: Today the First Minister
and I met with the Vice Chancellors from every Welsh university
to continue our dialogue around our programme of higher education
reform. Reform is essential for the future financial health of
our sector, for the learners studying at our institutions, and
for our future economic growth.
As I previously updated, we have already started to transform the
tertiary education system in Wales and I want to set out more
details on how the Welsh Government, Medr, and the sector will
work together to achieve longer-term sustainability.
Today, with the Vice Chancellors and Medr, we have identified a
number of priority areas of work to be taken forward.
Enabling greater collaboration in the sector is imperative to
ensure there is appropriate provision across Wales and to inform
institutional planning of teaching and research. I have asked
Medr to lead on this by overviewing subject demand and provision
in Wales. This will enable us to consider where and if policy
interventions might be necessary to safeguard provision of
strategic importance. Welsh Government will also consider whether
funding provided to support strategic priority provision is
sufficient to for long-term sustainability and growth.
We have been successful in Wales in significantly expanding
part-time higher education, particularly through the Open
University in Wales. I want to ensure this remains sustainable,
so I will be exploring an increase in the part-time fee loan to
ensure that universities can continue to deliver sustainably and
learners can continue to access part-time opportunities. We want
to attract more people back into learning, delivering higher
level skills and improving our public services. I will make a
further announcement when this work is complete.
I also want to set out the areas I will prioritise in working
with UK Government on their plans for higher education reform. I
will be seeking clarity from the UK Government on fees policy
across the current UK parliamentary term, so that we can give
universities more certainty in their financial planning. I also
want more clarity on the details of HM Treasury's rules on our
student loans budget, so that we can much better plan for broader
policy on student support. I will also explore options for the
future of shared prosperity and research funding, to address the
significant deficit we are now facing in Wales following the end
of EU structural funding. I will also be communicating the views
of the Welsh sector on the future of the graduate visa.
Medr will be publishing its first Strategic Plan next week,
setting out more detail on how it will drive reform through the
tertiary education and research sector. Medr is already
developing a new regulatory system for tertiary education and
will start consultation on this in April. The system will be in
place next year and will be underpinned by a higher education
register with associated conditions. These conditions will
include a range of requirements in relation to financial
sustainability, governance and management, quality, equality of
opportunity, staff and student welfare and learner engagement.
I intend to commence Medr's duties in relation to the development
of their funding policy statement in April. This is the first
step in developing a system of funding to support the tertiary
education sector whilst ensuring we are maximising every pound in
our tertiary education system and targeting the right outcomes.
As well as my meeting with Vice Chancellors, I am continuing to
meet regularly with the trade unions whose members are affected
by the uncertainty in the sector, to hear directly from them.
Throughout this period, I have continually stressed the need to
work in social partnership. I continue to expect that
universities will work closely with trade unions, staff, and
student representatives and explore alternative options fully
before considering compulsory redundancies.
Our universities are crucial to our ambitions for improving
public services, growing the economy, and enabling the wellbeing
of future generations. While there are no easy fixes to the
challenges the sector is currently facing, I am committed to
continuing our programme of reform in partnership with others to
ensure that our universities can continue to deliver the
education and economic growth we need in Wales.
To that end, I will be meeting all Vice Chancellors with Medr
regularly through a series of round tables to help us maintain
momentum on the reform programme and make progress against key
actions. I will continue to keep Members updated.
