Deputy Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education, Cefin Campbell, has said more must be done to help make university more affordable for young people in Wales, as he met students receiving their A Level results on Thursday morning.
Speaking at Pembrokeshire College in Haverfordwest, Mr Campbell said he spoke to a number of students “very happy” to have the grades they needed to take up their offers for places at universities including Cardiff.
Review of University Funding
Mr Campbell was speaking after announcing a widescale review of higher education and funding in Wales last week. The review was announced this month amid a nearly £100m blackhole.
He admitted there was “a tricky balance” to be made meeting the needs of universities for money and the ability of students to pay rising tuition fees and interest on loans.
Call for Honest Conversation
Mr Campbell said work must be done to look at tuition fees and interest rates for student debt. If this wasn't addressed, young people would “vote with their feet” and not go to university, he warned.
“That is the reason I launched the review last week - to see how we can support universities going forward and make them more sustainable.”
“The first part of the review's work is to look at what the Welsh Government can do to support our students. We know they are facing high tuition fees and debt so that is being questioned at UK and Welsh Government level too.”
“We have got to get a balance between supporting institutions and students and making Welsh Government investment benefit Wales too.”
If this balance and worry over debt interest rates was not addressed, everyone would lose out, he said.
“Discussion is needed around interest rates because we will reach a tipping point where young people will vote with their feet not to go to university.”
“We need to have an honest conversation and that is one of the tasks of the review.”
Encouraging Students to Stay in Wales
He said better marketing of Welsh institutions is needed. “We need every institution in Wales to up their game to be more attractive to young people. We have high class, high quality courses and maybe we need to market them better.”
Mr Campbell, who took his first degree in Welsh at Swansea University and a masters in social linguistics at Aberystwyth University, said work must be done to encourage young people from Wales to study and stay in Wales.
He said if they leave to study at universities elsewhere, more work was needed to encourage them to return to Wales to use their skills here.
“We want young people, when they graduate, to play their part in developing the Welsh economy, that's something the Welsh Government is keen to do.”
He said he was encouraged meeting A Level students this morning and wished everyone well with their results and future.
