HigHer education for tHe nation

Universities for Wales

HigHer education for tHe nation

2

ContentsIntroduCtIon ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3

1. What unIversItIes do for groWth and sustaInable jobs ......................................................................................................................................................................5

2. What unIversItIes do for publIC servICes In Wales...............................................................................................................................................................................................7

3. What unIversItIes do to help everyone reaCh theIr eduCatIonal potentIal ..................................................................................8

4. hoW unIversItIes ContrIbute toWards 21st Century healthCare ...................................................................................................................................9

5. hoW unIversItIes support the Well-beIng of people In our CommunItIes .................................................................................................11

6. What unIversItIes do for our homes ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................12

7. hoW unIversItIes help make our CommunItIes safer .........................................................................................................................................................................................13

8. hoW unIversItIes ContrIbute to a faIr and equal soCIety ................................................................................................................................................................15

9. hoW unIversItIes help to taCkle poverty ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................16

10. hoW unIversItIes ContrIbute to our rural CommunItIes ...................................................................................................................................................................17

11. What unIversItIes do for the envIronment and sustaInabIlIty ...........................................................................................................................................19

12. hoW unIversItIes are Important to the Culture and herItage of Wales ...................................................................................................20

sourCes and further readIng ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................22

Front cover includes pics from: Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University, Swansea University, University of South Wales, Cardiff Metropolitan University, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Glyndwr University and Open University in Wales

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IntroductIon

Welsh universities impact on the lives of everyone in the nation. If people are at the heart of a nation, our university network is its circulatory system, pumping knowledge and wealth and well-being around the country, sustaining and maintaining its health and ensuring a living, vibrant nation.

Our hospitals and general practices offer the expertise of nurses and doctors who were educated at universities in Wales and further afield. Government policy is influenced by research carried out at universities. Engineers, accountants, lawyers, town planners, social workers, teachers…many of them have been trained at Wales’s higher education institutions. Universities offer a life-changing experience for students, and offer indispensable contributions to society, communities and the economy. And it’s not limited to Wales; Welsh higher education has an impact globally, with universities forging alliances around the world. Indeed, the results of the recently published Research Excellence Framework 2014 show that research in Wales has more impact on our daily lives than in any other country in the UK. The impact of research into illnesses such as dementia and cancer will be felt globally. This attracts interest to Wales from business around the world, as well as international students who wish to study in Wales.

Welsh Universities:

• employ some 25,000 people. They have generated almost 40,000 jobs in the Welsh economy by being major purchasers, and through the buying power of their employees.

• contribute more than £3 billion in gross expenditure to the Welsh economy, with a turnover of £1.3 billion.

• have stimulated economic growth through research and innovation and linking with businesses, and by producing highly-skilled graduates.

• produce researchers of considerable international reach who collaborate internationally more than any other UK constituent country.

Their overseas and EU students – almost 25,000 a year - contribute even more to the Welsh economy than Cardiff’s

restaurant and hotel sector, investing more than £100 million on tuition fees, generating a value added contribution of £140 million and contributing some £150 million to Wales’s GDP thanks to living costs and subsistence expenditure.

A circulatory system needs to be kept nourished. At a time when more sectors are competing for scarcer resources in post-recession Wales, the universities will be making their case for continued investment. Higher education impacts positively on social cohesion, crime rates, social mobility, civic engagement, health and life expectancy, economic growth, personal earnings and employment. It also produces income for Wales. This report barely scratches the surface of what universities do in any one year to contribute to the well-being and prosperity of our nation. We hope that this taster of the varied work carried out by our universities – including providing high quality research and an excellent student experience – will be encouraging, illuminating and sometimes even surprising, and will underscore the substantial contribution of higher education in Wales. David Allen OBE Chair, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW)

IntroductIon What have Wales’s universities done for us?

“universities offer a life-changing experience for students, and offer indispensable contributions to society, communities and the economy.”

HigHer education for tHe nation

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What is HEFCW’s role?The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales – HEFCW – is a body which sits between universities and Government. HEFCW administers funds for higher education (HE), ensures that the quality of HE is assessed and gives expert advice to the Welsh Government.

Universities in Wales, while being autonomous bodies, have traditionally received some two-fifths of their income directly from HEFCW, but this direct funding has reduced to around a fifth as universities have been permitted to charge up to £9,000 a year in full-time undergraduate tuition fees for students from the UK and the EU. The fees payments are normally raised through Government-backed loans (for

students from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland) or a combination of a loan and a non-repayable grant from the Welsh Government (students from Wales and the EU).

