School of Oriental and African Studies in financial trouble

The National 15 June 2019

The University of London’s School of Oriental and African studies (SOAS) is in danger of exhausting its cash reserves within two financial periods if there is no turnaround in its situation, the school’s director has told trustees, reports The National.

Once the cash reserves are used up, the school could continue to “haemorrhage cash”, leaving it in debt to the tune of £18.5 million (US$23.5 million) if action was not taken. The school posted a £1.2 million deficit in its 2017-18 accounts.

The school’s undergraduate student intake has fallen by 37%, partly due to a planned scaling down, resulting in more reliance on the university's cash reserves. However, the university said the warning was merely to illustrate what may happen if no changes were made, and it had taken action to increase income and cut costs. The warning came in the form of a report for trustees of the school penned by SOAS Director Baroness Amos, who blamed lower numbers of young people attending university and competition between universities for the cash flow issues.
Full report on The National site

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