A freedom of information request (FOI) by environmental group Greenpeace has shown the amount of investment by energy companies at some UK universities topping more than £20million.
In the past five years, companies including BP, Shell and Statoil have invested £134million.
The figures show the University of Manchester was the biggest benefactor, receiving £27,705,551 from Shell, BHP Biliton, BP, ExxonMobil, Rio Tinto, Total and Statoil.
Europe’s ‘oil capital’ in Aberdeen received significantly less in comparison to some other institutions with investment of £118,661 from oil major BP.
Last year, the University of Glasgow became the first higher education institution in the UK to commit to taking its money out of fossil fuels.
Meanwhile in May, the University of Edinburgh said it was taking steps to withdraw investments in fossil fuel producers, in response to pressure form students groups and activists.
At the time, the university said it had informed “three of the world’s biggest fossil fuel producers” of its intentions to divest from them within the next six months, giving them four weeks to respond.
The research by Greenpeace shows that over the last five years, the University of Edinburgh has received £3,485,024 from Shell, BP, ExxonMobil and Total.
Heriot Watt has benefited from the most funding with contributions totalling £5,678,000.
However the university is yet to disclose who it received the investment from.
Take a look at how other institutions fared in the graph below.
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