Funds For Further Education
The Welsh Assembly Government’s higher education strategy and plan for Wales in the 21st Century has promised the announcement of a national bursary scheme this spring.
The report, For Our Future, was published last week by the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills. It builds on 2002’s Reaching Higher, which set out the challenges for a newly-devolved Wales.
It says that the two main objectives for the Welsh higher education system are social justice and economic success, and universities are warned that “only institutions that can deliver [our] priorities can expect to be the beneficiaries” of public funding investment in higher education.
The bursary scheme would mean that all students in Wales, no matter which university they attend, would receive the same bursary. Currently the bursary levels vary widely across universities, with students at institutions that are successful at widening participation often receiving less as the money is spread more thinly.
Some of the other proposals echo the UK government’s recent plans for the sector, such as increasing collaboration between institutions and improving workforce development at universities. Others, such as providing more opportunities for students to study in Welsh, are unique to the proposals.
The plans also advocate further widening access to higher education, and targeting financial help to students from lower-income backgrounds to achieve this aim.
