Cash-strapped Welsh universities look to Plaid Cymru for ‘reset’

Timely action will be essential to support Wales’ struggling universities, the new devolved government has been warned as the sector awaits the launch of a review of higher education funding.

Plaid Cymru, led by new first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, has formed a minority government after the party usurped Labour for the first time as the largest in the Senedd, claiming 45 per cent of total seats. 

Ap Iorwerth has now appointed a team of ministers, with Anna Brychan, former assistant dean at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), taking the education post, and Cefin Campbell, who was the party’s education spokesperson in the run-up to the election, appointed deputy minister for skills and tertiary education. 

In its election manifesto, Plaid pledged to commission a review of university funding within its first 100 days in office. 

It said this review would have “clear terms of reference that includes ensuring that more of the value of Welsh government investment in higher education stays in Wales, and that more Welsh students are supported to study in Wales”. 

Olivia Harrison, chief executive of the Learned Society of Wales, said the commitment to starting the review imminently was “really promising”.

“We’re pleased that this is clearly a government that has already done work on looking into what the key challenges are that they need to start tackling,” she said. “We’re keen that the review looks at research funding, but as part of that whole [higher education] system.”

Elwen Evans, chair of Universities Wales and vice-chancellor of UWTSD, said in a statement that “timely action will be critical”.

Speaking to Times Higher Education, Amanda Wilkinson, Universities Wales director, added that the new government “creates a real opportunity to reset the conversation at a time when the sector is under serious pressure”.

She said that while government budgets are “finite”, there is “a strong understanding in Wales of the important role our universities play in communities across the country”.

The groundwork for the review has already been laid; the former Labour government launched a call for evidence at the beginning of 2026 asking for input on the future of tertiary education in Wales. 

Dylan Jones-Evans, former assistant pro vice-chancellor at the University of South Wales, said the success of the review will hinge on its purpose. 

“The real question is whether a new government is prepared to ask what kind of university system Wales actually needs, rather than simply trying to preserve the inherited map of institutions,” he said. 

“If it does that seriously, then a change of government could mark a major turning point; if not, the sector will continue to drift from one crisis to the next.”

Universities Wales’ Wilkinson added that participation should form part of the review. Wales currently has the lowest higher education participation rate of all the UK nations and the proportion of Welsh 18-year-olds going to university has fallen in recent years.

The review is also likely to look at the proportion of funding that goes to universities versus directly to students, with Welsh students currently benefiting from more generous maintenance grants than their English peers. This arrangement means that universities receive less direct funding.

“Universities are in need of a better financial structure, but I think what’s important is that individuals are supported to access the courses that are right for them,” said Deio Owen, president of NUS Wales.

Plaid’s commitment to keep more Welsh funding in the country extends to a pledge to reform the Seren programme – which funds promising Welsh students to study at top universities across the UK – within the first 100 days. 

Jones-Evans said the issue of Welsh students being given money to study in England is one that needs to be “handled carefully”. 

“The deeper problem is that Welsh universities have become increasingly dependent on students from outside Wales while fewer Welsh-domiciled students are studying in Wales.

“Reforming Seren could help, but only if it broadens aspiration rather than narrows it. The aim should be to make studying in Wales a compelling first-choice option, not to make students feel they are being pushed to stay.”

Plaid has also pledged to lobby for Wales’ share of UK research funding to be devolved, as Wales receives lower core research funding than other UK nations. 

But Harrison said the idea of devolving this funding pot had to be “considered alongside all the other levers that relate to funding for research, and the things that subsidise research, rather than as a stand-alone”. 

Jones-Evans said a devolved funding pot was “unlikely to happen” because of how UK Research and Innovation operates, but added there is a strong case for a fairer settlement, given the disparities between nations.  

“This should therefore be seen not as an academic funding dispute, but as one of the most important economic development questions facing Wales.”