Freedom Central » higher education

The Welsh Government must give assurances it has in place a robust higher education funding policy

Aled Roberts — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:08:38 +0000

Statistics released on Monday by UCAS show the number of applications to Welsh universities for 2012 has fallen compared to the previous year.

Following the deadline on 15 January, the number of applicants received were down by 9.3% on 2011 figures. There was a 12.3% (36,195 applicants) fall from English applicants, which is just over half of the total applications to Welsh institutions. Scottish numbers were down 39.5% and Northern Irish 15.3%, with Welsh applicants dropping by 4.5%.

The Welsh Labour Government’s tuition fees funding policy is heavily reliant on students from the rest of the UK part-funding Welsh students’ higher education. It is therefore very disappointing to see that there has been such a huge drop in the number of English, Scottish and Northern Irish students proposing to attend Welsh universities.

The Minister has often made reference to the fact that his policy was costed for the term of this Assembly based on forecast student numbers. We need to know whether the changes in student numbers, particularly from England, impact on those forecasts. Whilst the Welsh Liberal Democrats support the idea of giving extra support to Welsh students, we need to be assured that the Welsh Government has in place a robust higher education funding policy. We are concerned that the Minister’s failure to be clear on the impact of such changes in numbers will further undermine the viability of Welsh Universities.

Clegg comes to Wales and says governments need to help create jobs

Freedom Central — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:47:17 +0000

The Western Mail reports on Nick Clegg’s visit to Cardiff on Friday in which he called in on an innovative recycling project in Cardiff that offers training and work opportunities to the long-term unemployed.

Mr Clegg praised the YMCA Recycling and Reuse project, which offers temporary placements processing donated clothing and textiles and using it to create stock for a charity shop and is helping 82 people, some of them residents at the YMCA hostel, to gain work-based qualifications:

Mr Clegg said the need to boost job prospects for those out of work was one of the reasons he was backing Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Kirsty Williams push to get more money for job schemes, capital investment, and to close the schools funding gap with England, in the Welsh Government’s budget.

He added that the UK Government also needed to do more boost work programmes, which is why he is planning to make an announcement on the issue in the coming weeks.

Asked whether this could mean a scheme similar the Future Jobs Fund, which guaranteed long-term unemployed young people a work placement, he said: “What we don’t want to do is repeat the mistakes of the Labour Government, they created a fund like the future jobs fund where only jobs in the public or voluntary sector are created, they weren’t jobs in the private sector.

“There’s no point in a stop gap process to create jobs that don’t create a long term solution.”

Progress made under Glyndwr must not be lost

Aled Roberts — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 04:47:13 +0000

The establishment of Glyndwr University was something that Wrexham and the whole of North East Wales wanted and needed for a number of years. Wrexham is historically an area with low levels of participation in Higher Education and Glyndwr is doing excellent work in improving links with industry and encouraging those from non-traditional backgrounds into education.

The progress that Glyndwr has made in widening participation and extending access must not be lost under the more traditionalist approach of other universities. It is for this reason that I receive the news of a potential merger with concern. I will work with all those involved to scrutinise any proposals regarding a potential merger to make sure the voice of North Wales is heard loud and clear.

Labour MPs and AMs oppose Glyndwr University shake-up

Freedom Central — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:49:40 +0000

The BBC report that the Welsh Education Minister is facing problems within his own party over his plans to shake up higher Education in Wales.

They say that a group of Labour MPs and AMs have come out against amalgamating Glyndwr University in Wrexham with neighbouring institutions. The group believe that such a move would take its leadership away from north east Wales. They have added that the proposals from Higher Education Funding Council Wales show woeful ignorance of the area’s needs:

Five Labour MPs and three AMs from north east Wales have lodged a joint submission with Hefcw. They are joined by former MP Baron [Barry] Jones, Glyndwr’s first chancellor.

Wrexham MP Ian Lucas said the region needed a university linked to the needs of the economy and serving local people.

