The Welsh Affairs Committee calls on the UK Government to think
again on how universities are supported at a systemic level and
to work with the Welsh Government to put them on a sustainable
footing.
Following yesterday's evidence session
with leaders of all nine Welsh universities on their finances and
the systemic challenges they face, the Committee says that
universities need funding security and long-term policy
stability.
The Committee concluded that universities in Wales are in an
acutely precarious position, as they face up to wide-ranging
challenges including falling admissions among Welsh young people,
declining international student numbers and tuition fees lagging
far behind inflation.
The Committee notes that this week's Industrial Strategy
acknowledged the critical role universities play in driving
skills and innovation, while they also hold huge economic and
civic importance to communities up and down Wales.
Professor Wendy Larner, of Cardiff University, told the Committee
that this is ‘an existential moment for universities' and that
universities ‘need to be different for the future'. Professor
Paul Boyle CBE, of Swansea University, added that universities
are working towards financial sustainability within a system that
‘does not lend itself to that sustainability'.
The status quo is unsustainable. It's therefore crucial that the
UK Government acts, together with its Welsh Government partners,
as part of its promised major reforms for higher education.
