Commenting on the announcement that Labour’s Education Minister is to launch a review of Higher Education funding, including the Welsh Government’s £3.6billion tuition fee subsidy to Welsh-domiciled students, Angela Burns AM, Shadow Education Minister, said:
“Welsh Conservatives have long claimed that Labour’s pre-election promise of a tuition fee subsidy was uncosted, unaffordable and should be taken back to the drawing board.
“While this announcement is being dressed up as a wider review of HE funding, it looks like wolf’s clothing for scrapping Labour’s unsustainable £3.6billion tuition fees policy, which had been due to run for nine years.
“Labour’s tuition fee subsidy has sent tens of millions of pounds of Welsh Government funding to universities outside of Wales at a time when Welsh universities should be aiming to compete on the world stage.
“Subsidising student fees, which aren’t paid upfront anyway, and denying proper funding to Welsh universities, putting them under considerable financial pressure, was an expensive gimmick and totally the wrong approach.
“Figures show the tuition fee subsidy has completely failed to improve access to higher education for young people from more deprived communities so it is time to consider other ways to improve access and invest in higher education.
“If we want Welsh universities to be able to compete with the best performing teaching and research institutions in the UK and further afield, they must be properly resourced and not see HE funding syphoned off to make a political statement.
“This review now has a clear challenge to craft a set of proposals to improve access to higher education for all, prepare students for the world of work and equip Welsh universities to compete with institutions across the UK and abroad.”
