Financial information

UCL is an exempt charity, in accordance with the Charities Act 2006.  The charity is exempt from regulation by the Charity Commission, but has as its principal regulator as the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

UCL receives funding from multiple sources to support our activities and research.

Notable financial achievements:

UCL is confident its position as London’s powerhouse will be sustained and enhanced through continued investment in people and facilities. In addition to the investment, UCL's research agenda and innovative and cross-disciplinary research strategy, have generated a year-on-year increase in research funding. UCL’s total research grant spend was £452m in 2016-17; excluding payments to third parties, an increase of £25m compared to 2015-2016 and marking an increase of 64% since 2009-10. 

UCL received funding from UK Research Councils (RC) totalling £85m (excluding the Science and Technology Facilities Council), putting us at the top of the group for RC funding, ahead of Oxford.

UCL retained and strengthened its position as the top performing university in Europe in the first three years of the major EU funding scheme Horizon 2020, having been awarded funding in excess of €52.5m in 2016-17. In total 85 projects were funded in 2016-2017, bringing the number of H2020 projects funded since the program was launched to 352, with a total value of over €212m. UCL researchers were awarded 21 European Research Council Grants and 34 Marie Curie International Fellowships.

The number of postgraduate research students at UCL in 2016-2017 remained steady at almost 5,800, and UCL awarded over 1,000 doctorates.

Research grants and contracts account for more than a third of UCL’s income.

Useful links:

• UCL's corporate financial information
• Annual reports and financial statements