Welsh universities appeal for no more sudden policy changes
Earlier on Wednesday, a trade union urged the Welsh government to decide what it wanted from higher education and "properly" fund the sector to fulfil those requirements.Aberystwyth vice-chancellor Prof Jon Timmis told the Welsh Affairs Committee at Westminster that there was now a need for a "stable policy landscape" to make it easier to plan for the future.He said a "fit for purpose mechanism" was needed to put higher education in the UK on a sustainable footing.
Prof Edmund Burke said Bangor University had "no choice" but to make savings to "ensure the financial stability of the institution".The university's executive board would meet on Thursday to start making decisions on its restructuring, he told the committee. It would do everything possible to avoid compulsory redundancies, he said, but was unable to completely rule them out.Prof Burke also warned MPs that universities "couldn't go another decade" without student fees rising in line with inflation and institutions should work with the UK and Welsh governments to "determine a sustainable financial footing" for higher education.Cardiff University's vice-chancellor Prof Wendy Larner said the sector was having to "reinvent itself" and would have to find "new revenue streams".She said she recognised that "governments are challenged" financially but that she was optimistic about the future of the university sector. The head of the body which funds and regulates universities in Wales warned last month that they face "massive" financial challenges but said that none were at risk of going bust in the next year.Medr chief executive Simon Pirotte said the eight institutions reached a total deficit of £77m for 2023-24, compared to a £21m surplus the previous year.
Earlier on Wednesday, higher education unions told members of a Senedd committee that some universities had responded to the financial challenges facing the sector better than others.The University and College Union's Gareth Lloyd was critical of Cardiff University when asked about the vice-chancellor's defence of its approach in evidence to a previous committee meeting."I don't accept that Cardiff did the right thing," he told the Welsh Parliament's education committee."The danger is if we're not careful is this could have a really detrimental effect on students who [now] don't want to go there and that really really worries me," he added.Unison official Dan Beard claimed senior leaders in other universities were "aghast" at the way Cardiff had handled its proposals to cut jobs and courses.However Jamie Insole, from the UCU, said Wrexham University was "in a firm situation" and Aberystwyth University has displayed "how a university can weather a financial storm" by working closely with staff.Later Deio Owen, NUS Cymru president, told the committee: "There has been an impact on students and learners mental wellbeing due to proposed cut and the confirmed cuts that we've heard in the past few months.""That uncertainty does have a knock on effect," he added."You're paying for a service which you're not sure you're going to get."
'Catastrophic'
In a paper for the education committee, Unison warned Senedd members that hundreds of expected job losses at universities across Wales would have a "catastrophic effect on staff, institutions, students, communities and the Welsh economy".In the document the union urged the Welsh government to decide what it wanted from higher education and "properly" fund the sector to fulfil those requirements.Welsh ministers "must produce a detailed industrial strategy which outlines the skills and number of graduates Wales requires for the future across a range of jobs and ensure universities have the capacity to train these young people", Unison said.
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