Charitable purposes

Our Mission is to deliver world class research and education, teaching our students to become future leaders and innovators, and benefiting the wider population through our research, enterprise and influence.

This Mission derives from our constitutional charitable Objects to “advance learning and knowledge by teaching and research, particularly in science and technology, and in close association with industry and commerce”. These Objects are set out in our Royal Charter of 1966 and constitute the University’s charitable purposes for the public benefit.

Members of the University Council, as trustees, have had due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their trustees’ powers or duties. The induction programme for new members of Council includes coverage of the Commission’s guidance. The full Council membership receives periodic briefings on regulatory matters, including the Charity Commission’s guidance and the requirements of the Office for Students.

Our commitment to delivering public benefit is at the core of our Mission. In furtherance of our Mission, our key objective during 2024-25 was to deliver excellence in our two primary charitable purposes, research and education.

Excellence in research, for us, means:

• our research is internationally-renowned – tackling global challenges and attracting world-class researchers to work with us
• our research collaborations attract prestige academic and commercial partners – increasing our research power and extending our influence
• our enterprise and innovation delivers scientific and economic impact – benefiting communities locally, regionally, nationally and internationally
• our research environment is vibrant and supportive – nurturing talent from doctoral students and early career researchers through to established academics
• our culture is one of open enquiry and debate – challenging received wisdom and fostering the highest standards of research integrity

Excellence in education, for us, means:

• our teaching is inspiring and highly valued, delivered through a focussed range of curricula that are academically rigorous, research driven and practice-based
• our learning is enhanced through high-quality spaces, effective technologies, and support for students’ active participation
• our community is inclusive, supportive and engaged, enriched by the diverse and international backgrounds of our students and staff
• our students are empowered to make positive contributions to society – locally, nationally or internationally – through attributes including awareness, understanding, reflection and intellectual curiosity
• our graduates have high levels of personal, professional, and academic skills enabling them to fulfil their potential and thrive in their chosen employment

In our University Strategy 2021-26, we reaffirmed in our Vision Statement that our charitable objectives are undertaken for the public benefit:

Our Vision is to be an outstanding and inclusive University community, characterised by excellence in education, research and innovation, working in partnership with others for the advancement of knowledge, in support of the global common good.

Research

In accordance with our Mission and charitable purposes, we aim to benefit society through our research. Our research ethos has a strong focus upon impact, tackling challenges of global significance under our three primary research themes of sustainability, health and wellbeing, and digital. Our academic staff comprises some of the finest researchers from around the world. As established in our Royal Charter, we value research partnerships and work with business, industry, the professions, the public sector and the voluntary sector. Consequently, our research benefits a wide range of stakeholders with international as well as national beneficiaries, ranging from individuals to corporates.

Through advancing knowledge, our research has a wide range of public benefits:

• stimulating economic development
• informing public policy and professional practice
• innovating, informing and inspiring
• advancing individual and societal wellbeing
• building international connections

The international excellence of the University’s research was evidenced by the outcomes of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework evaluation of research quality. In terms of the overall quality of our submission, 92% was judged to be ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. In addition, 90% of the University’s research outputs (for example, journal articles, books and patents) was rated ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ for its reach and significance. In terms of having an environment that supports research, 98% of our submitted research activity was graded as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’.

Our research continues to have tangible economic and social benefits, locally, regionally and nationally. The University’s £70m green propulsion centre, IAAPS, was officially launched in September 2023. This state-of-the-art facility at the Bristol and Bath Science Park is developing clean, sustainable and affordable technologies to support the transport industry. Our multidisciplinary Bath Beacons empower our research community to tackle major global challenges by building consortia for large-scale funding. The University Beacons tackle issues such as harm reduction from drug use, managing antimicrobial resistance, Universal Basic Income, entrepreneurship and innovation, and sport and technology in a digital society.