While the total of universities’ public and fees funding has remained constant in recent years, the Welsh Government’s forthcoming Higher Education (Wales) Bill will seek to strengthen HEFCW’s regulatory powers over universities in the absence of HEFCW’s funding conditions, to secure accountability for public investment.

We expect universities in Wales to continue to address the priorities articulated by HEFCW and by Government, namely student experience, quality, equality, research, teaching,

Welsh medium provision, widening access, employability, and so on. But universities are also addressing other government priorities, in areas such as the economy and society, as this review of the contribution of higher education in 2013-14 illustrates.

Interested in knowing more?The sections in the publication are guided by the Welsh Government’s programme of government. Originally published in 2011, it guided Welsh Government’s priorities over the life of the current government. The index at the back of the publication links to further information about the activities mentioned in this digest (correct at January 2015).

Higher Education in Wales by numbers Entire higher

education sector has an income

of nearly £1.3 billion

Makes up around 5% of UK higher

education

More than 5,500 students receiving

some of their teaching through the

medium of Welsh

137,508 student registrations, with

almost 30,000 new full-time undergraduate entrants a year

More than 28,000

postgraduate registrations

More than 44,000

part-time enrolments

3,365 science postgraduate

students

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unIversItIes for Wales

It was reported this year that universities in Wales are more important to the Welsh economy than universities in the other UK regions and nations. Interaction between universities and businesses stimulates innovation and economic growth. Research and innovation create high-value industrial clusters and the Welsh universities’ science base is key for the country’s economic development.

As well as being major employers, universities create the right conditions for their staff and students to set up their own businesses and become employers themselves. High-level and employability skills are built into university curricula.

• Cardiff University announced that its spin-out company Medaphor, which provides ultrasound education and training simulators for medical professionals, would be floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

• Cardiff Metropolitan University was revealed as the location of Wales’s first MIT-accredited Fab Lab, which allows innovators in different countries to share knowledge and turn ideas into prototypes. The University also teamed up with training and recruitment company Acorn Group to offer a foundation degree in Applied Professional Practice, which allows students to continue working while studying.

• The University of Wales Trinity Saint David became a globally approved International Institute for Creative Entrepreneurial Development (IICED), which focuses on developing enterprise and entrepreneurship education internationally.

• The University also announced its plans to create a £100 million Swansea waterfront learning and research campus to attract further attract investment to the city, and develop businesses, jobs and wealth.

• Glyndwr University and Glyndwr Innovations were awarded £600K by the Welsh Government to boost research and development collaboration in the optics industry.

Challenges

• How to continue to build employability skills into the curriculum, including arts and humanities, engaging with employers.

• How to secure appropriate work placements and encourage students to undertake them.

• How to harness the influence and links of international students on other areas such as inward investment and tourism.

1. What Universities do for groWth and sUstainable jobs

• 55% by their host

• 16% employed elsewhere including self employment

466graduates

received placements throughGOWales

71% of graduates were employedat the end of their placement:

• 10% returned to study, volunteered or took time out

Active spin-offs in Wales(as a % of UK total)

• with some HE ownership 6.5%

• with no HE ownership 18.3%

• which are staff start-up companies 14.1%

• that are graduate start-ups 10.3%

0 20 40 60 80 100

100%

Wales’s share of HE spin-off and start-up companies that have survived at least three years is higher than expected for a country of our size

71% of graduates were employed at the end of their placement:

• 55% by their host

• 10% returned to study, volunteered or took time out

• with some HE ownership 6.5%

• with no HE ownership 18.3%

• which are staff start-up companies 14.1%

• that are graduate start-ups 10.3%

• 16% employed elsewhere including self employment

ACtIvE spIn-oFF CoMpAnIEs In WAlEs(as a % of UK total)

HigHer education for tHe nation

6cardiff university

Universities for Wales

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Around half of university courses are vocational or professional, and train our teachers, lawyers, doctors, nurses and social workers, as well as public servants of the future. Universities provide research and expertise to the public sector in a variety of disciplines, such as policy development or service improvement. They work in partnership with businesses, organisations and unions on staff development opportunities for public sector employees.

