The University of Pretoria tops the list of South African institutions with the largest funds, followed by the University of South Africa and Stellenbosch University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most universities have endowment funds which comprise money or other financial assets from charitable donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These endowments \u2013 typically from former students \u2013 support research, teaching, and other academic and sporting endeavours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These funds are usually managed to protect the capital portion of its donations and often only make contributions from the interest or dividends received by investing the funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most endowment funds are, therefore, mandated to be managed indefinitely, only relying on their income generation capacity to make distributions and protecting its principle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daily Investor looked at the endowments of South African universities to determine which has the largest funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many universities do not report the exact size of their endowment funds and only report a broader fund pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Universities under consideration were compared based on two measures: Their endowment fund and the size of a more general fund pool (which includes the endowment portion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The general fund pool includes the restricted and unrestricted funds under the university\u2019s disposal, excluding any loans and funds allocated to property, plant, and equipment expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The University of Pretoria has the largest pool of funds at R14.81 billion. It also boasts the largest endowment at R7.42 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other universities with significant funds include the University of South Africa with R12.7 billion, Stellenbosch University with R8.6 billion, and the University of Cape Town with R8.5 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although it may seem like a lot, these funds are small compared to the endowments of top universities in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harvard University\u2019s endowment fund has assets under management of $49 billion (R941 billion), and Yale University has a fund of $41 billion (R787 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Richest South African universities by fund size<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The table below shows the South African universities with the largest general fund pools and endowments.<\/p>\n\n\n\nUniversity <\/strong><\/td> General fund pool<\/strong><\/td> Endowment fund<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> University of Pretoria<\/td> R14,805,110,000<\/td> R7,421,163,000<\/td><\/tr> UNISA<\/td> R12,742,754,000<\/td> –<\/td><\/tr> Stellenbosch University<\/td> R8,622,039,000<\/td> R5,041,962,000<\/td><\/tr> University of Cape Town<\/td> R8,540,068,000<\/td> R5,337,771,000<\/td><\/tr> University of the Free State<\/td> R7,512,101,000<\/td> R132,327,000<\/td><\/tr> North-West University<\/td> R7,049,704,000<\/td> –<\/td><\/tr> University of Kwazulu-Natal<\/td> R6,546,004,000<\/td> R582,863,000<\/td><\/tr> University of Witwatersrand<\/td> R5,750,229,000<\/td> R3,607,850,000<\/td><\/tr> Durban University of Technology<\/td> R3,745,617,609<\/td> –<\/td><\/tr> University of Limpopo<\/td> R2,682,960,000<\/td> – <\/td><\/tr> Rhodes University<\/td> R815,128,000<\/td> R815,072,000<\/td><\/tr> University of Western Cape<\/td> R590,125,232<\/td> R6,122,685<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n