In October 2024, the University was awarded £11m to establish a Mental Health Research Group, aiming to address the urgent mental health needs of the region and increase capacity for applied research. This transformative funding, provided by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, is part of a larger £27m investment spread across nine regions in England. In May 2025, it was announced that a new Policing Academic Centre of Excellence (one of nine national Centres) would launch at the University in October 2025 to improve connections between researchers and police forces. Funded in partnership with UK Research and Innovation, the £4.5m investment will see each Policing Academic Centre of Excellence promoted across the policing sector as an accessible source of leading academic experts aligned with Policing’s Areas of Research Interest and evidence needs. In 2024-25, the University established the Brunel Centre, with partners the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) and Futures West, to pioneer new approaches to economic research and data analysis, making its findings publicly available to inform businesses and policymakers in the region and enable new collaborations to help power the region’s industrial strategy. The Centre will receive Research England Development funding of £4.5m over the next five years. The University has also been named as one of twelve UK research institutions selected to receive a share of the £54m Global Talent Fund, a major new government-backed initiative to attract and support the relocation of outstanding international researchers and research teams to the UK.

In 2024-25, the value of our research portfolio was around £207m. We secured £65m in awards during the year. Around 58% of our research income is provided by UK research councils and these funders include impact in their criteria for evaluating grant applications. Consequently, we have an objective view of the potential public benefit of much of our research. We will continue to strengthen our international networks and partnerships to enhance our international profile and our ability to sustain a world class research capability.

We believe that there is a clear secondary order public benefit in having an informed population, both nationally and internationally, particularly where complex global issues are concerned. We are proactive in engaging the media with our research work and providing expert comment on topical issues, including the Gaza conflict, the war in Ukraine, climate change, social media misinformation, and use of AI.

We work actively to ensure that our research is disseminated and understood beyond the world of academia. In 2024-25 our Institute of Policy Research published a series of Policy Briefs and Reports which are circulated to key decision-makers on a range of topics, including keeping young people in education until 18, parental leave and Universal Credit. Our Public Engagement Unit also plays a key role in disseminating our research. We utilise a wide variety of global media to disseminate knowledge beyond the confines of campus, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS), events and a range of social media channels.

In advancing knowledge to improve health and wellbeing, we undertake various projects in medical research and medically-associated biological research. This work is funded by the Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and major medical charities, including Wellcome, Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, Arthritis Research UK and Diabetes UK. Research in the UK involving vertebrate animals is regulated, within the framework of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, by the Home Office Animals Scientific Procedures Division and Inspectorate. All work on vertebrate animals is conducted under Home Office Licence. This means that any projects we undertake have been through an ethical review process and have then been assessed by a Home Office Inspector. We are committed to the three Rs – Refinement, Reduction and Replacement of experiments involving animals.

Education

In advancing and disseminating knowledge, the education we provide has a wide range of public benefits:

• developing people
• providing skills for the workforce
• informing professional practice
• innovating, informing and inspiring
• building international connections

The University of Bath is a first-choice destination for students in an increasingly competitive, international recruitment market. Students are attracted by our excellent academic reputation, our outstanding graduate employment record, our world class sports facilities, and the wide array of other social, recreational and personal development opportunities we offer. Our ability to offer placement options across our discipline base, and with leading organisations, is one of the features that distinguishes us from other top UK research-intensive universities. Our graduates have excellent employment prospects, not only because of their discipline-specific knowledge and skills but also because of the emphasis we place on developing well-rounded, enterprising individuals with high aspirations. As a result, our graduates are well-equipped to contribute to economic growth and policy development, as well as making a positive social contribution.

Our teaching excellence is evidenced by our ‘Triple Gold’ award for the overall assessment in the 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023), as well as the two underpinning aspect assessments (Student Experience and Student Outcomes). Bath is ranked in the top ten in all of the most recent editions of the major national university league tables, including an 8th place ranking in The Guardian University Guide 2026. Bath is ranked joint 132nd in the QS World University Rankings 2026. In 2024-25, our core student population comprised 15,955 undergraduates, 3,755 taught postgraduates and 1,630 research postgraduates.

Our students are key beneficiaries of our teaching activities, and we measure our success in terms of their outcomes and their experience. Our continuation, completion and progression rates are some of the best in the sector, and this contributed to the University achieving Gold in the TEF2023 for Student Outcomes. According to Office for Students data, ninety-seven per cent of our taught, full-time, first-degree students continue¹ and complete² their studies, and 86% progress to professional or managerial studies or other positive outcomes such as further study³. In terms of undergraduate student experience, we perform strongly at institutional level in the National Student Survey (NSS), scoring above the Office for Students (OfS)⁴ benchmark in six out of seven survey themes in NSS 2025. Historical performance in NSS contributed to the Gold award for Student Experience in the TEF2023.