“It is for this reason that we joined together to support the establishment of Glyndwr University just three years ago,” he said.

“We are determined that it should continue to be led from within north east Wales and that its aims should not be compromised by the agendas of other institutions.

“Glyndwr is the only university in north-east Wales and plays a vital role in the community.

“The proposals put forward by Hefcw display a woeful ignorance of the needs of north-east Wales and the importance of a university led from within our region.

“If implemented, they would damage the competitiveness of one of Wales’ strongest economic regions.”

When it was published, Mr Andrews said the Hefcw report made “a persuasive case for change” and that he was minded to accept its “broad thrust”.

Welsh Universities fall back

Freedom Central — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 10:05:00 +0000

The Wales on Sunday reports that seven out of the country’s nine universities dropped down the annual Sunday Times University Guide 2012, with only Glyndwr University and the University of Glamorgan gaining places:

Cardiff is still Wales’ top-ranking university but has dropped out of the top 25, slipping from 24th to 26th.

Second best is Aberystwyth, which has gone from 43rd last year to 48th this time around.

Bangor University, down to 53rd from 48th, was rated as having the best teaching excellence in Wales (79.3%) and was among Britain’s top 15 universities on that measure.

Swansea also fell from 50th last year to 57th, while the University of Wales Trinity St David went from 102nd to 114th and the University of Wales, Newport, went from 111th to 115th.

This has prompted Dr Philip Dixon, who is director of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) in Wales, to comment: “The drop in the majority of universities going down this table does give cause for concern and is also a clear indication that the reorganisation of higher education in Wales is long overdue and why the minister has been right to push that agenda and speed it up.

“We have to develop higher education in Wales, not just so it is excellent in the UK but so it is excellent in world terms.”

University mergers proposed

Freedom Central — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:16:47 +0000

The BBC report that the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales has handed Ministers proposals for cutting the number of universities in Wales through mergers.

They have proposed a reduction in the number of Universities from 11 to 6. These include a merger between the University of Glamorgan, the University of Wales Institute Cardiff (Uwic), and University of Wales, Newport so as to create a “metropolitan” university, comparable to those in similarly-sized cities and regions around the UK.

HEFCW also say that Trinity Saint David and Swansea Metropolitan University should merge as planned. The three announced they would work together over the coming months to create a unified institution under the charter of the University of Wales, with the aim of a formal merger by August 2012.

Hefcw say that a strategic alliance between Aberystwyth and Bangor universities should be deepened, with a long-term plan for merger. They want Cardiff and Swansea Universities to continue to exist as separate institutions, although with more collaboration between them.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Minister, Aled Roberts said:

“The Education Minister is determined to merge Universities in Wales and I do not entirely understand his motivations for that. The crucial issue that we must not forget in the debate around the HE sector in Wales is that it should serve pupils from all across Wales, especially people from disadvantaged backgrounds and communities.

“The report by HEFCW on the future of higher education sector in Wales is based on no significant discussion with the Universities themselves and there is a lack of detail regarding some of the recommendations regarding Aberystwyth, Bangor and Glyndwr Universities.

“Given the importance of the HE sector in Wales , the Education Minister needs to provide a detailed explanation on the proposals particularly for those institutions which are separated geographically by significant distances if the consultation is to be meaningful.”

University tuition fee confusion raised by HEFCW

Freedom Central — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:30:03 +0000

The BBC report that the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, who are the body implementing Welsh Government policy on subsidising university tuition fees, did not understand how it would work.

They report that questions are asked in emails from the chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. He warned in one that nobody outside the Welsh Government understood the education minister’s public statements:

Baroness Jenny Randerson, a Welsh Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, said the emails showed HEFCW “did not understand the minister’s maths”.

She said that while she supported anything which helped students, there was a question about how the funding would be sustained.