• Aberystwyth, Bangor, South Wales, and Swansea Universities (along with Liverpool) work with Cardiff University, which is at the helm of the new Public Policy

Institute for Wales. They have been joined by The Bevan Foundation, the Institute of Welsh Affairs and Wales Public Services 2025.

• The same Welsh universities are also partners in the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD), which won more than £7 million from the Economic and Social Research Council to carry out a five-year programme of policy-relevant research on Civil Society in Wales and beyond.

• The University of South Wales received funding to research how children and adults with Dyspraxia can best learn how to cross the road safely.

Challenges

• How to ensure that graduates are appropriately equipped to deal with the changing needs of the Welsh public sector, as well as changes in the workplace and in the professions.

• How to provide appropriate continuing professional development for public sector staff.

• How to ensure standards and comparability of trainee experience given cross-border flows of trainee and trained teachers.

2. What Universities do for pUbliC serviCes in Wales

Welsh - 61

enrolments1,357

Primary

(46% of these through the medium of Welsh)

enrolments1,114

Secondary

(19% of these through the medium of Welsh)

Priority secondary subjects

Science - 187 Modern Foreign Languages - 75

Welsh - 61

enrolments1,357

Primary

(46% of these through the medium of Welsh)

enrolments1,114

Secondary

(19% of these through the medium of Welsh)

Priority secondary subjects

Science - 187 Modern Foreign Languages - 75

InItIAl tEACHEr trAInIng In 2012/13

Priority secondary subjectsPrimary Secondary

Modern Foreign Languages – 75

Science – 187Welsh – 61(46% of these through

the medium of Welsh)

(19% of these through

the medium of Welsh)

HigHer education for tHe nation

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Universities in Wales provide education for a population of around 125,000 students every year, from undergraduate and postgraduate degrees to lifelong or work-based learning modules. Students in Wales can train to be teachers and pursue subjects in both English and in Welsh. Our widening access programme, Reaching Wider, has been active for more than ten years and plays a key role in raising the aspirations of children and adults who might not have considered higher education an option. Graduates can continue to expect a good return on their investment in higher education, earning a wage premium over the course of their working lives.

• Part of the University of South Wales, the Universities Heads of the Valleys Institute (UHOVI) provides local learning opportunities for students in low participation areas of south east Wales. It received approval for three more years of funding from HEFCW to further improve the offer of bite sized learning, foundation degrees and work-based learning in the area.

• Almost 80 students spent six weeks in residence at Aberystwyth University’s Summer University, which gives young people a flavour of how they could benefit from university life.

• Widening access partnerships around Wales were awarded almost £300,000 to work with schools and adults to identify science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills gaps and boost take-up at HE level.

Challenges

• Widening access to higher education depends on high quality teaching and learning in 11-19 education as well as informed careers advice for young people.

• How to further improve the quality of teacher training to meet the needs of Wales.

• How to maintain the quality and breadth of part-time provision to help adult learners to gain higher level skills.

• Incoming changes to Disabled Students’ Allowances for students from England might have an impact on access to appropriate provision by students.

3. What Universities do to help everyone reaCh their edUCational potential

of Welsh domiciled students at universities in Wales are from some of the country’s most economically disadvantaged areas.

of Welsh domiciled studentsat universities in Wales arefrom some of the country’smost economicallydisadvantaged areas.

of Welsh domiciled students at universities in Wales are from some of the country’s most economically disadvantaged areas.

of Welsh domiciled studentsat universities in Wales arefrom some of the country’smost economicallydisadvantaged areas.

Mature full-time undergraduate entrants to Welsh HE institutions

20.3%Mature full-time undergraduate entrants to Welsh HE institutions

of Welsh domiciled students at universities in Wales are from some of the country’s most economically disadvantaged areas.

glyndwr university

Universities for Wales

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Universities in Wales help reduce health inequalities in partnership with the NHS and Welsh Government. As well as training health professionals such as nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, chiropractors and speech therapists, they also produce world-leading medical research to help the future health of the nation.

Universities also carry out multidisciplinary research into important public health issues and engage with public bodies on interventions in these areas.

• Mencap Cymru has benefited from research produced by postgraduate students on an ESF-funded, Bangor University-led initiative, which has impacted on the families of people with a learning disability in Wales and further afield.

• Cardiff University unveiled a new medical curriculum, C21, with a greater focus on community-centred learning, and a greater concentration of training in under-served areas. C21 aims to benefit the future health of the nation by combining cutting edge education and training with more emphasis on the patient.

