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In aggregate, HEIs in Wales receive 43%
of their funding from HEFCW. This proportion varies
from 23% (in the case of the University of Wales College
of Medicine) to 73% (in the case of the Royal Welsh
College of Music and Drama).³
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Annex 2 is a map showing the location
of providers of higher education in Wales (apart from
the Open University). It also shows the location of
English providers in close proximity to Wales.
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Higher education has to operate in a
UK and, increasingly, a global context. 31% of students
at HEIs in Wales are from elsewhere in the UK (the great
majority from England) and 10% are from the rest of
the world. 40% of Welsh domiciled students in higher
education in the UK are in institutions in other parts
of the UK (again predominantly in England).4
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| Academics too are
mobile, with their primary loyalty normally to their discipline
rather than to a particular institution. The majority
of academics in Wales could move to an HEI in England
without moving house. |
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This means that HEIs in Wales must be
competitive with institution in England in terms of
both the student experience and the career opportunities
of academics. This has particular implications for the
equipping of laboratories, libraries and other learning
resources, as well as the quality of lecturers and researchers.
These pressures are growing as institutions across the
UK and beyond compete more fiercely for students and
for the best researchers. The growth of e-learning represents
a further challenge in the competition for students.
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The modest scale of the HE sector in
Wales (only some 5% of the sector across the UK) and
the mobility of students and academics means that developments
in higher education policy and practice in England invariably
impact forcefully on Wales. (The same factors are at
work on Scotland but not quite to the same extent because
of the significantly lower level of cross-border movement
of students between England and Scotland).
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Thus, if there were to be a higher level
of investment in higher education in England, institutions
in Wales would quickly become uncompetitive. This is
true also prospectively, in that academics will assess
where their best long-term prospects lie. This issue
is crystallised by the proposal in the recent English
White Paper on higher education for the introduction
of top-up fees from 2006/07, coupled with the Assembly
Government’s announcement that there will be no
such fees in Wales before 2007/08 at the earliest.
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| The English White
Paper also proposes significantly greater concentration
of the research funding provided by the Higher Education
Funding Council for England HEFCE so as to provide much
higher levels of support for research of international
quality. Although the precise balance of funding for different
aspects and levels of research can (and does) differ to
an extent in Wales to meet specific Welsh needs, HEFCW
must be able to match the levels of funding for internationally
excellent research which are made available by HEFCE. |
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It is also relevant that major sources
of funding for research are provided from UK sources,
most notably from the UK research councils, which are
the responsibility of the Office of Science and Technology
(OST) of the Department of Trade and Industry. The dual
support system, under which general funding for research
is provided by the funding councils and project funding
is provided by the research councils, underpins successful
research in HEIs across the UK. A crucial element of
this is the joint investment by the OST and the Funding
Councils on research infrastructure. For Wales, this
has drawn from the OST £14 million for the financial
years 2002-03 to 2003-04, with a further £25.2 million
likely over the following two years.
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There are UK mechanisms, such as the
Science and Engineering Base Co-ordinating Committee,
on which both the Assembly Government and HEFCW are
represented, to ensure that a coherent approach is secured
and that Wales’ voice is registered in the UK context.
This is reinforced by the direct involvement of the
Assembly Government at Ministerial and official level
on particular issues. Also, in respect of general UK
policy development and matters involving the Privy Council
(such as proposed changes to the Royal Charters of the
universities) the Secretary of State for Wales can play
an important role.
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At the same time, HEIs in Wales and HEFCW
are sensitive to the particular needs of Wales in general
and its diverse communities. But we can only succeed
in serving them well to the extent that higher education
in Wales is competitive within the UK and internationally.
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The Commission’s
questions
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The impact of devolution on
the higher education sector in Wales
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Since the establishment of the Assembly,
HE in Wales has received, arguably, more attention than
at any other time. Following a comprehensive and lengthy
review by the Assembly’s Education and Lifelong
Learning Committee, the Assembly Government published
the first ever long-term strategy for higher education
in Wales – Reaching Higher – in March
2002. The strategy sets demanding objectives and targets
for the sector and for HEFCW to ensure that higher education
in Wales is in good shape to face future challenges,
internationally, in the UK and within Wales, across
all of its missions – teaching and learning, research
and third mission.
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To enable this to happen, it calls for
substantial reconfiguration of the sector and makes
it clear that additional investment (over and above
increases in line with GDP for core funding) will only
be made in return for that. The HEFCW and the sector
have responded quickly, with major proposals well in
hand, including for three large-scale mergers and many
other smaller but important areas of greater collaboration
or rationalisation of provision. The Assembly Government
has responded by providing the first tranches of significant
additional resources to enable initial developments
to proceed.
