Charity Highlights Slipping Endowments at U.K. Universities

Most British universities have seen their endowments shrink in real terms in recent years while the value of their American peers’ investments grew, the Financial Times writes, citing new research by a U.K. charity promoting giving to higher education.

Excluding Cambridge and Oxford, where major fundraising drives have significantly boosted investment funds, the average U.K. university’s endowment fell from $40.4-million to $39-million in the decade ending in 2012, according to data compiled by the Sutton Trust. The combined endowments of the 500 wealthiest U.S. universities grew by 23 percent to about $402-billion during that period, despite the economic crisis.

The trust, which promotes efforts to increase social mobility in Britain, is campaigning to boost higher-ed philanthropy so U.K. universities can provide financial support for low- and middle-income students similar to that offered across the Atlantic. British universities have struggled to cultivate alumni giving at levels commensurate with U.S. institutions.

Steve Smith, vice chancellor of Exeter University, said British public perceptions that higher education is fully government-funded depress giving, and that even when schools receive significant donations, officials “find it hard to commit that money to an endowment fund when there are immediate and pressing needs that would benefit from the cash up front.”