• Cardiff University’s School of Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education and Asalus Medical Instruments Ltd won the 2014 PraxisUnico Business Impact Aspiring Award for developing a new technique to remove smoke produced during keyhole surgery.

• The Sêr Cymru network in Life Sciences and Health, comprising Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea Universities, was created to build on existing research capacity in this area and to attract PhDs and fellows to work on drug discovery and development for “unmet medical needs”.

• In 2013, universities worked with the Welsh Government to develop a Healthy and Sustainable FE and HE Programme for Wales, to improve the physical and mental well-being of students and staff.

• Bangor and Cardiff Universities are part of a £4 million collaboration looking at support for people who live with dementia. Cardiff University also reported it would lead a £6 million worldwide project to look at the relationship between genetics and lifestyle in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

• Meanwhile, Cardiff Metropolitan University’s National Centre for Product Design and Research is providing service design expertise to the three-year Cardiff and the Vale Dementia Plan.

• Glyndwr University introduced a new course aimed at attracting experienced, qualified NHS and care home staff from north-east Wales back into nursing.

• Forensic psychologists at Cardiff Metropolitan University reported how psychology could be used to reduce alcohol-related violent crime.

Challenges

• How to find continuing, and appropriate levels of investment for clinical provision, which is significantly more expensive to teach at full-time undergraduate level than the £9,000 fee level, in the context of the fees and funding arrangements.

• Universities must continue to ensure that they successfully translate their research into medical practice and evidence-based learning.

4. hoW Universities ContribUte toWards 21st CentUry healthCare

Nursing/midwifery – 1,247 Medicine – 388 Dentistry – 61

Number of graduates from Welsh universities in 2012/13 having studied:

fellows

The network aims to co-fund up to

10030

PhDs

and

from 2014 to 2019.

The Sêr Cymru network aims to co-fund up to

Number of graduates from Welsh universities in 2012/13 having studied:

Nursing/midwifery – 1,247

Medicine – 388 Dentistry – 61

HigHer education for tHe nation

10university of Wales trinity Saint david

Universities for Wales

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Universities provide training and education for professionals such as early years teachers, and research into childcare. They train counsellors and psychologists. They encourage volunteering opportunities where their students work on projects involving disabled or homeless people, to make a difference to communities. Through their training hubs, they offer dental or chiropractic healthcare to communities.

Universities have been positive adopters and advocates of using technology for learning, and distance and open learning courses offer excellent opportunities to tap into knowledge and expertise from afar. Their commitment to embed the use of online resources placed Wales as one of the first – if not the first – national higher education sectors in the world to declare itself an open education nation.

• Swansea University’s Discovery Student Volunteering Group received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in recognition of the contribution of 300 students who run projects working with disabled children, mental health service users, refugee and asylum seekers and homeless people.

• All universities in Wales received the Buttle UK Quality Mark for Care Leavers, which recognised good practice in institutions providing a framework of support for young people leaving care.

• Cardiff University has taken an active role in reaching out to the Muslim community. In partnership with the Muslim Council for Wales, it created an identified Muslim Chaplain as part of a multi-faith approach to chaplaincy, and hosts informal meetings with their student Islamic Society.

• The University has also launched a long-term community partnership with the Grangetown area of Cardiff. The University and the community will work together on new and existing mutually beneficial projects in areas such as education, well-being and the environment.

Challenges

• How to encourage students to volunteer in addition to studying and undertaking paid work.

• How to provide the best and most appropriate support for care leavers or more vulnerable individuals.

5. hoW Universities sUpport the Well-being of people in oUr CommUnities

with either a Bachelor’s or Master’s degreein social work from Welsh universities.students qualified

259Between 1 June 2012

and 31 May 2013

with either a Bachelor’s or Master’s degreein social work from Welsh universities.students qualified

259Between 1 June 2012

and 31 May 2013

Between 1 June 2012 and 31 May 2013

with either a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in social work from Welsh universities.

Bangor university

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Universities train civil engineers, planners and architects. They carry out research to minimise the environmental impact of new homes, and, as large institutions, aim to be energy efficient and set an example. They are plugged into the Welsh Government’s Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship initiative, which aims to increase awareness of sustainability issues – such as consumption and waste – among students through the curriculum, and enables them to become ambassadors for these issues. Universities awarded the Buttle UK Quality Mark for Care Leavers have been recognised for commitments including providing student care leavers with year-round accommodation if they do not have a permanent residence outside term time.

