"Our collective desire to make the world a better place" - SOAS Chair of Trustees
Chair of Trustees Lord Dr Michael Hastings reflects on the past year at SOAS, fulfilling our mission and achieving our goals, despite challenging sector conditions.
As we reflect on our recently published annual report, SOAS’s financial performance should give us confidence that we can continue to fulfill SOAS’s distinctive and important mission through learning, teaching and research.
Many of you will have seen the Office for Students’ prediction that over 70% of universities in England will be in deficit by 2025/26. This is of course incredibly concerning. Yet against this backdrop, our small and specialist institution in the heart of London continues to be sought-after by people seeking to learn about the world and finding solutions to complex global challenges.
The health of the institution
When we think of the financial challenges we faced just a few years ago, without the journey we have had together and the foresight to quickly adapt to changing circumstances, we would not be in the position that we are today. The health of the institution is evident across a range of areas – in learning and teaching, public events and exhibitions, as well as our work in improving access and participation.
SOAS has benefited enormously from strong governance, careful financial stewardship, growth in research awards, and the ability to imaginatively tell prospective students about the impact of a SOAS education. Our student numbers have continued to grow, new research awards have exceeded our target by three times, we have been growing philanthropic income and have an internal scholarships fund which now exceeds £8m.
We continue to deliver a brilliantly distinctive education to our students – whether that is through our love of languages or creating space for perspectives from the regions we study.
Welcoming the public
We also celebrated 50 years of the SOAS Library, considered one of the world’s most important academic libraries for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. This was marked with a new exhibition exploring the history and development of the care and preservation of our remarkable collections. Its unique holdings and world-famous archives make it one of the UK’s National Research Libraries.
SOAS continues to offer a public space for debate on a range of issues across the arts, politics, society, history and more. SOAS's Inaugural Lecture Series was launched to celebrate our academic expertise and the impact of our research and the SOAS Gallery remains a vital resource for showcasing contemporary and historical exhibitions from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
SOAS’s impact
We continue to deliver a brilliantly distinctive education to our students – whether that is through our love of languages or creating space for perspectives from the regions we study. To widen access to university education, we invest heavily in scholarships and bursaries and our equitable partnerships ensure that the insights of education and research are shared with partners and students around the world. We excel in research and our ability to attract money to invest and expand our research is testament to its quality and its ability to address the issues of the day.
Our success of course is testament to all our dedicated staff and engaging students who make SOAS the unique and wonderful place that it is – and crucially, for our collective desire to make the world a better place by working and learning at SOAS.
The SOAS Annual Report 2023/2024, along with previous Annual Reports and financial statements, is available to view and download from the governance section of the SOAS website.
