11 July 2024

This article was originally published in the Western Mail

Shortly before the general election was called, the press published a leaked internal list of potential crises that Labour may need to grapple with if elected. Alongside issues such as the pressure on the NHS and local authority budgets, was university sustainability.  

This demonstrates two things: on one hand the incredible pressure on university finances, on the other the significant areas of public service delivery that are also facing similar challenges. 

 For universities in Wales, this is a complex area. Although education is devolved, alongside parts of the research and innovation, there many areas important to universities that are reserved to UK Government including industrial strategy, research councils and migration policy. 

 And beyond those directly reserved areas, the large numbers of students that cross the England-Wales border in both directions to study mean many decisions the UK Government make have indirect consequences. For example, changes to the student support available for English students or the regulation of English universities often require a response from Wales. 

Which brings us to a central question: with Welsh universities facing some of the most urgent, pressing financial challenges in recent history, what can the new UK Government do? 

During the election campaign, Universities Wales published our priorities for the next UK Government. Unsurprisingly, one of our central asks is for the devolution of replacement EU funds to Wales. The loss of EU Structural Funds was a heavy blow to our universities and their ability to deliver for people and businesses. It is difficult to overstate the reach and benefits delivered by our EU funded projects. Whether it was new ways to generate and store energy, creating opportunities for small businesses to access cutting edge research and innovation, or developing new agricultural techniques that would help achieve food security, these funds made it possible for the work our academics do to reach and help more people across the entirety of Wales. 

The replacement fund - the UK Shared Prosperity Fund - did not enable universities to sustain this work. We were pleased to see UK Labour commit in their manifesto to restoring decision-making on replacement funds. The coming months will be a crucial period of determining what the new funding arrangements look like and how they operate.

And this speaks to one of our broader asks: that the new UK Government looks to strengthen and enhance four-nation working. The complexity of our devolution settlement, not least in the context of universities, means that good communication is essential for good policy-making. To take one example: UK Labour has indicated a willingness to look at student support for English students. Changes to the student support system in England can have implications for Wales, especially as the cost of the English system determines, to an extent, the resource available for the Welsh system. Governments working together, at an early stage, is essential to minimise unintended consequences.

The recent review of the graduate route, commissioned by the previous UK Government, provides another example of why this four-nation engagement matters. The graduate route, which provides international students with the right to stay in the UK for two years after the completion of their studies, is important in ensuring the Wales and the UK remains an attractive destination. It puts us on an equal footing with many of the countries that we compete with. We were pleased to see the review recommend the graduate route be retained as is.

As Wales has a lower proportion of international students in our universities than other parts of the UK, and a lower proportion of graduates in our workforce, any potential changes to the graduate route would potentially have had an outsized impact on Wales. This too speaks to the importance of the UK Government recognising the differences between different parts of the UK, and working closely across the four nations. 

We hear so frequently of the challenges we face: the pressure on public finances, climate change, technological advancement. In Wales, due to our population being, on the whole, older and less well qualified than the rest of the UK, some of these challenges loom larger on our horizon. There are no easy solutions to either the issues that universities face or the bigger challenges that face Wales. But there are reasons for optimism. 

Our universities have stood as anchors in their communities for many years. They have the skills and expertise to ensure Wales is well-placed to take hold of the opportunities that arise and to buffer us against the near-certain headwinds we will encounter. There is no escaping the enormity of the task facing the new UK Government. 

But, there are also strengths across Wales that are too often well-hidden and underutilised. Recognising the contribution that all our places can make, and what is needed to unlock that contribution, will help us find solutions that can make a real tangible difference, just as those projects supported by EU funds did so across so much of Wales.

That’s why our message for UK Government is quite straightforward: work across the four nations, recognise the diversity of our strengths and our needs, and ensure that decision-making is done together, collaboratively, to give us the best chance at meeting the challenges we face.