• The Low Carbon Research Institute, comprising six partner universities, was involved in data gathering, research and scenario modelling for policy-makers that involved retrofitting public housing to improve energy efficiency.

• Led by Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities, the National Research Network for Low Carbon, Energy and the Environment was launched to consider natural resource management and the connections between land, water, the provision of food and energy production.

• Cardiff University teamed up with Shelter Cymru to host a conference on research, policy and practice in Housing.

• Research and practical expertise at the University of South Wales has placed the University at the forefront of developing community regeneration policy in Wales.

Challenges

• Universities are continuing to work with communities to ensure that the student population has a positive local impact, encouraging student tenants and landlords to work as partners to help realise this.

• Universities will play their own part in the ongoing challenge of ensuring energy efficiency for our homes.

6. What Universities do for oUr homes

aberystwyth university

Universities for Wales

13

Universities work with students in deprived areas and help reduce health inequalities in partnership with the NHS and Welsh Government. As well as training professionals for the NHS they produce world-leading research to help the future health of the nation, and offer a range of courses that have an impact on communities, from social work to police studies.

Students themselves consider personal safety as an important factor in choosing their university, and Wales’s relatively low crime rates are often cited as a factor in attracting international students. University student unions are active in ensuring their students have a safe higher education experience, providing advice and support on areas such as domestic violence, private renting, gas safety, cyber-security and card fraud. The Criminal Investigation Research Network (CIRN), a worldwide network which brings researchers together with experts in investigating and policy making, originated in Wales.

• Swansea University signed up to the National Union of Students Alcohol Impact project to run a pilot scheme aimed at encouraging responsible drinking among students.

• Cardiff University’s Violence and Society Research Group aimed to reduce community violence by sharing data collected in hospital emergency units. The impact has been so great that the ‘Cardiff Model’ – which cut local A&E visits in half and has saved the city £7 million a year - is now being implemented in the UK and internationally.

• Swansea University Student Union teamed up with its local Community Liaison Officer to launch an initiative on reporting hate crime.

• Universities across south Wales work, with other agencies, to help keep students and the wider community safe under the Prevent banner. The universities and their student unions have developed a traffic light system to assess external speakers coming onto campus. This means

institutions can be confident speakers are contributing to the academic debate and free thinking; and be equally confident those speakers are not putting forward positions that are counter to the HE sector’s well established commitment to equal opportunities for all.

Challenges

• How universities continue to tackle the ongoing sensitivities and practicalities of dealing with extremism or radicalisation on campus.

• The new Counter Terrorism Bill creates challenges for the HE sectors in the UK. In particular, provisions which look at IT and other aspects of university could be highly resource intensive and difficult to enforce.

7. hoW Universities help make oUr CommUnities safer

university of South Wales

HigHer education for tHe nation

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Swansea university

Universities for Wales

15

Universities are large employers, and play an important role in encouraging and developing good practice in equality and diversity. This includes work to improve gender equality through equal pay and recruitment policies, encouraging more women into science and engineering research and tackling the number of women in senior positions. Universities have signed up to an agreement to support the career development of researchers, which includes promoting equality and diversity in their recruitment and career management. Six universities have been awarded the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research award in recognition of their good practice in this respect.Universities are expected to tackle issues of harassment or support, such as those relating to disabled or transgender staff and students. They also look at their own student recruitment profiles and how they could be improved. They develop research and policies in areas including the human rights of children.

• Researchers at Bangor University, along with partners, were funded to the tune of £1.1 million by the Medical Research Council to investigate new pharmacological treatment for psychiatric illnesses.

• The Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University has led global research into schizophrenia, with findings on the genetic links published in Nature.

• Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities and Student Unions signed up to the Time to Change Wales pledge to end the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health conditions.

• Aberystwyth University achieved Bronze level in the Equality Challenge Unit’s (ECU) trial gender equality charter mark, recognising progress in advancing gender equality in arts, humanities and social science careers in HE.

• Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Cardiff Metropolitan and Swansea Universities are members of charity Stonewall Cymru’s Diversity Champions programme, which gives them access to expertise to help create working environments where lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people can ‘be themselves’. Aberystwyth, Cardiff and Swansea Universities have also scored highly in Stonewall’s Gay by Degree university guide, which identifies publicly accessible information about engagement with and support for LGB students, from application to graduation.