Beneficiaries of our education activities range from school age (aspiration raising/mentoring) through to mature learners (continuing professional development and MOOCS), and include undergraduates, taught postgraduates and research postgraduates. We recruit internationally and are committed to promoting a diverse student population.

The University’s Access and Participation Plan (APP) 2024 to 2028 was approved by the OfS in November 2023. We were one of 40 volunteer providers that submitted an APP during 2022-23 following a new set of regulations and guidance. The APP focuses on nine key risks to equality of opportunity, with a particular focus on home undergraduate students from low socio-economic backgrounds and those who identify as a minority ethnic group and/or have a declared disability. It addresses how we will improve the diversity of students who access the University, making sure students from specific groups complete their studies and narrowing the degree outcome gap. The APP is already showing signs of success, with the proportion of students admitted to the University that were eligible for free school meals increasing and the University meeting its annual milestones in the APP.

We recognise that undergraduate tuition fees may be a barrier to accessing our teaching. We publicise the financial support that we can provide to prospective students through our website and Open Days. In 2024-25 we provided £3.85m of financial support to 1,326 undergraduate students in the form of bursaries and campus credit for individuals paying fees under the 2012 fee regime with a household residual income (HRI) of £30,000 (£25,000 for pre 2024 entrants) or below. This included £791k of support to 170 students in receipt of the University’s Gold Scholarship Programme, which is jointly funded by the University and sponsors. Our Alumni Funds provided £67k of financial support to 29 undergraduates with an HRI of £42,875 and below. The Accommodation Bursary scheme is available to those with a household income assessment of up to £60,000 and who meet the new scheme criteria. This scheme provided £712k of bursaries in the form of credits to accommodation accounts to 969 students. In total, £4.6m of financial support was awarded to 1,761 undergraduate students.

Employers are also beneficiaries of our education activities through the skillset of our graduates. Domestically, Bath was ranked 6th in the UK for graduate prospects in the Complete University Guide 2026 and performs extremely well in this measure in all other national league tables. In the QS World University Rankings 2026, the University of Bath was ranked 100th in the world in the employer reputation performance measure. We also measure our success in delivering the skills that employers want in terms of our ability to maintain our network of placement sponsors.

The wider community also benefits from our ability to attract high quality, engaged students. Working in close partnership with the Students’ Union, the University offers a wide range of opportunities for personal development, including volunteering, summer internships, personal development and skills training. In providing a wide range of opportunities to learn through experience and enhance personal development and career prospects, we are producing graduates who are well-equipped to act as good citizens and members of local, national and international society. Students can volunteer to help with outreach activities, encouraging gifted and talented young people from socio-economic groups under-represented in Higher Education, to raise their educational aspirations. We provide a supportive learning environment, with central student services and academic departments working in partnership.

Creativity, enterprise and innovation

The knowledge that we generate through our research and education activities can be exploited to achieve a number of public benefits:

• innovating, informing and inspiring
• engaging communities and working in partnership
• stimulating local economic and social development
• building international connections

We are sector leaders in knowledge exchange, applying fresh thinking to accelerate economic growth and social advances. Our Innovation Centre is helping to diversify the economic profile of the City by incubating high yield businesses. We are a member of the SETsquared partnership which in March 2024 was ranked as the 3rd leading start-up hub in Europe and the top entry from the UK and Ireland by the Financial Times and Statista’s Special Report on Europe’s Leading Start-Up Hubs. Since launching in 2002, SETsquared has supported over 5,000 entrepreneurs, helping them to raise investment of £4.4 billion. An impact report by Warwick Economics published in December 2022 reported that companies supported by the SETsquared Partnership ecosystem have contributed £15.7 billion GVA (Gross Value Added) to the UK economy over the last 20 years.

