Staff and finance of higher education institutions: September 2016 to August 2017

This headline shows breakdowns of incomes and expenditures for the higher education sector in Wales. It is based on statistics produced by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Finance comparisons made with previous years use figures which are re-stated in the most recent financial statements available.

Finance of Higher Education Institutions

• Total income of the Welsh higher education sector was reported as £1.50bn, 1% (£19m) less than 2015/16.
• Total expenditure of the sector was £1.52bn, 5% (£73m) more than in 2015/16.
• Income through tuition fees continued to rise. Tuitions fees and education contracts now make up 56% of income (£836m).
• The fall in Funding Council grants continued for a seventh year. Income from Funding Grants fell by 6% (£10m).
• Research grants made up 13% of the income of Welsh universities, a similar proportion to what has been reported previously in recent years.
• Welsh universities spent £857m on staff in 2016/17. This represented over half (56%) of all costs.

Staff at Higher Education Institutions

• The number of staff at Welsh universities increased by 425 (2%) in 2016/17, to 21,095.
• Cardiff University employed the most staff (6,855), over double the next largest Swansea University (3,150).
• Glyndwr University was the smallest university in terms of staff numbers, employing only 515 in 2016/17.
• Just under half of all staff (49%) were on academic contracts.
• Just under two thirds of staff were full-time, for both academic and non-academic contracts.
• Of those who weren’t on an academic contract, 3,735 were in professional or technical occupations. 4,015 were in administrative and secretarial occupations and 1,060 were in ‘elementary occupations’.
• 55% of all staff positions were filled by women. However, they held only 47% of academic roles. Two thirds of all part-time staff were female.
• 1 in 10 academic staff members reported they were able to teach through Welsh, but only little over a half of those were actually doing so.