Challenges

• Universities – like many bodies – are facing the challenge of ensuring more diverse governing body membership.

• How to ensure that universities are not intrusive when they collect data about religion, sexual orientation or pregnancy from students, which impacts on disclosure.

• How to ensure that data in this area is robust.

8. hoW Universities ContribUte to a fair and eqUal soCiety

% of students in receipt of a Disabled Students’ Allowance in 2012/13

% of studentsin receipt of

a Disabled Students’Allowance

in 2012/13

7.3%2.9%

6.5%3.5%

Full-timeundergraduate

students

Part-timeundergraduate

students

WALES UK

cardiff Metropolitan university

HigHer education for tHe nation

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Higher education and skills have a key role in breaking the cycle of poverty as they can improve employability and employment opportunities. Universities in Wales play their part in widening access from low-participation areas through aspiration-raising initiatives and opportunities for family learning. They offer flexible and accessible provision such as foundation degrees, part-time courses and work-based or bite-sized learning. Universities also offer considerable financial support such as bursaries and scholarships, demonstrated through their fee plans. Areas of research interest include social policy and community regeneration. The National Union of Students, meanwhile, is integral to providing welfare advice and support to a diverse student population.

• Universities outlined in their fee plans how they planned to invest some £35 million to improve equality of opportunity for students.

• The Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data & Methods appointed PhD students to analyse data on fuel poverty and energy efficiency.

• The National Union of Students Wales and the Open University in Wales launched It’s About Time, a report which highlighted the contribution of part-time study to skills development and opening up educational opportunities in Wales. The partners described part-time students as highly diverse, covering all ages and including a high proportion of disabled students, carers or students in employment.

• Through its Strategic Alliance with local FE colleges, the University of South Wales is supports inward investment and workforce up-skilling in south east Wales. Developments create and sustain employment opportunities, provide access to bespoke higher level skills and signposting to local FE provision.

9. hoW Universities help to taCkle povertyProportion of young full-time undergraduate entrants

to Welsh HE institutions from low participation neighbourhoods.

13.1%WALES

11.1%UK

• The First Campus collaboration, led by University of South Wales and whose partners include Cardiff Metropolitan and Cardiff Universities, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, piloted the From Potential to Performance programme to help young people in care or at risk of going into care to realise their potential, build confidence and self-esteem and raise aspirations towards FE and HE.

• Cardiff University has expanded some of its successful programme to support care leavers who would have otherwise been unlikely to succeed in HE without its support to work with young people who are estranged from their families. Furthermore, the University supported its Chaplaincy in offering a £1 healthy hot meal once a week to students.

Challenges

• How to tackle issues about access to the professions for those from groups underrepresented in universities.

• How to encourage those from widening access backgrounds to take up work placements and other opportunities to improve employability.

• How to retain students that require more persuasion to attend university, such as those from low-participation backgrounds.

• How to secure part-time provision to meet the needs of learners and employers in Wales.

open university in Wales

Universities for Wales

17

Universities in rural locations are significant, high-quality local employers and providers of services and infrastructure. Developments such as High Performance Computing Wales, which includes universities as its partners, give businesses and researchers access to quality supercomputing power and skills wherever they are in Wales. Universities carry out research into transport, tourism, forest management and energy planning, which potentially have a huge impact on rural communities. They are involved in public engagement activities such as lectures, classes and business workshops, and pair graduates with good quality jobs in SMEs through graduate employment initiatives.

• Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) was awarded nearly £15 million in research council funding as part of a £35 million innovation campus development. Research areas include innovation in agriculture and food, water and energy security and sustainability. The Institute’s contribution to innovation and technology was recognised when it won that category at the Times Higher Education Awards.

• The Open University in Wales launched a free Welsh medium online learning site, OpenLearn Cymru, to improve skills or to offer a ‘taster’ of a higher education course.

• Coleg Sir Gâr and Coleg Ceredigion joined the University of Wales Trinity Saint David Group to offer a range of further and higher education opportunities in localities around south west Wales.

• University courses are delivered by further education colleges across Wales thanks to franchise arrangements with universities.

Challenges

• How to ensure businesses and universities will have an ongoing engagement with graduate employment initiatives – the most recent being GO Wales, which matched SMEs with graduates– to help with higher skills deployment and, ultimately, economic recovery.

• How to maintain effective partnerships to deliver positive outcomes for rural communities.

