The statistics published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency includes all 165 publicly funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and provides an insight into how universities and colleges are financially maintained.

The figures show that the total income of HEIs rose by 8.3% between 2007/08 and 2008/09 from £23.4bn to £25.4bn, the biggest percentage increase coming from tuition fees, at a staggering 16.2%, with the lowest increase coming from public funding at 3.9%.

Government funding bodies still provide the biggest source of income at £8.8bn followed closely by tuition fees and education contracts contributing £7.3bn. The rest came from private research grants and contracts, consultancies, supply of goods and investment - HE institutions received £938 million from contracted research on behalf of external partners. There was also a massive drop of almost 32% in endowment and investment income.

Total expenditure of all universities also increased from £22bn to £24bn, up 9.0%, with staffing costs rising 7.9% to £14bn. Interestingly the highest increase in expenditure by over a third was through interest payable on premises, residences and catering operations, including conferences.

What isn't revealed is that vice-chancellors, the universities chief executives, saw their pay and benefits boosted by 10.6% last year, and now receive packages, excluding pensions, worth on average £219,156.

 http://www.freedompress.org.uk/news/2010/04/10/educating-who-about-what/