Dear Neil,

I am writing to acknowledge your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 received by The University of Manchester yesterday, our reference as per the subject line.

The University will respond to your request within 20 working days.

NB The University closes for Christmas on 22 December 2022, reopening on 03 January 2023, therefore there may be a delay in your response at this time.

Kind regards

Sharon

Sharon Glen | Information Officer | Information Governance Office | Directorate of Compliance and Risk |Professional Services | G7 Christie Building | The University of Manchester | Oxford Road | Manchester | M13 9PL | www.manchester.ac.uk

Please contact me via Teams or email as I may not be in the office to take your call.

Have you refreshed your Data Protection & Cyber Security training? Details of how staff can access the new course, are on the following IGO StaffNet page: https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/ig...

show quoted sections

Dear Neil,

Thank you for your request for information received by The University of
Manchester on 07 December 2022 which was as follows:

1. Has the university accepted payment of tuition fees in cryptocurrency,
such as but not limited to Bitcoin, Etherium, Tether etc, for each of the
following calendar years 2020/2021/2022.

If so please provide the number of students who paid this way for each
year and state the cryptocurrency used  and its value in cryptocurrency
(if possible) at time of payment.

In each case please state whether the student was an undergraduate or
postgraduate, the course they were studying and if they were a UK or
foreign national. In the case of foreign nationals please state which
country they were from.

2. If possible in each case please state if the payments were converted to
pounds immediately or held as investments.

3. For each of the following years 2020/2021/2022 has the university or
any subsidiaries purchased any cryptocurrencies such as but not limited to
Bitcoin, Etherium, Tether etc.

If so please state the type of cryptocurrency, the value of the
cryptocurrency in cryptocurrency at time of purchase.

Please also state whether the investment is still held or if it has been
sold and if so what its value was when it was sold.

4. Does the university currently have any investments in cryptocurrency,
such as but not limited to Bitcoin, Etherium, Tether etc, or Non-fungible
tokens.

If so please state the holdings and their purchase value.

The University has now considered your request and our response can be
found below.

 1. No, we do not accept cryptocurrency as payment.
 2. N/a.
 3. From the information that the University holds, one of the
University’s investment managers initiated a position in Bitcoin in
October 2020, through a pooled fund, and was a seller of the position
until the complete exit in April 2021. The indirect investment value
to the University was c.£800k in October 2020. The average purchase
price was $15,000 and the average sale price was $43,000.
 4. The University has no current investments in cryptocurrency.

I trust that this information is of use to you.

Kind regards

Sharon

Sharon Glen | Information Officer | Information Governance Office |
Directorate of Compliance and Risk |Professional Services | G7 Christie
Building | The University of Manchester | Oxford Road | Manchester | M13
9PL | [1]www.manchester.ac.uk

Please contact me via Teams or email as I may not be in the office to take
your call.

Have you refreshed your Data Protection & Cyber Security training? Details
of how staff can access the new course, are on the following IGO StaffNet
page: [2]https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/ig...

References

Visible links
1. http://www.manchester.ac.uk/
2. https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/ig...