The Welsh government has announced that it will provide £19 million in extra funding for its universities after several institutions announced wide-ranging cuts.

Vikki Howells, minister for further and higher education, said the money was being given in “recognition of the significant financial challenges facing higher education”.

The bulk of the money – £18.5 million – will be used to support universities to fund estate maintenance and digital projects that can reduce their operating costs, “ensuring that facilities continue to be suitable for providing a high-quality student experience and delivering world-leading research”, said Howells.

A further £500,000 will be handed to Universities Wales to support its work to boost international recruitment and promote the activities of Welsh universities.

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The Labour-run Welsh government has come under pressure to act after university cost-cutting plans prompted widespread concern.

Cardiff University – Wales’ only member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities – recently announced plans to cut 400 academic jobs, including closing its schools of nursing and music.

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Swansea and Aberystwyth universities and the University of South Wales were also among those looking at cost-saving plans.

Howells said she expected institutions considering “difficult options” to “work in social partnership with trade unions, staff and students and to explore options fully before considering compulsory redundancies”.

She said the new Welsh tertiary sector regulator, Medr, was already looking at further ways to improve quality, governance, financial management and staff and student welfare at universities, while she has also tasked it with carrying out a review of subject demand, provision and distribution of higher education in Wales.

This will “consider where interventions might be required to ensure the continuation of strategically important subject areas in Wales that are vital to the success of public services”, she added.  

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Wales has already increased its tuition fee cap for the coming academic year to £9,535, to bring it in line with the English equivalent, the second time in a year that fees will increase.

A Universities Wales spokesperson welcomed the announcement, which “comes at a crucial time for our universities, who are facing some of the most pressing, difficult financial circumstances in recent memory”.

The money will “provide much-needed short-term investment to our institutions”, they added, but “there is a need to identify medium- to long-term solutions to help tackle the underlying issues and ensure the sustainability of our sector”.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, called for the money to be used to protect jobs and course provision, “not frittered away on estate management”.

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tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com