10. hoW Universities ContribUte to oUr rUral CommUnities

are enrolled in colleges, including Coleg Ceredigion, Grwp Llandrillo Menai

and Pembrokeshire College.

5,000HE students

HigHer education for tHe nation

18aberystwyth university

Universities for Wales

19

The environment and sustainability are major areas of research for Wales’s universities. This has been a particularly fruitful area for partnerships between higher education institutions and other bodies. They include the Sêr Cymru National Research Network in Low Carbon, Energy and Environment, the Climate Change Consortium for Wales and the Low Carbon Research Institute. Universities also specialise in areas such as the forest, coastal and marine environments, and clean energy. Universities themselves have their own plans for how they consider environmental factors in areas such as buildings and the curriculum. The National Union of Students recognises institutions which have made positive environmental changes in the workplace.

• The SEACAMS project, led by Bangor University in partnership with Aberystwyth and Swansea Universities, helps to develop the coastal marine economy in Wales. The project was awarded an additional £1 million in EU funding in 2014. The funding will contribute to further data collection, which businesses, including those involved in tidal and wave technologies, will be able to access to inform future offshore developments.

• Bangor University also became part of a £4.9 million doctoral training partnership to train environmental scientists equipped to deal with a changing environment in complex economic, social and political contexts. The institution earned a place in the top 20 of the UK Green Universities League Table in 2014.

• The University of South Wales’s Centre for Storytelling was part of a consortium which received a £1.5 million AHRC research grant to examine and revive conversations with communities about energy.

• Swansea University teamed up with universities in China, India and Indonesia to receive a Global Innovation Initiative award to research flood risks in changing climates.

• Cardiff University received a €1.5 million grant to explore the ‘spillover’ effect in tackling climate change, and whether small changes lead to other green behavioural changes.

• The University of South Wales’s Wales Centre of Excellence for Anaerobic Digestion was awarded nearly £900,000 by the Welsh Government to improve its capacity to

collaborate with industry on converting biodegradable organic waste into biogas energy, an important part of recycling waste in Wales.

• The National Union of Students Wales, in partnership with specialists in green innovation TYF, was awarded £68,000 to deliver HE sector-leading greening initiatives as part of the Live Greener project. Initiatives are designed to make measurable differences to institutions, students and the environment, and also save student unions money, make students more employable, and engage more students with their unions.

Challenges

• Universities will have to continue to rise to the challenge of climate concerns, both as large, resource-using institutions and as part of their research priorities. They will also need to respond to the ambitions of the Welsh Government’s forthcoming Well-being of Future Generations Bill.

11. What Universities do for the environment and sUstainability

enrolments1,357

PrimaryLive greener

= significant reductions in the electricity and water used in halls, and in carbon emissions

6,000

9,000students

volunteering

hours

= significant reductions in the electricity and water used in halls, and in carbon emissions

lIvE grEEnEr

HigHer education for tHe nation

20

Universities in Wales have amongst them a Royal Conservatoire, and offer courses in areas like Film, Media, Music, Performance, Tourism, Sport Science and Religious Studies. They contribute to the body of knowledge of Welsh History and Geography, and Welsh and English language literature from Wales in the developing area of Welsh Studies/Astudiaethau Cymreig. They provide high level skills and a stream of graduates for Wales’s thriving creative industries.

They offer an increasing number of course options through the medium of Welsh, supported by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.

University buildings are often historical structures that the public can view, and as part of the community often have shared facilities such as arts centres, libraries and sports facilities.

Universities promote Wales and the reputation of its higher education offering internationally. • The Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol’s notable achievements

during the year included funding a Swansea University app on Caring Through Welsh. In partnership with Wikimedia UK it appointed its own Wikipedian in Residence to look at how Welsh medium education resources, developed by universities across Wales, can be shared under appropriate open licences. The Coleg also funded resources for Bangor University to create Welsh language Law textbooks. It also provided funding to allow students study elements of Medicine in Welsh at Cardiff and Swansea Universities.

• Cardiff University launched the world’s first widely-accessible, free, online course – known as a MOOC – in community journalism.

• The online University of Wales Dictionary – GPC (Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru) Online – was unveiled, making it freely available electronically for the first time.

• Cardiff University joined forces with local residents and schools in Caerau and Ely to explore the city’s prehistoric past. The CAER heritage project was so successful it won a major UK-wide public engagement prize.

