Education

Oxford University to target

17 Oct, 2012

Oxford University’s vice chancellor has announced a fund raising target of £3 billion. Part of this – £1.25 billion – has already been raised under the Oxford Thinking campaign.

Although private funds are essential, the vice chancellor Andrew Hamilton said during his annual Oration to the University speech, public funding must still play a key role in higher education. His observations in his talk, The Role of Philanthropy in Higher Education, comes at a time when government has cut back on much of its direct funding.

One of the present privately-funded projects being organised by the university is to raise £100 million to help post graduates, now hit by higher annual fees. The scheme is due to come into operation in 2017 with 60 per cent of funds coming from philanthropic donations and 40 per cent from the university. Masters and doctoral students will be eligible for scholarships.