The operating result was €1.1 million in the black. A surplus in investment activities raised the overall result to €99 million.
In 2024 the University of Helsinki's operating result, or the result without taking investment activities into account, after taxes was €1.1 million (in surplus). The clearly better than budgeted result is primarily explained by the additional funding of €15 million by the Ministry of Education and Culture, which will be used in the coming years. In addition, reduced employer's contributions brought additional savings worth €4 million to the University.
The surplus from investment activities was €98 million, driving the University's overall result to €99 million. The return on investment included €82 million in changes in the value of investments.
Core funding by the Ministry of Education and Culture grew by €31 million. Funding was boosted by additional allocations to, for example, intake in medical and veterinary training, strategic development and qualification training for medical degrees completed abroad. In addition, the Ministry increased discretionary funding for universities. The University of Helsinki received this funding in the form of a doctoral education pilot and matched EU funding.
The share of funding allocated to the University of Helsinki under the funding model of the Ministry of Education and Culture decreased. The share will continue to decline in 2025.
Another record year for research funding
Another record-breaking year was seen in external funding, totalling €352 million, of which €257 million was research funding. Roughly half of all research funding, €125 million, was awarded by the Research Council of Finland. There was encouraging growth in EU, business and foundation funding. Late in the year, two researchers from the University were awarded the prestigious Synergy Grant from the European Research Council, which has been awarded to University of Helsinki researchers only once before.
The University's operating expenses increased by 3%. Staff expenses increased by €17 million, rents by €5 million and other expenses by €6 million. Machinery and equipment procurement grew by €4.5 million. Travel expenses remained unchanged from the previous year and have returned to the level preceding the pandemic.
A huge year for investment activities
In 2024 the University of Helsinki saw an 18.1% return on its securities portfolio. At the end of the year, the portfolio was valued at €789 million. The cornerstones of the University of Helsinki's investment strategy, founded on academic research, are diversification, low costs and the mitigation of climate change. From the beginning of 2019, the average annual return on investment for the securities portfolio has been +12.7%. The current investment strategy was introduced in 2019.
In late 2023 the Board of the University of Helsinki decided to increase the distribution of return on investment to one of the University's core duties by up to approximately €10 million between 2024 and 2028. The additional distribution of returns will be targeted at supporting research. In 2024 a total of €7.2 million was distributed to multidisciplinary research initiatives and support for ERC applications. Funding for supporting consortium agreements was also prepared as part of the additional distribution of return.
The Board approved the University of Helsinki's financial statements for 2024 in its meeting on 16 April 2025.
Key financial figures
- The operating result was €1.1 million in the black after taxes.
- The overall result was €99 million in the black.
- Governmental core funding increased by €31 million to €464 million.
- External funding grew to a new record, €352 million, of which €257 million was research funding.
- Staff costs totalled €494 million, representing 61% of total operating expenses.
Highlights
- The Ministry of Education and Culture updated the funding model for Finnish universities.
- The Board of the University updated the management principles after which the rector made a decision on the new internal funding model for faculties.
- Finnish universities were preparing a new national entrance examination to replace many of the University of Helsinki's own entrance examinations.
- A national doctoral education pilot was launched in autumn 2024. This pilot will see the University of Helsinki training 236 of the 1,000 total doctoral graduates. At the same time, doctoral education will be revamped.
- In the PROFI 8 application round, the University of Helsinki applied for funding in three theme areas: FooDrug, Divsol and Swan. In early 2025 the Research Council of Finland granted the University of Helsinki the largest individual PROFI funding so far, totalling €30.2 million.
- Faculties made decisions on increasing student intake in many degree programmes.
- The University of Helsinki returned to the top 100 universities in the ShanghaiRanking.
