Timely action will be essential to support Wales’ struggling universities, the new devolved government has been warned as the sector awaits the launch of a review of higher education funding.
Plaid Cymru, led by new first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, has formed a minority government after the party usurped Labour for the first time as the largest in the Senedd, claiming 45 per cent of total seats.
Ap Iorwerth has now appointed a team of ministers, with Anna Brychan, former assistant dean at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), taking the education post, and Cefin Campbell, who was the party’s education spokesperson in the run-up to the election, appointed deputy minister for skills and tertiary education.
In its election manifesto, Plaid pledged to commission a review of university funding within its first 100 days in office.
It said this review would have “clear terms of reference that includes ensuring that more of the value of Welsh government investment in higher education stays in Wales, and that more Welsh students are supported to study in Wales”.
