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Cardiff University Students’ Union to appoint full-time Welsh Language Student Officer after campaign

17 Dec 2021 2 minute read
Cardiff University. Picture by Stan Zurek

Cardiff University Students’ Union’s board of trustees has agreed to appoint a full-time Welsh Language Officer after a campaign by current and former students.

BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards was among Cardiff University alumni who signed a letter saying that the Students’ Union had a duty to Welsh speaking students and should “support them and ensure they have a voice”.

The union had previously rebuffed demands from Welsh-speaking students to bring it in line with other student unions at Bangor, Aberystwyth and Swansea universities by creating the post.

But a motion put forward by the current part-time Welsh language officer Annell Dyfri, passed in the Students’ Union annual meeting on November 25, before a meeting of the board of trustees yesterday.

Annell Dyfri said that it was “great news” and said that the role would come into place by the 2023/24 academic year.

“It’s a big step forward in ensuring a voice for Welsh language students at the university,” she said.

William Rees who had been collecting signatures for the letter said that it was “great to see this. Congratulations to the present crew who have been leading and campaigning for this. Implementation will now need to be carefully monitored”.

“And to those who’ve pushed back against this for years and years, I wish you a Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.”

The Education Minister Jeremy Miles also appeared to endorse the call for a Welsh Language Student Officer in the Senedd last week, in reply to a question by ended Member Cefon Campbell on the topic.

“In a university that has the highest number of Welsh speakers of all the Welsh universities, it is appropriate that students have employed representation in the union, and that would correspond to the representation that we see in other universities in Wales, as the Member mentioned in his contribution,” he said.

“This is a matter for the union’s board of trustees. However, if the motion to establish a full-time post for the Welsh language is passed unanimously, as I understand it has been, it would be reasonable to expect that that decision is realised.”

Three Senedd Members who are Cardiff University alumni, Luke Fletcher, Rhys ab Owen and Hefin David, had also signed the letter.


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