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BBC News
31-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
'Talent' and 'money' leaving Wales due to scheme, universities warn
There should be changes to a scheme which sends young Welsh "talent" and "money" to English universities at a time when the sector is under financial pressure, higher education bosses have Welsh government's Seren scheme is designed to support the brightest pupils to reach their full potential, but critics have questioned its traditional focus on Oxbridge and top universities outside Greenland, 26, from Deri in Caerphilly county said his experience of the scheme a decade ago was "invaluable".The Welsh government said Seren helped learners attend "the best universities, including universities in Wales". Universities Wales Vice Chair Dr Ben Calvert, who is also the vice chancellor of the University of South Wales, said he hoped discussions involving UK and Welsh ministers about tuition fees and university funding would help the sector in the longer other measures also needed attention, he said, including the fact significantly fewer Welsh 18-year-olds were applying to university compared with their English shortfall amounted to the equivalent of up to 4,500 students, according to Dr many of those students ended up studying in Wales "that's a lot of money that's missing from the system that could be in the system and that could be helping us at the moment," he said. Universities Wales is also calling on the Welsh government to consider raising the compulsory age of education."I think it seems strange that it's 16 where in England, it's 18," he said. "It doesn't necessarily send a signal to people around educational aspiration."He said the Seren programme was "aimed at high achieving students who would already go to university"."It's effectively a programme which takes an awful lot of students into Russell Group institutions in England. "I think we need a programme that works for all, that deals, perhaps more specifically with learners who are asking questions about whether university is for them at all."When we have that participation gap, creaming people off the top and potentially sending them elsewhere to institutions in England doesn't feel right." But Mr Greenland, who was one of the first students to be supported by the scheme and the first in his immediate family to go to university, said it gave him confidence to apply for a biomedical science degree at a top doing an undergraduate degree he is now studying for a PhD at Imperial College London and has started his own tutoring and mentoring business, which includes working with more recent Seren students."I think equipping students with the mindset of going out of Wales is not necessarily a bad thing because I think a lot of students will come back to invest their skillset back into Wales," he said. "If you go back to the nuts and bolts of what Seren provides it it about giving students exposure and confidence to higher education."It's all about raising aspirations and showcasing to students the range of opportunities they have whether that's inside Wales or outside Wales." Sixth formers in Ysgol Godre'r Berwyn in Bala, Gwynedd, are currently preparing for their exams while looking ahead to the next step after leaving Nel, 18, said it was important to encourage Welsh students to study in Wales, she said she was undecided about where she would go and university cuts have had an impact."This time last year I was certain I was going to stay in Wales for university but by today because of what's happening in the news and the media I've been rethinking and considering my options very carefully", she 18, is hoping to take up an apprenticeship rather than go to university."I learn more through working rather than sitting in a classroom", he said."Gaining experience while making money" also appealed and he believed worry about debt could be "a massive factor" for some potential ,18, is undecided between taking up an apprenticeship and going to university, but first he will be spending a few months in he comes back he would like to see what opportunities there could be locally but he "wouldn't mind taking the jump to explore" further afield. Plaid Cymru has called for a review of university funding and floated the possibility of changes to maintenance grants so that there was more support for student studying in has called the Seren scheme "ridiculous".Former Welsh government special adviser Dewi Knight said attracting more Welsh students, by itself, would not solve the financial challenges facing higher said universities could do more "to attract those students who are on their doorstep and be competitive not only at a Welsh level but at an UK level"."Of course I think it's a good thing if we can attract Welsh students to be at Welsh universities or come home to do their postgraduates but I think it's also important that students and their families have the ability to make the decision that suits them."He said Seren's mission was still "all-important" in helping students from all backgrounds to get to some of the best universities in the world."Frankly there's been a tradition in Wales where we don't push our brightest and best to do as well as we could."We focus a bit too much at the middle, and Seren's been a big part of that culture change," he said. The Welsh government said: "Seren supports the best learners regardless of their economic background, personal situation, or location, to attend the best universities, including universities in Wales. "We are currently looking at ways to further increase opportunities for learners to participate in Seren."It added it was important people had the right to choose where they studied and Wales had "the highest levels of non-repayable grant support provided to those most in need".
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why are less Welsh 18-year-olds going to university?
Wales will be at an "economic disadvantage" to other UK nations if it doesn't increase the number of students going to university, according to the sector. Universities Wales - which represents Wales' nine institutions - said action was needed with latest admissions showing 32% of Welsh 18-year-olds applied to university in January, down a percentage point in a year, and compared to 40.6% across the UK. Director Amanda Wilkinson said it "presents the very real possibility that future generations of young people in Wales will be less qualified than those that have gone before them". Welsh government higher education minister Vikki Howells said it wanted to "make it easier for more young people to go to university" if they wanted. Protesters call on Senedd to help save uni jobs 'Welsh universities are not going bust' Cardiff University plans to cut 400 jobs and axe courses On BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement programme, she went on to say it also supported young people in finding the "right route" for themselves, including apprenticeships. Howells said she was confident the Welsh government could find alternative nursing places if Cardiff University goes ahead with proposals to close its course. There had been a warning from union leaders this would threaten the supply of nurses at health boards. But Howells said: "We're confident that if Cardiff does go ahead with these unfortunate plans to cut their nursing school, we can reallocate those places to neighbouring institutions so that there's no threat to the target of nurses that we're looking to recruit." Universities Wales, which represents the nation's higher education organisations, said UCAS figures also showed applications from mature students in Wales "continued to decline" and a widening participation gap between the least and most advantaged students in Wales. "The industries that will drive our economic growth in the decades to come rely heavily on graduates," said Ms Wilkinson. "If Welsh people are not gaining these skills, Wales' economy will find itself at an economic disadvantage compared to the rest of the UK where the proportion of graduates in the workforce will be higher. "It will also result in a lack of opportunities for the people who would benefit from the transformative experience on offer at university." Howells said £1.5m had been invested in improving university participation, as well as increasing school attendance and attainment to "make sure that that we get those people ready for entrance to university". "We do need more graduates for the jobs of the future," she said. "We're investing, for instance, in the Seren programme so that we can make that an equality-based approach so that young people who will have the potential to go to university and might not have considered it previously, can be encouraged to do so." Five things inspectors say about Wales' schools Asking police to search pupils' bags 'impractical' 'I fled Ukraine speaking basic English - now I'm off to Oxford University'
