Major review of Wales tuition fee policy

Education Minister Huw Lewis has announced a major review into Wales’ tuition fee policy. Currently Welsh students pay approximately £3,500 in tuition fees and the Welsh Government funds the rest, wherever a student studies in the UK. The all-party review commencing 2014 and be lead by Sir Ian Diamond, vice Chancellor of Aberdeen University will look at the sustainability of this policy and consider all aspects of student finance including the role of HEFCW, reporting back to the Welsh Government after the 2016 assembly elections.

The Minister stated that: “now seems the right time for us to take stock and to consider the future in the light of the rapid and unpredictable change facing the sector…In my view we should be looking, in a more sustained, structured and determined way, at the relationships universities have with their communities to raise expectations and support achievement on the part of individuals who might never have seen themselves as ‘university material”.

Professor Colin Riordan, Chair of Higher Education Wales has welcomed the review stating that ““This forward-looking approach announced by the Minister is to be applauded, and it makes the Welsh Government the only administration in the UK prepared to grapple with the increasingly emotive issue of student support and funding and the impact that this may have on social mobility”.