Judge Rules Oxford University’s Mysterious £10m Donor Will Remain Secret

It continued: “We are satisfied that there was detailed and careful scrutiny by [Oxford University]. It is not the role of the tribunal to decide whether universities per se should be allowed to accept anonymous donations, nor to consider the merits of any particular donation.

“The [university] has a committee and a process in place for just this purpose and in this case after careful scrutiny it found no issues that would render the donation unwelcome.”

Last year, openDemocracy revealed that Russell Group universities had accepted millions of pounds in anonymous donations, much of it from foreign donors. Oxford University took £106m in anonymous donations — more than any other Russell Group university.

In April this year, more than 120 academics, politicians and campaigners signed an open letter calling for transparency over university funding in the UK. They urged political parties to make manifesto commitments to ensure universities are open about their finances, and called for legislation to be introduced, requiring universities to publish a register of large donations and research funding.

Similar measures were proposed in 2022, led by Conservative MP Jesse Norman, but the rules were massively watered down by the previous government and Norman described it as a “missed opportunity”.

Emails obtained by openDemocracy exposed how the proposals were subject to a coordinated lobbying campaign by university bosses, in a bid to keep their funding secret.