satisfaction rating as part of the National Student Survey (NNS). Their most recent rating is 74.3 per cent, an increase of 3.9 per cent compared to the 2023/24 period.

In the accounts the university placed staff costs as their largest expenditure and noted a capital expenditure increase of 11 per cent.

The University and College Union President, Sophia Woodman, regarding the annual report told The Edinburgh Tab: “A preliminary analysis of the University of Edinburgh’s latest Annual Report by the Joint Unions confirms what we have been saying all along.

“The university’s finances are healthy, income from tuition fees is growing and management’s insistence that the budget for salaries needs to be reduced by about 10 per cent is unnecessary and unfair.

“Such a level of staff cuts will have an enormously damaging impact on education and research at the university, as well as degrading working conditions.

“When the University of Edinburgh continues to make significant surplus and attract more students that ever before.

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“While management has been keen to blame staff costs and external headwinds, the perceived financial stress is due to mismanagement over a number of years.

“Without over-spending on buildings and equipment, the university’s surplus would be even higher than last year’s already large figure.”

Sophia explained the need for clarity and communication to staff at the university: “Staff and students at the university deserve better. Given the concern raised by many MSPs about the situation, it is essential that Edinburgh management clarifies their decisions to continue increasing depreciation costs to the university and what plans exist to reign this in.

“We deserve far greater clarity on the capital spending over the past ten years and options for minimising the harm to the university’s charitable mission.”

Scottish Greens MSP Lorna Slater also told The Edinburgh Tab: “The level of cuts the university is suggesting it needs to make to meet their monthly running costs, including staff losing their jobs are staggering.

“It is simply unacceptable that staff at the university are being failed and made to feel such stress and anxiety when there are risks of redundancies, while expenses are so high for the senior leadership team.

“Not only are they damaging our climate and on track to max out their carbon budget way before schedule, they are denting morale with this kind of excess.”

This is in response to university falling behind for its interim 2030 and 2035 climate change targets as it has already used 64 per cent of its carbon budget allocated from 2018/19 to 2024/5.

A spokesperson from the University of Edinburgh said: “Like many universities across the country, Edinburgh is facing serious financial pressures.

“It is widely accepted that, across the sector, geopolitical uncertainty, rising costs and unsustainable funding for Scottish and other UK students have created significant challenges.

“Our university is not in deficit, but costs are rising faster than income, and without the difficult decisions already taken, our position would be far more fragile.

“It remains our position that, wherever possible, we will seek to avoid compulsory redundancies.

“Every decision we take, including on capital investment, is focused on protecting high-quality education, our students’ experience and world-leading research, while safeguarding the university for generations to come.”