The Guardian view on Cambridge’s £190m gift: billionaires won’t fix universities’ problems | Editorial

Philanthropy increases the gap dividing highly selective, elite higher education from the rest. Ministers need a plan for the sector overall About 2% of UK universities’ income came from donations and endowments in 2024-25 – slightly less than the previous year. At a time when charitable giving overall is down, the announcement last week of a record £190m donation to the University of Cambridge deserves to be welcomed. Higher education funding should not depend on the choices of rich individu...

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