The Welsh Government has today announced £65 million of new funding
to support further education, higher education and adult community
learning in Wales.
The package includes £46m to help post-16 education and community
learning providers reduce their carbon footprint and improve
their digital connectivity. The Welsh Government has committed to
reach net zero by 2050. The
Minister for Education and Welsh Language has also announced
that all new school and college
buildings will be required to meet net zero carbon targets.
Education providers will use the funding on innovative plans to
improve their carbon footprints, as well as improvements to
infrastructure, such as converting to LED lighting and increasing
the number of electric car charging points.
New training materials will also be developed for college
students to learn about net zero carbon Zero part of their
training, adapted for the wide range of courses available in
further education. For example, students on hairdressing or
beauty courses may learn about the origin of the chemicals they
use and disposing of them in an environmentally-friendly way.
Students on construction courses will learn about renewable
energy sources and retrofitting.
Funding will also be provided to help further education providers
meet the increased costs of consumable materials, such as bricks
and timber, which are used in many vocational college courses.
The cost of steel, for example, is known to have increased
significantly during the pandemic.
The funding will also be used to support post-16 learners in
response to COVID-19, such as through mentoring and increased
mental health support. This is in addition to £8m announced last
week to support further education colleges with meeting the cost
of enabling in-person learning to continue safely, as well as a
recruitment campaign to attract more staff to the sector.
£10m will also be provided for future research activity aligned
to Welsh Government priorities at higher education institutions.
The Minister for Education and Welsh Language, , said:
We are committed as a government to fight climate change. Our
colleges and universities have an important role within the
national effort to reach net zero, as major employers across
Wales and seats of learning for workers who will apply their
learning in high-skilled professions.
Colleges and universities have worked tremendously hard in
enabling learning to continue, while keeping students and staff
safe.
We’ve committed to provide £50m of additional funding for post-16
education in the next financial year. This includes a focus on
our Renew and Reform programme and doing everything we can to
enable our young people to reach their full potential.
