Financial Statements 2011 - Royal Holloway, University of London

Operating and Financial ReviewThis Operating and Financial Review has been prepared inaccordance with the requirements of the Higher EducationStatement of Recommended Practice: Accounting for Further andHigher Education (“SORP”) issued in July 2007, and follows bestpractice as set out in the Reporting Statement “Operating andFinancial Review” issued by the Accounting Standards Board inJanuary 2006.Operating ReviewThe College is committed to the goal of being in the top tier ofUK universities, renowned for world class research and excellentstudent experience. Two ‘Super’ KPIs are used by the College toevaluate this:1). The RAE outcome – relative sector position in the fundingcouncil’s Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).Figure 1: Royal Holloway RAE profile and nationalcomparison in 20082). Annual National Student Survey (NSS) outcome.The College was ranked joint 35th out of 153 UK institutions with ascore of 87% based on the response to the NSS survey question ofoverall satisfaction in 2011. This compares to joint 36th and 86%in 2010. Scores of 90% or over were achieved in 7 departments in2011. The College increased or maintained its score in 6 out of the7 categories of survey questions compared with 2010. Althoughthe overall improvement is pleasing (and noting that someinitiatives that have been undertaken will impact on survey resultsin future years) increasing the rate of progress is a top priority.Overall student numbers have increased from 7,318 FTEs in 2006-07 to 8,571 FTEs in 2010-11. In 2010-11 postgraduate student FTEswere 20% of the total, including research postgraduates at 8%.(figure 2).Figure 2: Student FTEs by category of undergraduate andpostgraduate teaching and research6010,000% of submission50403020108,0006,0004,0002,00004* 3* 2* 1* URAE gradeRoyal HollowayNational staff-adjusted mean02006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11UG PGT PGRFigure 3: Student FTEs by domicile90% of the College’s research was judged as grades 2* to 4*in the RAE 2008, with 60% judged to be world-leading orinternationally excellent (grades 3* to 4*) placing the College 18thin the sector national ranking for this second measure. The Collegemade 21 departmental submissions to units of assessment. 10departments across all 3 faculties were ranked in the top 10 in thecountry when measured by proportion of 3* and 4* activity, withMusic coming top nationally for its unit.The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the successor to theRAE and submissions are due in 2013. Research publications willcontinue to be of fundamental importance. Reviews have beencarried out in each academic department with support fromexternal experts to evaluate their progress in achieving outputs atthe required level, and in some cases additional appointments havebeen made to strengthen their position.10,0008,0006,0004,0002,00002006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11Home and EU OverseasIn 2010-11 student FTEs decreased to 8,571 FTEs from 8,816 FTEsin 2009-10. Home and EU student numbers were stable, whileoverseas student numbers fell from 1,844 FTEs in 2009-10 to 1,598FTEs in 2010-11 (figure 3). Managing the intake of overseas studentnumbers at postgraduate level has proved to be difficult and thishas resulted in some fluctuations in the last three years. A higher3