• Bangor University launched a research project to look at the reasons behind children attending Welsh medium schools being reluctant to use the language outside of the classroom.

• A third of Wales’s Commonwealth Games Athletic Squad and three quarters of Wales’s Netball Squad were Cardiff Metropolitan University students or alumni.

• The higher education sector in Wales considered how to further define, develop and safeguard ‘Welsh Studies’ teaching and research, work which the Learned Society of Wales will take forward in the future.

• S4C and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David confirmed that they would establish a new headquarters for the Welsh language television channel in Carmarthen.

Challenges

• Higher education institutions understand that they must work with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol to stimulate interest and demand for courses or modules through the medium of Welsh, while increasing their own offer in and resources for quality Welsh medium provision.

• There is ongoing pressure for universities to invest in and upgrade their estate, at a time when public funding earmarked for capital projects has diminished.

12. hoW Universities are important to the CUltUre and heritage of Wales

7.5%2,183modules

2,183 modules are recognised as having a

Welsh Studies component within Welsh HE institutions.

This is 7.5% of the overall number of modules

provided within the higher education sector.

7.5%2,183modules

Universities for Wales

21

university of South Wales

HigHer education for tHe nation

22

p3 What have Wales’s universities done for us?UK Investment Summit Wales conference underlines importance of Welsh HE to the economy

The Impact of International and EU students in Wales

p4 What is HEFCW’s role?www.hefcw.ac.uk

p4 Higher Education in Wales by numbers Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) 2012/13

HEFCW Circular W14/27HE: Analysis of the financial position of the HE sector 2012/13

p5 What universities do for growth and sustainable jobsSource: GO (Graduate Opportunities) Wales. About GO Wales

Source: Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey 2012/13

Cardiff University and Medaphor

Cardiff Metropolitan University Fab Lab

University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s International Institute for Creative Entrepreneurial Development

University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s learning and research campus

Glyndwr University research grant

p7 What universities do for public services in WalesSource: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record 2012/13

Public Policy Institute for Wales

Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD)

University of South Wales road safety research

p8 What universities do to help everyone reach their educational potential

Source: Performance Indicators in Higher Education in the UK 2012/13

Universities Heads of the Valleys Institute

Aberystwyth University’s Summer University

Reaching Wider initiative

p9 How universities contribute towards 21st Century Healthcare Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record 2012/13

Bangor University and Mencap Cymru

Cardiff University and C21

Cardiff University’s PraxisUnico Award

Sêr Cymru network in Life Sciences and Health

Living with dementia

National Centre for Product Design and Research

Cardiff Metropolitan University and alcohol-related violence

Return to nursing

p11 How universities support the well-being of people in our communities

Source: Care Council for Wales

Discovery Student Volunteering Group

Cardiff University community partnership

p12 What universities do for our homesLow Carbon Research Institute

National Research Network for Low Carbon, Energy and the Environment

Cardiff University and Shelter Cymru

soUrCes and fUrther reading Please click on the sources below to be taken to the appropriate web page

Universities for Wales

23

p13 How universities help make our communities safer NUS alcohol impact project

Violence and Society Research Group’s Cardiff Model

Swansea University Students’ Union and reporting hate crime

p15 How universities contribute to a fair and equal societySource: Performance Indicators in Higher Education in the UK 2012/13

Bangor University and psychiatric illnesses

Cardiff University and schizophrenia

Time to Change Wales

Aberystwyth University and the gender equality charter mark

Stonewall University Guide 2015

p16 How universities help to tackle povertySource: Performance Indicators in Higher Education in the UK 2012/13

Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data & Methods

It’s About Time

University of South Wales Strategic Alliance

First Campus

p17 How universities contribute to our rural communities Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record 2012/13

Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS)

Open University in Wales’s OpenLearn Cymru

University of Wales Trinity Saint David Group

p19 What universities do for the environment and sustainabilitySEACAMS

Bangor University Doctoral Training Partnership

Cardiff University and green behaviours

Centre of Excellence for Anaerobic Digestion

Centre for Storytelling

Live Greener project

p20 How universities are important to the culture and heritage of Wales Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) 2012/13

The Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol

Cardiff University course in community journalism

University of Wales Dictionary – GPC (Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru) Online

Bangor University and children using Welsh outside of the classroom

Learned Society of Wales

S4C and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David

CAER heritage project

www.hefcw.ac.uk