Finance Strategy

HARTPURY 2030 > S T R A T E G Y FINANCE STRATEGY

Hartpury 2030: Finance Strategy | hartpury.ac.uk

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Our mission is to deliver outstanding University and College education in land-based, sport and related disciplines, to equip our students with real-world skills for the benefit of local, regional, national and global communities.

MISSION

We will ensure financial sustainability by continuing to diversify our income sources. Prudent financial management will enable us to invest in the resources required to deliver this strategy.

VISION

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Foreword by the Chief Operating Officer

Financial sustainability is the foundation of our continued success. As we move forward, we are committed to diversifying our income sources

funding opportunities, complementing our existing sources and aligning our development efforts to unlock new possibilities. Furthermore, we will ensure that our financial decisions remain firmly rooted in our strategic priorities. Long-term planning will be key to maintaining financial flexibility, allowing us to adapt and grow in an ever-changing landscape. By implementing robust financial plans and proactive risk mitigations, we will navigate uncertainties with confidence, securing a stable and prosperous future. Mick Axtell

and exercising prudent financial management to ensure we have the necessary resources to achieve our strategic objectives. The 2030 Finance Strategy describes how we will focus on restructuring debt, streamlining processes, and maximising efficiency to optimise the resources available for delivering our strategy. We will actively seek new grant

VALUES

EXCELLENCE NURTURING AMBITIOUS

RESPECTFUL EMPOWERING

We support students and staff to reach their potential and pursue opportunities

We show consideration for staff and students, promoting freedom

We encourage and demonstrate a desire to succeed through

We support each other, embrace and celebrate difference and act with integrity to benefit society and the environment.

We strive for excellence in everything we do and uphold high academic standards across all our activities.

that positively impact our communities and wider society.

of expression and creating a safe and inclusive campus.

dedication and perseverance.

Hartpury 2030: Finance Strategy | hartpury.ac.uk

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STRATEGIC PRIORITY 1 SECURE FUNDING

Diversify funding sources, restructure debt and develop effective and efficient processes to ensure maximum resources to deliver our strategy.

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Identifying new funding sources and maximising existing funding sources are essential to the delivery of Hartpury’s 2030 strategy. We will expand on our success in securing grant funding to support the development and maintenance of our facilities and equipment. Gradually and sustainably increasing our proportion of international students will enable full economic cost recovery and diversification of our income sources. We will develop partnerships with industry, charitable trusts, stakeholders and communities that share our passion, value and commitment, who will support delivery of our strategic aims. Our repayment of existing debt over recent years provides an opportunity to seek new debt and structure a stable funding base on which to deliver our strategy.

To achieve this, we will: 1.1. Grow and mature our partnerships and use them to develop shared goals and programmes that harness our estate and staff to support the delivery of our mission and build a committed community of supporters of Hartpury. 1.2. Search and identify new grant funding sources to complement existing sources, and align our development focus to secure new opportunities. 1.3. Develop carefully selected international partnerships in our specialist areas and will engage in research with international recognition and impact to drive international student recruitment and grow international support for our strategy. 1.4. Review our debt financing and banking operations and the funding markets, and deliver a debt funding strategy that provides long-term, sustainable funding.

Hartpury 2030: Finance Strategy | hartpury.ac.uk

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STRATEGIC PRIORITY 2 LONG-TERM FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY Ensure use of our funds is focused on delivering our strategy and develop long-term plans that maintain financial headroom.

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To achieve this, we will: 2.1. Develop a long-term funding methodology to maintain our estate and equipment, setting aside funds to enable proactive maintenance and lowest lifetime cost policies. 2.2. Regularly review existing and planned activities to identify those where income does not cover their full economic cost, identify improvement programmes where appropriate and tailor our academic and commercial activities accordingly. Invest in our systems and staff to ensure analysis is based on trusted and transparent data and considers the interrelationships of our activities. 2.3. Prepare thorough long-term financial and investment plans that ensure the institution has sufficient financial headroom to remain viable and meet banking and regulatory requirements, even if multiple adverse situations arise. 2.4. Deliver the Hartpury Transformation Programme to develop efficient, user-friendly processes and systems that demonstrate value for money to our stakeholders.

Public sector funding is predicted to remain challenging during the lifetime of our strategy. As an institution that relies largely on public funding we need to make sure that we use our funds wisely, ensuring we deliver strong operating cash flows, maintain the quality of our estate and facilities and attract, retain and motivate our staff, as well as invest in our strategic goals. We will reduce non-value-adding activity through developing processes and systems that are efficient, integrated and provide an excellent user experience to maximise the use of our funds. Given the heightened risks facing the UK Education sector, we will ensure we have sufficient funding and liquidity headroom to overcome adverse situations.

Hartpury 2030: Finance Strategy | hartpury.ac.uk

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STRATEGIC PRIORITY 3 MANAGE FINANCIAL RISK Develop robust plans and mitigations to understand and navigate financial uncertainties.

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In recent years, the financial outlook of the UK Education sector has become increasingly challenging due to macro effects, such as the impact of the Covid pandemic, the “cost of living” crisis, and reduced public funding. Hartpury has successfully navigated these risks to date but needs to rebuild financial capacity and resilience to face similar risks in the foreseeable future. Therefore, we will increase our financial headroom to act as a buffer to cope with downturns, and we will further diversify our income sources to minimise the impact of individual risks. Hartpury is strongly invested in land and buildings and has a largely fixed cost base. To enable us to react faster to financial issues we will increase our asset and funding flexibility.

To achieve this, we will: 3.1. Further develop our culture and processes of identifying, analysing, evaluating and reacting to risks and issues. We will be clear on our level of risk appetite and develop approaches to avoid, minimise, transfer and accept risks. 3.2. Diversify our income sources through international student growth, adding to our curriculum and increasing our commercial activities. 3.3. Develop a financial mitigation strategy that will enable us to have sufficient liquidity in a downturn, and scale our cost base more dynamically.

For further information, please contact:

+44 (0) 1452 702 100

Hartpury University and Hartpury College Hartpury Gloucester GL19 3BE

hartpury.ac.uk