Higher Education
We aim to make Welsh universities among the best funded in the UK, by:
- Expanding the numbers studying at Welsh universities. Attracting greater numbers of Welsh-domiciled students as well as retaining the current number of UK and overseas students will result in a net increase of overall students.
- Increasing Government investment in Research and Development.
This investment must have as part of its goal helping Welsh universities rise up the global rankings, and thereby increase their attractiveness for Welsh-domiciled students currently opting for English universities.
The quid pro quo for this higher investment in Welsh universities will be an insistence on an ambitious reform programme. This will include addressing the rising administration and management salary costs in Universities by installing benchmarks of numbers of students to administrators, and administrators to faculty in Welsh universities. We must also see an end to Vice-Chancellors paying themselves excessive salaries at the same time as they exploit the terms and conditions of lower-level staff. We will undertake a review of governance structures in Welsh universities to establish whether they are fit for purpose and ensure that top level positions are representative of the diversity of learners they serve.