Value for money

The RAU is committed to providing our students with value for money across all areas of university life.

The Governing Council, Finance & Estates Committee, Vice-Chancellor, Executive Team, and senior managers are all committed to ensuring that value for money lies at the core of our decision making. All proposals explicity require that value is effectively managed and is implicit in all proposals requiring committee consideration or decision.

The RAU manages its finances to enable it to both provide value for money for students whilst ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the University. The balance between short-term and long-term lasting value is always considered. Value for money for students, and the student experience, centres on providing all students with an outstanding educational experience and optimising their employment prospects by ensuring that all degrees and programmes are relevant, innovative, and challenging, and that they equip our graduates for the careers they want to follow.

Ensuring value for money requires a robust and comprehensive procurement framework in order that all significant purchases are properly assessed and quoted for. To help with this in 2020-21 the University adopted an Integrated Planning Cycle, aligning financial planning with academic planning for research and teaching, and other aspects of resource planning that relate to workforce, the estate, and capital expenditure. The integration of these processes throughout the year helps to ensure a broader and more holistic understanding of the implications around the use of resource at the RAU, and draw out opportunities to generate further value.