We aim to create tomorrow’s business leaders and foster an innovative culture. We signpost sources of skills development, funding and support. We offer enterprise education for students, and they are encouraged to develop entrepreneurial skills. A number of students develop business models or launch their own businesses whilst studying. SETsquared offers the Student Enterprise Programme, providing opportunities for students to gain hands-on business skills and entrepreneurial training through inter-university activities.

As part of our culture of creativity, enterprise and innovation, we seek to make a positive social, as well as economic, impact. The Minerva Series of Lectures provides opportunities to hear our experts share their insights on a range of topics, including science, politics, health, and sustainability.

International engagement

We believe that there is a benefit to our academic activities and, hence our charitable objectives, in having a truly international culture on campus. Our international culture also has benefits locally and regionally. Our ability to attract internationally renowned researchers contributes to our capacity to contribute to the regional and national knowledge economy. Through our international connections we can provide a conduit to disseminate best international practice and cutting-edge research locally, regionally and nationally. We also believe that a culturally diverse student population makes a positive impact on the experience of all our students.

In addition to the international profile of our education and research activities, we are forging international connections through our alumni network and our world class sports facilities. We have around 150,000 alumni across 170 countries. Our alumni are encouraged to make philanthropic donations to enhance the student experience, our physical infrastructure and our research capacity. This enhances our capacity to deliver our charitable objectives. We also have around 1,600 Alumni Experts, spread across 140 countries who support other alumni and students via our online mentoring platform, Bath Connection.

Sustainable Bath

Universities are uniquely placed to support a pathway to sustainable development and growth. Through the education that we provide, we are enabling and empowering students with the knowledge and skills to make a contribution to global challenges. And through research and innovation, we are actively seeking to find ways in which we can create a better and healthier world for people and planet.

Our University Strategy 2021-26 has sustainability as one of the core values: supporting a sustainable community and adopting best environmental practice. These core values are at the heart of the strategy for advancement, growth, and impact, defining the characteristics as a community.

For the University of Bath, sustainability is about conducting our activity (our research, our education, our operations and our engagement) in a way which embodies and addresses:

• environmental health and climate action
• social responsibility, equity and inclusion
• economic and financial sustainability

Collectively, we contribute positively to sustainability through world-class research, teaching, partnerships and collaboration. However, we also recognise that there are environmental and social impacts associated with our activities. Therefore, we have committed to maximise our contributions to a more sustainable world whilst also minimising our impacts wherever possible.

Reporting on University progress towards our sustainability commitments and goals is an important aspect of our transparent approach that enables our community to understandhow we are doing, ongoing challenges and areas yet to be tackled. University sustainability reports are published annually.

Actions and progress in 2024-25

At University of Bath, our commitment to sustainability has evolved over many years, encompassing a diverse range of teaching, research, and operational initiatives. We unified efforts with a focus on climate change through our whole-institution Climate Action Framework launched in 2020. Now, we are building on that work and broadening our joined-up approach through the wider lens of sustainability. To achieve this, we are working to identify our most significant areas for impact, ensuring our efforts and resources are directed where they can create the greatest benefit – for both people and the planet.

Over the past year, we have made progress embedding sustainability in institutional decision-making processes and governance, including introducing a new Sustainability Policy. The policy provides the framework for our work going forward and through this framework, we will be establishing a set of targets and goals to align to our institutional ambitions.

Sustainability is a research strength for the University, and this is reflected across the range of disciplines in which we work, with projects tackling an array of sustainability challenges. In the past year, we have launched several large research projects to tackle sustainability challenges and used our research to take steps forward in building understanding of sustainability challenges and solutions. To further work in this important area, in January 2025 we launched the Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change (ISCC) to bring together expertise across the University with a commitment to tackle the most urgent sustainability challenges.

We have joined other leading institutions in signing the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research & Innovation Practice, recognising our responsibility to ensure that research continues to deliver positive impact, but not at the expense of the planet.

Through the education we provide at Bath, we seek to empower all students and graduates as leaders for sustainability. To enable this, we have compiled and developed resources, training and case studies to help educators meaningfully embed sustainability in teaching and curriculum development. We also continue to provide co-curricular opportunities focused on sustainability, including sustainability themed Vertically Integrated Projects (VIPs), Carbon Literacy courses and Climate Fresk workshops.