“I think this was a good idea, [but] basically it looks to me as if it was drawn up on the back of an envelope, as it depends on so many variables and things you can’t predict,” she said.

Lib Dem HE Champion writes on fees

Freedom Central — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 13:50:37 +0000

Over at Liberal Democrat Voice, the party’s Deputy Leader in the House of Commons, Simon Hughes, writes in defence of the Coalition Government’s tuition fees policy:

The one criticism that cannot be levelled at the government’s proposals is that it will make university unaffordable for future students. The system of financing for the teaching of higher education which is proposed by the government will be free for everyone during their studies. Payment will only be made after a graduate has finished their studies and only if they can afford to pay once they have a decent income. If they cannot afford it, the government picks up the bill. In the future, the income level which graduates have to cross before they are required to make a contribution will for the first time be increased in line with earnings so that graduates will no be dragged into repayments at lower earnings. And of course the government rejected Lord Browne’s proposals for no upper limit on fees, and fixed both the regular future limit, and an exceptional one for exceptional cases, with additional conditions imposed.

This is materially different from the tuition fees regime introduced by Labour. Labour’s system brought in fees which had to be paid by the student up front before they could go to university, which did put in place a real financial barrier to higher education. Labour’s second fees scheme, top-up fees, was an improvement because it provided for extra loans to pay the higher fees, but still excluded part-time students who make up nearly one in three of the undergraduate student body. And Labour’s fees system, which started repayments at an income level of £15,000, also never took account of inflation – meaning that graduates on lower incomes paid an ever higher proportion of their monthly income in student loans.

Simon makes it clear that the status quo is not an option:

The former Labour higher education minister David Lammy MP made clear just a few weeks ago that some of our best universities have a dreadful record on access for bright and talented students from local authority comprehensive schools and non-traditional backgrounds, this despite the legacy of free or heavily subsidised education. Serious action needs to be taken in this country to deal with the fact that private universities like Harvard or Yale in the United States which charge fees many times higher than the maximum level proposed for English universities manage to do much better in recruiting students and staffroom poor and disadvantaged backgrounds and minority communities than Oxford and Cambridge. Scholarships which pay for tuition fees need to be effectively targeted. As this government has already shown it understands by already announcing an increase in the maintenance loan, better systems are needed to prevent students racking up commercial debts to pay for their living costs. And those going into further education colleges need to be assured in advance that the inescapable costs of travel, equipment or a midday meal can be met.

Jenny Willott clarifies her remarks

Freedom Central — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:37:50 +0000

The BBC reports that Cardiff Central MP, Jenny Willott has denied that she told a journalist that she would vote against tuition fee proposals being put forward by the UK Government:

Jenny Willott, the Lib Dem MP for Cardiff Central, was quoted as saying in the South Wales Echo that she would vote against any rises in tuition fees. The Guardian also said she had said she would vote against a rise.

Miss Willott told the BBC she had been misquoted and had not said she would definitely vote against the plans. She said her position was that she would “not support a rise in tuition fees. I’m waiting to see what is in the motion before deciding whether to abstain or vote against”.

Jenny Willott confirms she will vote against tuition fee rise

Freedom Central — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 06:26:35 +0000

Cardiff Central Liberal Democrat MP, Jenny Willott has told the South Wales Echo that she will vote against the proposed increase in tuition fees to £6,000 a year.

Jenny stated her intention on Friday as police patrolled outside her weekly constituent surgery in the city amid fears of further student protests.

She said: “I have said all along I will vote against any rises in tuition fees. The Browne Review in its current format, although there are parts I agree with, is not something I can support.”

She added: “We didn’t win an outright majority at the election, if we had we would be scrapping tuition fees. The Browne Report was commissioned by the previous government and we are having to deal with its recommendations.”

Jenny said that she supported some parts of the higher education changes, including changing the amount when graduates start paying back fees from £15,000 to over £20,000 but she indicated that this was not enough to offset the increase in fees.