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Equally prominent in Reaching Higher
is the goal of extending access to higher education
to under-represented groups and communities, where higher
education in Wales already does better than other parts
of the UK. Again the HEFCW and institutions have responded
quickly: underpinned by substantial additional Assembly
Government investment, four Reaching Wider partnerships
are being established which, taken together, will cover
the whole of Wales. They involve HEIs, FEIs, schools,
and community groups and organisations.
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| The adequacy
of the powers available to the Assembly in relation to
HE and how they compare with those available to the Scottish
Parliament? |
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The Scottish Parliament has, we understand,
full competence in relation to primary and secondary
legislation for higher education.
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By contrast, the Assembly has powers
only in respect of secondary legislation, and these
do not extend to tuition fees and most aspects of student
support. Discussions are in train between the Assembly
and Westminster Governments about the possible devolution
to the Assembly Government of powers and funding in
respect of all aspects of student support.
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The Scottish Parliament has used its
powers to abolish up-front tuition fees, to provide
for the payment of fees post-graduation by those earning
above a threshold, and to introduce a system of means-tested
grants. The Scottish Executive has also indicated its
intention to legislate to merge the functions of the
Scottish Higher and Further Education Funding Councils
to form one new body.
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The Assembly Government has indicated
to the Westminster Government that it would wish to
see primary legislation passed which would give HEFCW
an explicit planning role and to enable the HEFCW and
the National Council for Education and Training for
Wales (which have certain staff and systems in common)
to provide services one for the other. It has no power
to effect these changes through secondary legislation.
It is not clear whether and when the primary legislative
changes sought by the Assembly Government will be introduced.
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Our experience of the Assembly’s
scrutiny and accountability arrangements
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This has three dimensions: our relationship
with the Assembly Government; our relationship with
the Assembly’s Education and Lifelong Learning
Committee; and the role of the Assembly’s Audit
Committee.
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The Assembly Government
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There are regular monitoring meetings
between the Council’s Chairman and Chief Executive
and the Minister, and between officers of the Council
and officials of the Assembly Government. These provide
not only a full opportunity for monitoring and scrutiny
but also for discussion of major policy and programme
issues. They are buttressed by good and regular informal
contact at officer level.
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Increasing attention is being paid by
the Assembly Government to the importance of higher
education to the Welsh economy. This involves us in
regular, mainly informal discussions with officials
in the Assembly’s Economic Development Department,
although these have recently been given greater impetus
and importance by what is intended to be a regular series
of meetings chaired jointly by the Minister for Education
and Lifelong Learning and the Minister for Economic
Development with the chairs and chief executives of
the Welsh Development Agency, the National Council for
Education and Training for Wales and the HEFCW. More
recently, this has been given added importance by the
transfer of responsibility for knowledge exploitation
from higher and further education to the Minister for
Economic Development.
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We also have an important relationship
with the Assembly Government’s Health Department
because of our responsibility for the higher education
of doctors, dentists and other health professionals.
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We believe that these arrangements work
well on the whole, particularly that in respect of our
direct relationship with our sponsor Minister and the
Education and Training Department. We look to strengthen
the arrangements in terms of our wider relationships
with the Assembly Government and see a need for full
coherence across all aspects of that relationship in
future.
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The Education and Lifelong Learning
Committee
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As noted above, the Committee has shown
a consistent and deep interest in higher education in
Wales and the work of the Council. In addition to considerable
contact in the course of its major enquiry into higher
education , we have given oral evidence on several occasions.
We see this as an important aspect of the Council’s
public accountability, as well as giving us the opportunity
to hear Assembly Members’ views at first hand and
to help them understand the issues facing HE in Wales
and their potential role in addressing them. We have
found the discussions probing, constructive and helpful,
and we believe that the Committee shares this view.
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In view of the growing importance attached
to the HE contribution to the economy, we would welcome
dialogue with the Economic Development Committee; and
the two committees might wish to consider looking at
some HE issues together.
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The Audit Committee
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| On the basis of
the work of the Auditor-General for Wales, this Committee
oversees the spending of public money within the purview
of the Assembly with regard to regularity, propriety and
value for money. It has not thus far considered issues
in relation to higher education although we understand
that the Auditor-General intends to undertake value for
money studies in this area. |
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Higher Education Funding
Council For Wales
May 2003
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1 Higher Education Early Student Statistics Survey
2002/03
2 Directly funded; excludes franchised
3 Audited financial statements for 2001/02
4 2000/01 HESA Student Record |
Source Division:
Richard Commission
Author Name: Alyson
Thomas
Date:
May 2003. |
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