Ratio analysis of financial KPI in the Higher Education sector: a case study
About this ebook
Can ratio analysis of financial KPI be applied to universities in the HE sector in the UK and where appropriate a set of benchmarks extrapolated based upon an average score?
Are there other measures of financial KPI specific to the HE sector that can be developed to augment these?
For the purposes of this research a case study comprised of a representative sample of nine universities in the UK was selected from the Russell Group (Table 1.2) because they have a shared vision, mission and set of objectives that should better allow for comparative analysis between them. There are two in Scotland, one in Wales, one in Northern Ireland, and the five highest ranked English universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2015-2016.
The case study includes: University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London (ICL), University College London (UCL), The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE&PS), University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, Cardiff University, and Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB).
The Appendix has juxtaposed tabulated data and graphs illustrating the financial KPI over a period of ten years for each university. We hope you enjoy it and think the data is of interest. A must-read for anyone interested in the Higher Education sector, or, attending any other university who want to draw comparisons between their university and the Russell Group.
Author's note: the data for much of this research came from 2006-2016 Annual Reports, and so, arguably, provides a pre-Brexit benchmark against which post-Brexit data can be measured.
Book review of Ratio analysis of financial KPI in the Higher Education sector in Mensa Magazine:
‘Belfast-based Mensan Bernard Mulholland is one of the top ten read writers on the Academia book lists and his latest work, while probably not a study for the general reader, is already being met with considerable interest in the academic world.
Based on observations that the nature of universities in the Higher Education sector in the UK appear to be changing from purely charitable organisations and moving into the business sector this work asks two questions:
1. Can ratio analysis of financial Key Performance Indicators be applied to universities in the Higher Education sector in the UK and where appropriate a set of benchmarks extrapolated based upon an average score?
2. Are there other measures of financial KPI specific to the HE sector that can be developed to augment these?
To answer these questions a case study was undertaken comprised of a representative sample of nine universities in the UK, selected from the Russell Group. These included the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London (ICL), University College London (UCL), The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE and PS), University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, Cardiff University, and Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). The Appendix has juxtaposed tabulated data and graphs illustrating the financial KPI over a period of ten years [2006-2016] for each university.
If you are interested in the HE sector then this is one for you...’
Editor (2022), ‘How top universities compare on KPI’, Books, Mensa Magazine, August, p. 12.
Ratings and reviews
About the author
Bernard Mulholland is an author from Northern Ireland. His latest novel is Nazareth Quest which is a tense thriller set in Israel. Nazareth Quest arguably combines the best of the CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) franchise together with archaeology.
Dr. Bernard Mulholland is a historian, archaeologist and Byzantinist (Eastern Roman Empire) with a Doctorate in History and a Masters in Management from Queen’s University Belfast. Bernard wanted to take his research to a new audience, and the result is his novel Nazareth Quest, which is a tense thriller set in Israel. The November issue of Mensa Magazine has a really great review of the new novel.
Also authored by Dr. Mulholland is The Man From Mensa (two volumes) which is a history of the high-IQ society MENSA, which was founded in Oxford during 1946. During May 2023 Irish Mensa will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in Belfast.
Perhaps his most influential work, and one of his bestsellers for 2022, is Ratio Analysis of Financial KPI in the Higher Education Sector, which analyses financial data from nine leading Russell Group universities in the UK. Author's note: the data for much of this research came from 2006-2016 Annual Reports, and so, arguably, provides a pre-Brexit benchmark against which post-Brexit data can be measured.
Publications:
Bernard Mulholland, The man from MENSA - 1 of 600: Mensa research (Charleston, 2016).
--- , The man from MENSA - 1 of the 600: Politics 1990-1995 (Charleston, 2016).
--- , Ratio analysis of financial KPI in the Higher Education sector: a case study (Belfast, 2018).
---, Early Byzantine Ireland: a survey of the archaeological evidence (Belfast, 2021).
---, Navan Fort, Ireland: archaeological and palaeoecological analysis (Belfast, 2021).
Mulholland, B. (2021). 'Can archaeology inform the climate change debate?' Academia Letters, Article4385. https://doi.org/
Academic conference papers
- 'Identification of Early Byzantine Constantinopolitan, Syrian, and Roman church plans in the Levant and some possible consequences', Patristic Studies in the twenty-first century: proceedings of an international conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Association of Patristic Studies, ed. Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony, Theodore de Bruyn and Carol Harrison (Turnhout, 2015), 597-633.
- ‘Can the location of the baptismal font in relation to other nodes of power in Early Byzantine basilical churches help to reveal the underlying sacred topography?’ Landscapes of power, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XV International Graduate Conference 2013, 22-23 February 2013, History Faculty, University of Oxford.
- ‘Women in Early Byzantine churches’, Reality and illusion: seeing through the ‘Byzantine image’, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XIV International Graduate Conference 2012, 17-18 February 2012, History Faculty, University of Oxford.
- ‘The wreathed cross or stephanostaurion on sixth-century marble chancel screens in the Mediterranean region’, Between Constantines: representations and manifestations of an empire, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XIII International Graduate Conference 2011, 4-5 March 2011, History Faculty, University of Oxford.
- ‘Does archaeological evidence for the location of the diakonikon in the Early Byzantine Church affect our perception of clergy-laity relations?’ Being Byzantine: definitions, limits and realities, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XII International Graduate Conference 2010, 5-6 March 2010, History Faculty, University of Oxford.
- ‘The quest for C4’. Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies: Sailing to Byzantium (16/5/2008), Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College, Dublin.
- ‘Is Schiffer’s Behavioural Archaeology a useful tool for Byzantine archaeologists?’ The archaeology of Byzantium, 41st Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies 4th–6th April 2008, School of history, classics and archaeology, University of Edinburgh.
- ‘The Macedonian Renaissance in the archaeological record at St. Polyeuktos, Saraçhane, Istanbul (Constantinople)’, Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies: Sailing to Byzantium (18/4/2007), Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College, Dublin.
