sponsor of UTC Reading, a new university technical college which opened in September 2013.
In 2016, a move to reorganise the structure of Reading University provoked student protests. On 21 March 2016, staff announced a vote of no confidence in the vice chancellor Sir David Bell. Eighty-eight per cent of those who voted backed the no confidence motion.
In 2019, The Guardian reported the university was in "a financial and governance crisis" after recently reporting itself to regulators over a £121 million loan. The university is sole trustee of the charitable National Institute for Research in Dairying trust, and after selling trust land had then borrowed the £121 million proceeds from the trust, despite the potential conflict of interest in the decision making. Including this loan, the university has debts of £300 million, as well as having an operating deficit of over £40 million for the past two years.
In 2021, the university declared, in a statement reply to the student's union, that it would not refund tuition fees for its students.
On 11 June 2025, following the For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers Supreme Court ruling, the university announced a change in policy that bans transgender people from using toilets, and other gendered facilities, that match their gender identity. Most universities in the UK, on the other hand, had been waiting for further guidance on the implications of the Supreme Court ruling before making policy changes, with the University and College Union recommending against "hasty or permanent policy changes". The University of Reading's policy change was widely criticised as transphobic, and transgender and gender non-conforming students and staff reported feeling unsafe and unwelcome on campus due to the policy. The university was subsequently banned from the 2025 Reading Pride festival due to its "transphobic toilet policies".
== Campuses ==
The university maintains over 1.6 square kilometres (395 acres) of grounds, in four distinct campuses:
=== Whiteknights ===
Whiteknights …
