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Welsh university tuition fees pegged at £9,000

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Student fees

Welsh university tuition fees will be pegged at £9,000 next year despite colleges in England being given the go-ahead to charge up to £9,250.

Students from Wales will be able to claim up to £4,954 in grants and borrow the rest, wherever they study.

The announcement comes ahead of the publication of the Diamond report into higher education and student finance.

One senior academic has warned that Welsh universities could become “second rate” if they could not increase fees.

Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said: “This decision gives certainty for those who want to go to university for the academic year 2017/18, giving people the option to study where they choose, including in England where tuition fees are set to increase.”

Currently, students from Wales pay the first £3,900 of their annual tuition fees, with the Welsh Government paying up to £5,100.

As well as the tuition fee grant and loans, Ms Williams announced a means-tested maintenance grant of up to £5,161.

‘Second rate’

She has argued that living costs are a bigger barrier than tuition fees to poorer students going to university.

The UK government linked its permission for higher fees at English universities to better teaching, with the new maximum of £9,250 possibly increasing by inflation in future years.

In August, Swansea University vice-chancellor Prof Richard Davies warned higher education in Wales risked becoming “second rate” if colleges could not increase their fees as in England.

Responding to Friday’s announcement, he claimed there had not been “enough time for the Welsh Government to look at this properly since the announcement in England”.

“I hope they find some way of allowing for inflation,” he added.

The National Union of Students president Fflur Elin welcomed the news.

She said: “We want to ensure that students from all backgrounds can access high quality courses. The cost of the courses should not be a barrier.”

Welsh Conservatives education spokesman, Darren Millar AM, said: “We welcome the move towards means-tested maintenance grants and the anchoring of tuition fee costs.”

[Source:- BBC]

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Education

Rise in number of Welsh students securing university place

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

University seminar

The number of Welsh students securing a university place has risen by 9% in the past four years, figures have shown.

University and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) statistics revealed 19,320 Welsh students have had their applications accepted as of 1 September – 14 days after A-level results.

Of those, 10,920 are due to study in Wales and 8,260 in England.

This is up from 17,790 who entered higher education at the same point in 2012.

According to Ucas, 140 Welsh students are set to attend university in Scotland while just 10 will study in Northern Ireland.

Figures also showed 1,310 Welsh students had won a place through clearing.

A breakdown across the UK shows a 15% rise in English students being accepted into higher education in the past four years along with a 19% increase in Scottish students and a 14% rise in Northern Irish students.

In total, 498,270 students across the UK have been accepted into universities so far.

There are still places available at universities across Wales via clearing – although Cardiff University said on its website that vacancies for 2016 have been filled.

Olivia Jones, of Universities Wales, said it was encouraging that the majority of Welsh students have chosen to study in Wales.

“With 92% of graduates from full time first degree courses in Wales employed or in further study six months after leaving – a higher percentage than the UK average – this is an attractive offer for prospective students,” she said.

“Universities across Wales are committed to increasing opportunities for people from a diverse range of backgrounds to higher education and firmly believe that every person, regardless of circumstance, should have the opportunity to access a higher level learning experience that is appropriate, relevant and valuable.”

[Source:- BBC]

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Education

Concerns over Welsh universities pay ‘inequality’

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Graduates

Concerns have been raised about the “inequality” of salaries at Welsh universities after it emerged 210 staff earned more than £100,000 a year.

The union UCU said the high pay of senior staff was in contrast to the average salaries of other university teaching staff on insecure contracts.

It said they were underpaid.

The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (Hefcw) said Welsh universities needed to compete to get the best staff.

It was commissioned by the Welsh Government to compile a report on the salaries of university leaders, after an assembly committee recommended collecting information on senior pay across the public sector.

The research, released to BBC Wales under the Freedom of information Act, found that Cardiff University had by far the largest number of higher-paid staff in Wales, with 136 receiving more than £100,000 between 2014-15.

It also found that, including pension contributions, seven of Wales’ eight vice-chancellors were paid more than £200,000 last year.

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Number of university staff earning more than £100,000 in 2014-15

Aberystwyth – 4

Bangor – 17

Cardiff Metropolitan – 9

Cardiff University – 136

Glyndwr University – 2

Swansea University – 28

University of South Wales – 10

University of Wales Trinity Saint David – 4

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Cardiff University’s Vice Chancellor Colin Riordan continues to be the highest-paid head of a Welsh university, earning £288,000 after pension contributions.

But the report stressed that pay in Welsh universities was comparable with other institutions of the same size and stature in the UK.

It concluded Welsh universities now operated in an international marketplace, and to compete at that level, pay needed to compare with that of other UK universities if the best talent was to be recruited.

It also said that some vice-chancellors’ salaries were lower than similar universities across the country and comes after a warning from the previous Welsh education minister Huw Lewis that higher education could not expect to avoid cuts for ever.

However, the UCU, which represents higher education staff, said it was “concerned” about the pay gaps at universities.

“Our main concern is the inequality between the average salary of VCs in Wales, compared to the average salary of other staff in our universities, particularly when taking into account that undergraduates are likely to be taught by a member of staff on an insecure, fixed-term contract,” a spokesman said.

“Staff on insecure contracts struggle to deliver the high level of professional service that they strive for, when faced with working conditions that leave them underpaid, vulnerable and constantly facing the prospect of unemployment.”

[source:- BBC]

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Education

Welsh universities consider scholarships for refugees

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Graduates

Some Welsh universities are planning to offer scholarships to refugees.

Aberystwyth University is discussing proposals for five scholarships, and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David said it had made commitments for a similar scheme.

Cardiff University already offers financial help to asylum seekers.

Mohammed Al Hadj Ali, chairman of the Syrian Welsh Society, said it was “very difficult” for people fleeing war to continue their studies in Wales.

“Medical students do not have very many options when you are trying to get funding for a very expensive course, £25,000 per year for fees and living costs, it’s not affordable for someone who can’t even apply for a student loan,” he told BBC Wales.

Aberystwyth University has held discussions with the British Council, the UK HE International Unit and Universities UK over the scholarships.

It will draw up detailed plans including financial implications over the coming academic year.

Cardiff University does not have a cap on how many refugees it will fund, subject to a budget of about £80,000 over four years.

Applicants must be able to prove they are an asylum seeker or the child of an asylum seeker.

Bangor University said it has a number of scholarships aimed at international students and can provide extra support in exceptional circumstances.

Glyndwr University in Wrexham said it had no plans to provide scholarships.

Swansea University said it was not offering any particular scholarships to refugees but that does not stop individuals from applying for any already on offer.

Cardiff Metropolitan University and the University of South Wales have been asked what their plans are.

All 22 Welsh councils have pledged to take in refugees fleeing civil war in Syria. About 78 Syrians have been resettled so far.

‘Difficult’

Mohammad Haji-Saleh arrived in Wales as a refugee last year and has been living in Cardiff for a year. He had to leave his medical studies in Syria.

“I have passed the first two years [in Syria], I have applied for many universities but it is difficult. I’m still trying to continue my studies,” he said.

Dr Al Hadj Ali said finance was not the only barrier for students forced to abandon their studies when fleeing their country.

“Some of them are requested to provide documents which they could not get when they had to flee Syria,” he said.

“And some universities do not accept you on a course if you have been on a similar course somewhere else.

“They had to flee a war zone, they did not have too many options, it’s not like a student in Bangor applying for Cardiff because they have been fired from their course, so they should be treated in a different way.”

He said students can apply to observe at universities and become engaged more quickly in academia in the UK that way.

[Source:- BBC]

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