A FUNDRAISING campaign for Oxford University has now reached £770m, with some of the money spent on popular attractions including the Ashmolean Museum.

Dr John Hood, the university’s out-going Vice-Chancellor, revealed the latest milestone reached by the Campaign for the University of Oxford, a fundraising initiative launched five years ago to raise at least £1.25bn.

After five years as Vice-Chancellor, Dr Hood delivered his parting address at the Sheldonian Theatre today, before handing over to Prof Andrew Hamilton, the new Vice-Chancellor.

Dr Hood revealed the total raised included a £5.1m donation from Dame Vivien Duffield, chairman of the campaign.

She gave £250,000 to the Ashmolean Museum, where the finishing touches are being made to a £60m refurbishment before the museum reopens to the public next month.

She also gave £1.75m to her former college, Lady Margaret Hall, and £600,000 to the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in High Street, with money going towards the Old Library on the upper floor.

Dame Duffield said: “I am delighted to be supporting Oxford across the range of its needs — new buildings, old buildings, students, collections, research and my college.

“Having been an undergraduate here, I am proud to be giving back to the university in this way, for the benefit of future generations of undergraduates and graduate students, and the wider Oxford community.”

Prof Hamilton, who has joined Oxford University from Yale University in the United States, has pledged to “engage in consultation with local and community leaders”, and said he believed people in Oxford benefited from the cultural opportunities that come with the university.

At the Congregation ceremony, he said: “The years ahead will not be easy for Oxford. They will likely require an intense debate on the role of the university, its financial underpinnings and its relationship to the rest of the national and international world.

“But I am confident that if we can keep before us the reasons why we are here, we will not only survive the years ahead, but we will find that the greatest university in the world will both prosper and grow into the future.”

Dr Hood added: “These are difficult times, which have naturally had a dampening impact on fundraising momentum. Nonetheless, owing to the remarkable generosity of our donors, well over £120m was raised during the year, bringing the Campaign for Oxford total, raised during the past five years, to the impressive sum of £770m.”

Despite the success, Dr Hood said the university still required significant investment to compete with other leading universities and added: “By my calculation, the investment that would be required to bring the university’s estate up to ‘world-class’ standards for its current activities is quite considerably in excess of £1bn.

“If that is to be achieved during the next decade or so, considerable funding in-genuity and organisational development will be required.”