Welsh university review warned against treating students as a ‘cost in the spreadsheet’

Nation.Cymru staff

A major review of the future of Welsh universities must focus on improving the experience of students rather than becoming an “accountancy exercise” concerned with keeping institutions afloat, a new report has warned.

Higher education think tank the Post-18 Project has set out eight tests for the Welsh Government’s recently announced review of the sector, arguing Wales should aim to become the best place in the UK to be a student.

Its report, Y Gorau Oll: Making Wales the best place in the UK to be a student, comes after ministers launched an independent review amid concerns about the financial sustainability of Welsh universities and the student finance system.

The Welsh Government says universities face rising costs, constrained income growth and growing competition for domestic and international students.

But the Post-18 Project argues the review should not focus solely on university finances.

Gwenno Roberts, Llywydd of Undeb Myfyrwyr Cymraeg Aberystwyth (UMCA), the Welsh Language Students’ Union at Aberystwyth University, and a co-author of the report, said: “Welsh students are ambitious. We want qualifications that open doors, but we are also workers, tenants, citizens and members of our communities.

“A higher education review that concentrates only on university balance sheets will miss the people the system exists to serve.

“Wales should aim higher. It can become the best place in the UK to be a student – a country where students can shape their education, learn and use languages, contribute to their communities and get the financial, health and housing support they need to succeed.

“That means students must be partners in the review, not a line in its costings.”

Student support

The report says only 32.5% of Welsh 18-year-olds applied to higher education in 2025, compared with 41.2% across the UK, while 27% of Welsh graduates were working outside Wales 15 months after completing their studies.

Its recommendations include protecting Wales’ student-support system, introduced following the Diamond review of higher education funding.

The reforms created a system under which eligible students receive the same overall level of maintenance support, with household income determining how much is provided as a grant and how much as a loan.

The report also calls for the amount students receive to be reassessed as wages and living costs rise, and for outdated family-income thresholds to be updated.

It proposes allowing students to temporarily reduce their course load without losing financial support for essentials such as rent, food and bills.

Other recommendations include making it easier to combine subjects and transfer between institutions, giving students a stronger say in their education and collecting national data on student finances, mental health, wellbeing, harassment and sexual violence.

The report also calls for Wales to prepare to participate fully in Erasmus+ from 2027 while retaining useful networks developed through the Taith exchange programme, and proposes a national student employment plan.

‘Managed decline’

Co-author Jim Dickinson, associate editor of higher education publication Wonkhe, said Wales faced “a choice between managed decline and national ambition”.

He said: “It can compete ever more desperately for a shrinking pool of students, or it can create an experience so good that people choose Wales, succeed here and have compelling reasons to stay.

“Some of the report’s proposals require investment, and we are candid about that. But many of the most important changes are changes to rules.

“At present, a student who needs to drop a module because of illness, disability, caring responsibilities or financial pressure can lose thousands of pounds in support – even though their rent, food and energy bills remain exactly the same.

“Wales should allow students to slow down without forcing them to give up.”

The Post-18 Project is chaired by Mark Leach MBE and directed by Professor John Blake, Professor of Social Innovation and Public Policy at the University of Salford and a former Director for Fair Access and Participation at the Office for Students.

The Welsh Government’s review is expected to begin in the autumn and will examine university finances, student support, research funding, participation, graduate destinations and Welsh-medium provision.

An interim report on funding and student support is due in summer 2027, followed by a full report in winter 2027-28.

Deputy Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Cefin Campbell said the review was an opportunity “to think boldly about universities’ future contribution to Wales and ensure public investment delivers the greatest benefit to learners, communities and the nation”.

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