Amidst severe cuts in public funding for British varsities, the University of Oxford has announced that its international fundraising campaign has reached the milestone of 1 billion pounds in record time.
Oxford Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Hamilton called the generosity of donors "fundamental to Oxford's future" at a time of reduced government funding.
'Oxford Thinking: The Campaign for the University of Oxford' is the largest fundraising campaign in European university history and one of the largest in the world, with a goal of a minimum of 1.25 billion pounds to support world-class teaching, research and facilities.
Fundraising began in August 2004 and the official launch of the campaign was in May 2008 at which time 575 million pounds had already been raised, a university release said.
Hamilton said: "For almost half of the six years that Oxford has been raising funds for the Campaign, the world has been in an economic downturn – yet our alumni and supporters have continued to give. In the last year alone we have raised more than 230 million pounds".
Their generosity, which is a huge vote of confidence in Oxford, is fundamental to Oxford's future at a time when government funding is so stretched.
He added: "Philanthropy has a key role in this endeavour. Though we are well on the way to achieving our initial goal of 1.25 billion pounds, it is very clear that the extraordinary generosity of our donors will become even more important in future. Given the major recent cuts in government funding for teaching, they have a particular role to play in the preservation of the tutorial system."
Dame Vivien Duffield, the Chairman of Oxford Thinking since the official launch in May 2008, said: "This is tremendous milestone, and the fact that such an astonishing target has been reached in such a difficult climate is a testament to all that Oxford has been, is now, and will continue to be for future generations."
This represents a great sum of money for a truly great institution.
"I am deeply grateful to all those donors, alumni and friends who have helped us to reach this vital stage in our Campaign," he said.
