The University of Buckingham has been fined by England’s higher education regulator for missing multiple deadlines to publish its audited accounts, creating “a significant regulatory risk” in the event of financial failure.
Officially opened by Margaret Thatcher as education secretary in 1976 – becoming the UK’s first private university since the first world war – Buckingham is the first university to be fined by the Office for Students (OfS).
The OfS said Buckingham failed to file its audited accounts for 2019 by its initial deadline of May 2020, and that the university then requested and missed subsequent extensions before finally filing, two years late, in June this year.
A report by the OfS said the fine was to reflect the potential dangers of failing to provide reliable financial information.
