Income

Total income grew by 4.8% (£60.6 million) in 2023–24 to £1,329.4 million, with most of the increase coming from tuition fees and education contracts (£55.4 million). Since 2018–19 income has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 6.7%, with income from tuition fees and education contracts increasing from 33% to 38% of the total.

Tuition fees and education contracts

Overall student numbers grew by 1% in 2023–24, a similar rate to the previous two years. Income from home undergraduate students was almost unchanged from the prior year as fees continued to be capped at £9,250. This group represents 31.1% of the student body by headcount but only contributes 13.9% of the tuition fee income.

£49.5 million of the £51.0 million increase in tuition fee income was from overseas fee-paying students, spilt equally between undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Our educational programmes remain in high demand. Application numbers at undergraduate level have been rising steadily over recent years and reached over 30,000 for entry in 2023–24. The applications-to-enrolled ratio at undergraduate level has reverted to an upward trend this year and reached 9.3:1.

Postgraduate application numbers in 2023–24 were in line with the previous year, steadying the decline experienced following the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of postgraduate enrolments increased by 3.4% this year, reducing the applications-to-enrolled ratio to 6.4:1.

Income from short courses was up 31% (2024: £17.3 million; 2023: £13.2 million) following an expansion in the executive education programmes in our Business School. With the recent launch of our Institute for Extended Learning, we will be looking for this area of income to grow further still in future.

Funding body grants

Funding body grants (from the Office for Students and Research England) amounted to £165.4 million (2023: £183.3 million). The prior year had been impacted by multiple one-off awards such as the £12.3 million capital grant from government towards the cost of replacing our steam boilers. We had also benefited in 2022–23 from an additional allocation of £6.7 million recurrent research funding, primarily to support the retention of research capability and provide stability ahead of a final decision on the UK’s participation in the European Union’s (EU) research and innovation funding programme (Horizon Europe). We welcomed the UK’s association with Horizon Europe from January 2024.

Research grants and contracts

Research grant and contract income increased by 3.5% to £396.7 million in 2023–24. This represents the volume of work completed against performance-related criteria on research grants and contracts.

The split of income by funder group shows positive volume increases in nearly all areas other than the EU, where funding decreased by 26.0% or £7.4 million compared to the previous year. This decline in EU income was more than offset by income received from UK Research Councils with a 9.3% or £12.2 million increase year-on-year, some of which related to a guarantee scheme underpinning earlier EU research grants when the UK’s ongoing participation in Horizon Europe was unclear.

Imperial had another excellent year of winning new research awards, and its order book stood at £1,005 million at the end of the year (2023: £955 million).

Other income

Other income comes from a variety of sources, including property rental, health and hospital authorities, consultancy work, royalty income, student accommodation, catering and conferences. Much of this income is offset by related expenditure. Total other income was £195.4 million in 2023–24 (2023: £172.4 million), which included a £4.3 million receipt for flood damage at a building on our Hammersmith Campus, incremental royalty income of £1.5 million and an additional £5.1 million from student accommodation, catering and conferences.

Investment income

Investment income comprises interest received on our cash balances and income earned on endowments and other investment assets. The interest received on cash held in bank accounts was £20.8 million (2023: £15.8 million). This £5.0 million increase offset a reduction in profits on disposal of spin-out companies, which were £4.1 million lower than the previous year.

Donations and endowments

Donations and endowments of £35.5 million were recognised during the year (2023: £51.5 million). This number typically shows high variability year-onyear as it can contain large amounts that occur sporadically. Research donations were £15.9 million lower in 2023–24, however the previous year had seen several large donations including £7.5 million for Alzheimer's research, £4.1 million from Rio Tinto’s scholarships program and £3.1 million from the Grantham Foundation for climate change research.

Capital donations increased by £6.6 million to £12.7 million, with the largest donation being £10 million towards the refurbishment of the Clinical Research Building, a new home for worldchanging lung research at Imperial’s Hammersmith Hospital Campus.

2023–24 saw a record £91.6 million of pledges which will support groundbreaking research initiatives, state-of-the-art facilities, and a range of scholarships, fellowships and academic posts. Two of the largest gifts were: a £23.9 million donation from Bezos Earth Fund which launched the new Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein, aimed at protecting food security with minimal impact on biodiversity, climate and the natural world; a £29.1 million donation from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation for the launch of the Centre for Sectoral Economic Performance. The Centre is a joint initiative between Imperial’s Faculty of Engineering and Business School and brings together experts in science, engineering, economics and technology to come up with globally competitive strategies to improve the competitiveness of the UK economy and drive sustainable economic growth. These gifts will be reported as research income in future years as the performance criteria are met.