We develop meaningful collaborative partnerships locally, nationally and internationally to help increase the impact we have in addressing sustainability challenges. This year we have co-delivered workshops for young climate leaders as part of the Climate Catalysts Mentorship Programme (from the UNFCCC’s Youth4Capacity and UNDP’s Youth4Climate initiatives). We also attended COP29 and presented ActNowFilm, a collaborative production from our Institute for Policy Research and Cambridge Zero.

In comparison to last year, our total emissions have decreased by 3% to 127 ktCO2e. We’ve introduced several policies and programmes in the past year to propel our efforts to reduce our environmental impact. We have introduced new policies and processes, including a Sustainable Procurement Policy, Thermal Comfort Policy and Sustainable Building Standard. We continued to carry out improvements and upgrades to our campus infrastructure to enable energy savings, including improving metering and data systems, and upgrading lighting. To propel efforts further, we have modelled scope 1 and 2 carbon reduction scenarios in line with a review of our Net Zero targets and we are exploring partnering arrangements to address the funding and delivery capacity challenges that we face in order to deliver large scale upgrades.

In 2025 we were excited to open the UK’s first fully recyclable 3G sports pitch.

Our staff and student community are motivated and engaged to act on sustainability. This year, we celebrated over 400 staff and students taking action for sustainability at our annual awards event. Alongside our existing lab sustainability programme, LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework), we launched a new staff sustainability engagement programme, Green Impact.

Our Students’ Union continue to support student sustainability action, primarily through student groups and volunteering.

Other local impacts of our activities

We are the second largest employer in Bath and North East Somerset, with around 3,800 employees. A study on the Economic Impact of the University of Bath, conducted by Oxford Economics in 2025, estimated that in 2023-24 the University supported over 7,000 jobs and contributed £510m to the Bath and North East Somerset economy, equivalent to nearly 9% of the area’s total Gross Value Added (GVA). Across the UK, the University’s economic footprint extended to £986m GVA and over 13,000 jobs, alongside £202m in tax revenues. We undertake three ‘Work and Wellbeing’ surveys a year, benchmarking the results against ONS data. We are also a socially responsible employer, with accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation, Disability Confident Leader accreditation and an excellent record in AthenaSWAN.

In May 2024, four of Bath and North East Somerset’s key civic institutions, the University of Bath, Bath Spa University, Bath and North East Somerset Council and the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, signed an agreement to work more closely together for the benefit the region. The Future Ambition Civic Agreement commits us to collaborate and address key challenges and opportunities for the region to help its communities thrive, as well as learning from each other to continuously improve how we operate. The five key themes include; working to ensure opportunity for all, the development of digital infrastructure, a focus on climate and nature preservation, developing a sense of community through supporting creativity and culture, and driving sustainable growth through inclusive innovation.

We do not believe that there is any direct harm or detriment to the public arising from our Mission and corporate goals. However, our success in attracting students does mean that our student population puts a significant demand on the residential accommodation in the Bath and North East Somerset area so we liaise with the planning team of the Bath and North East Somerset Council to inform their accommodation forecasts. During 2022-23, our new Campus Masterplan was incorporated in the B&NES Local Plan: Partial Update. The Masterplan assesses the future development capacity of campus and balances demand for new residential accommodation and non-residential accommodation on campus. We are currently liaising with the Bath and North East Somerset planning team to inform the evidence base to be used to underpin the development of the new Local Plan.

We hold three meetings a year of the University of Bath Local Residents Forum to ensure that our nearest neighbours are briefed on our capital plans and our programme of events for campus. In this way, we try to mitigate the impact of our activities on our immediate community.

We seek to promote the highest standards of scientific and professional integrity and to give due consideration to the ethical, social and environmental issues arising from our activities.

Trade Union facility time

The number of University employees who were relevant union officials during the year to 31 March 2025 was 31 (29.3 FTE). All of these employees spent between 1% and 50% of their time working on facility time. The percentage of the University’s total pay bill spent on facility time was 0.1%. The percentage of time spent on paid trade union activities as a percentage of total paid facility time hours was 17.3%.