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Coventry University Group on track to break even in this financial year
Coventry University's Coventry campus
University news / Business news
Tuesday 16 December 2025
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Coventry University Group is firmly on course to break even in this financial year after two years of reform as UK Higher Education continues to battle a financial crisis.
The Group identified in 2023 that it needed to reduce spending by £95million across a three-year programme of reshaping and resizing to establish a sustainable global education group. It said at the time that would include two years of planned deficits before recording a breakeven position in 2025/26.
Accounts for the year ending 31 July 2025 were published today showing a deficit for a second year, as predicted, alongside a steep reduction in costs of £39million compared to the previous year.
A major factor in the size of the deficit was due to the Group recruiting far more students than planned in spring 2025. The cost of recruiting those students sits in the 2024/25 accounts while most of the income sits in the 2025/26 accounts – skewing the financial picture.
That influx of students, which saw overall numbers grow year-on-year, is just one factor helping drive confidence in hitting the breakeven target in this current financial year.
In common with many in the sector, we have worked with the Office for Students (OfS), England’s Higher Education regulator, on a review of our financial strategy, governance and ability to deliver sustainability and the OfS has confirmed we currently do not need to continue to the further stage of review.
Professor John Latham CBE, Vice-Chancellor and CEO of Coventry University Group, said there is a high level of confidence that the Group transformation and its focus on global and national innovative delivery means it is back on an upward trajectory at a time when OfS expects 45% of universities to be in the red.
We were open and honest about how the sector problems would affect UK Higher Education and what we were going to do about it. The sector needed to reform and our teams have been incredible in their speed and agility to make the changes we needed happen.
The required deficits are never easy, but inevitable as the scale of reforms we have implemented are now having a positive impact on our finances. After the first quarter of this financial year, we are ahead of where we planned to be. Student numbers are bouncing back and we now have a structure which will allow us to pursue sustainable growth.
We still have substantial cash reserves and strong assets, which sends a strong and reassuring message to our stakeholders and the regulator
The OfS considers 24 providers to be financially at risk and could be forced to stop offering degree-awarding courses within the next 12 months. Our going concern statement demonstrates we are not in that unfortunate position, and our stakeholders can have confidence in our future.
We have brought forward a wide range of reforms to what we do and how we do it, while protecting our TEF Gold-rated teaching. All of our post-graduate teaching has successfully moved to block teaching and the first round of feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive. We are now pushing ahead with implementing block teaching across all under-graduate courses from September 2026 and moving to six intakes a year.
This innovation in education was made in Coventry, successfully developed and delivered in our CU campuses in Coventry, Scarborough and London for more than 10 years and is now being widely copied across the country.
We won’t stop innovating, diversifying and finding new sources of income in the UK and global markets, using our teaching, research and knowledge transfer activities to continue creating better futures.
Everyone in Higher Education knows we operate in an uncertain sector with many challenges outside of our control. We are certain that we have the correct strategy and are on the right path.
Professor John Latham CBE, Vice-Chancellor and CEO of Coventry University Group
Coventry University Group is a global education group which includes Coventry University, Coventry University London, Coventry University Wroclaw in Poland, CU campuses in Coventry, Scarborough and London and the National institute of Teaching and Education, alongside branch and badged campuses around the world and a network of Global Hubs.
KEY FINANCIAL DATA
- Income: £380.1m
- Expenditure: £447.1m
- Deficit: £59.3m (pre tax)
- Staff costs: £222.7m
- Other operating expenses: £176.2m
- Amortisation and depreciation: £39m
- Tuition fee and education income: £303.8m
- VC bonus: 0
- Liquidity days: 90+
