Cambridge is Britain’s Richest University

Cambridge is officially Britain’s richest university.

Recently released figures show the current endowment at £4BILLION – a whole BILLION richer than Oxford. In addition, the 31 colleges have investment assets of over £3bn.

Cambridge comes 7th in the Forbes university rich list, while The Scum run in a disappointing 15th. The wealth of Oxbridge dwarfs all other higher education institutions in the UK.

Edinburgh is the third richest, holding a paltry £165 million. Nevertheless, Cambridge is still not as rich as Harvard, which has an endowment worth £17.5bn.

A strong investment portfolio in combination with a billion pound fundraising drive have contributed to Cambridge’s success.

The Cambridge University Endowment Fund  (CUEF) posted a return of 19 per cent over the year to June. The ancient university, identified last week by one league table as the world’s leading university, has also recently completed a push to raise £1bn in fresh donations.

The CUEF manages about £1bn of  Cambridge University’s assets. The pool, which is run centrally by the university, is distinct from the endowments of the university’s 31 independent colleges, which have investment assets worth £3bn. Two of the colleges invest in the CUEF. More are expected to follow.

The CUEF’s strong recent performance, both last year and this year, owes much to its decision to eschew a widely-used endowment investment strategy, popularly known as the ‘Yale strategy’.

The Yale doctrine encourages diversification into a range of ‘real assets’ – a broad range of inflation-proof investments that includes land, natural resources and inflation-linked bonds.

Trinity is the wealthiest Oxbridge college with an independent financial endowment of approximately £621 million (as of 2005).

Of this amount around £75 million is part of the college’s Amalgamated Trust Funds, which is dedicated for specific purposes.

Trinity’s land is insured for £266.5 million. It is rumored that you can walk to London and Oxford without having to leave Trinity land.

In 2009, Trinity acquired a stake in The O2 Arena in London; under the terms of the deal the college receives rental and sales income from the venue.