The campaign, The Future Says Surrey, was launched in February 2022 by the chancellor of the university, the Duke of Kent.

One-quarter of the funds has enabled the university in Guildford to pay for more than 40 scholarships and provide financial support to more than 300 students experiencing personal hardships.

Jessie Billing, the university’s director of advancement, says education is a “barrier to many people” due to the costs.

“In my time, education was free but now it is quite an expensive endeavour,” she told BBC Radio Surrey.

“We want students to have a life-changing experience in university.

“Some of the funds from our campaign came from alumni students. They want to help students who want to access university education,” Ms Billing said.

The funding is also supporting research projects such as the investigation into the arrow of time and its role in biology quantum – this means unravelling the mysteries of the origins of life.

The research is led by Prof Jim Al-Khalili, who said: “University research can transform our world for the better, but ground-breaking research requires committed, stable funding.

“The Future Says Surrey campaign has allowed our talented researchers to undertake research that is delivering real change for communities in the UK and around the world.”

Also being supported is a project to build artificial intelligence (AI) sign language translation models to help the deaf community better navigate the internet.

It will also invest in the Space4Nature project, which is using satellite technology and AI to create a more detailed picture of the Surrey Hills’ landscapes to assist conservationists tackle biodiversity loss.