Wales’ fledgling tertiary regulator cannot lose sight of the long term despite being thrown in to dealing with a sector financial crisis that has already claimed hundreds of jobs, according to its chief executive.

Medr has published its first strategic plan after launching last summer as it develops a new approach to overseeing both universities and colleges, the first body of its kind to do this in the UK.

Built around a new register of providers – and associated terms and conditions of funding – the plan outlines Medr’s ultimate goal of facilitating a more joined-up and flexible system that can respond to the country’s skills needs.

But its immediate focus remains on the financial precarity of Welsh universities after several institutions, including the major research-intensive Cardiff University, announced plans to cut jobs and courses.

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Universities were in the “eye of the storm” currently, chief executive Simon Pirotte told ����Vlog.

“But, when we are in these challenging times, we’ve got to think about the future and where we want to get to, as well as dealing with the here and now.

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“We need to keep our heads above the parapet and think about horizon scanning and what sort of future we want. It is a balance and a juggling act.”

In the wake of concerns about disappearing provision, Medr has been tasked by the Welsh government to carry out a review of higher education courses in Wales and identify subjects at risk.

Pirotte said this was in the early stages and primarily involved analysing historical data, but hinted that it could result in changes in how funding is distributed to protect areas seen as vulnerable or of particular cultural or strategic importance.

“We have a significant budget but there are lots of calls on it at the moment, so there isn’t a lot of spare cash floating around,” he said.

“We do give higher tariffs for medical places, for example. If government decided there were other areas that should be invested in, that’s another conversation to have.”

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Pirotte said there was a need to be mindful of “unintended consequences” on other parts of the sector, but he wanted to encourage collaboration and working together, within the constraints of institutional autonomy and competition law.

“We need to think about what the whole ecosystem – not just in universities but across the post-16 sector – looks like and what kind of system do we want in the future. That is an ongoing dialogue in terms of where we might want to be in five to 10 years’ time.”

He said he saw regulation as a “means to an end” to create a better system and key tenets of the new regulator’s approach will take shape over the coming months following the publication of the strategic plan.

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Updates to the final document made after a consultation last year included more of a focus on equality and inclusion, students with additional learning needs and international collaboration. 

Pirotte will himself be stepping back at some point over the summer after agreeing to take the role on a two-year basis because of difficulties finding the right candidate to take on the post. 

He said Medr was in a much stronger place to recruit a permanent successor now it was fully operational. “It is not an idea now that has been floating around for years, we’re actually here now.”

A spokesperson for Universities Wales said it welcomed the publication of the plan and its “recognition of many important and crucial areas, including the need to increase participation rates in tertiary education and training”.

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“We are pleased to see a greater focus on global outlook within the plan. Internationalisation is vital to the Welsh tertiary education sector, contributing socially and culturally as well as financially and economically, and it is vital that this contribution is recognised and built upon,” they added. 

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com