Ministers accused of 'waving white flag' on Cardiff Uni

Welsh ministers have been accused of shrugging off responsibility and waving a "white flag" over major cuts at Cardiff University.

The institution has announced plans to cut 400 full-time jobs amid a funding shortfall, with proposals including course closures and department mergers.

On Wednesday Conservative and Plaid Cymru politicians accused ministers of presiding over "educational vandalism" and "stagnation" in Welsh universities.

Higher Education Minister Vikki Howells said the Welsh government, which oversees the sector, is doing all it can.

She said she was "disappointed" by Cardiff's move but blamed the previous Conservative government at Westminster for issues such as Brexit and "rampant inflation" for causing the funding problems facing the sector.

In the current academic year Welsh government funding for Cardiff University was cut by £3.6m - or 5.2%. Howells says 90% of funding for universities comes from outside of government.

Howells was brought to the chamber to answer questions on the matter after the Senedd approved a topical question from Labour MS Julie Morgan.

Morgan said she was "particularly concerned that nursing is to be one of the main departments that will be affected".

"According to the Royal College of Nursing, there are 800 to 1,000 students in the nursing school.

"To cut this number of nursing students, when it's estimated that we are short of 2,000 nurses in Wales, I can only say is astonishing, and the impact of this will be felt right across Wales."

Conservative education spokesperson Natasha Asghar said her phone had been "bombarded by parents who are concerned about the future of their children at Cardiff University".

It was disappointing, she said, "to hear a Welsh government spokesperson shrug off any responsibility yesterday by saying that universities are independent institutions".

"Is the government genuinely comfortable sitting on their hands and allowing this act of educational vandalism to be taking place," she said.

Plaid Cymru education spokesman Cefin Campbell said Welsh universities "are on the brink".

He said the Tony Blair mantra of education, education, education had been replaced by "stagnation, obfuscation and deterioration".

"Despite the countless warnings about the financial sustainability of the sector, rather than providing crucial support, you are waving the white flag in the face of hundreds of redundancies."

He said the government had left the university sector to wither on the vine, and said Howells had prematurely announced a transformation fund "only for that to turn out to be just smoke and mirrors".

Howells had been forced to clarify comments she made in the Senedd about such a fund last October, saying it was an a "very exploratory stage".

On Wednesday Howells said it had been decided that a transformation fund was "not required at this stage", and instead the government decided to increase tuition fees.

"I'm confident that the Welsh government is supporting the sector as much as we possibly can," she said.

She said the Welsh government had received the "best funding settlement" since the start of devolution from the UK Labour government, but said it could only "begin to scrape the surface of the problems that we are facing".

The minister, who said she was informed last week about Cardiff University's plans, said she recognised uncertainty was going to cause "anxiety for many staff and students".

Howells said issues had been "brought upon us by the previous UK government" - blaming the "hostile environment for those coming into our country from overseas" as a result of visa changes.

Universities in Wales had been telling the government about declining international enrolments, she said.

She said she was "disappointed" that nursing courses formed part of the proposals, and said the Health Secretary Jeremy Miles was working "urgently" to ensure the same number of nurses could be trained.

She called for a review of higher education funding across the UK, including "Treasury rules which govern the student finance system", and said she had raised the matter with Labour UK government minister Jacqui Smith.

Howells claimed that higher education funding in Wales compared "favourably to other UK nations" - being 18% higher than Scotland and was comparable to England now tuition fees were the same.

Earlier, during Welsh Questions in the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens called the proposed job losses at Cardiff University "deeply concerning" and a "significant blow to university staff and their families".

"I hope sufficient volunteers through a voluntary redundancy programme will come forward and be achieved in order to avoid any compulsory redundancies, and that support will be provided to those impacted," she said.

But she added that "for the last 14 years the Conservative policies have seen our universities sector across the United Kingdom decimated".

Stevens was replying to Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville-Roberts, who said an "education disaster" was "playing out in real time", and urged UK ministers to "scrap national insurance hikes" for employers to "ease the strain on universities".

On Tuesday Vice-Chancellor Professor Wendy Larner defended the decision to cut jobs, saying the university would have become "untenable" without drastic reforms.

The job role cuts are only a proposal, she said, but insisted the university needed to "take difficult decisions" due to the declining international student applications and increasing cost pressures.

Asked, on Wednesday, what it message is to sixth form students considering applying to Cardiff University this September, particularly to endangered courses, a university spokesperson said: "We'd reassure applicants and prospective students that programmes for 2025-2026 will continue; we are committed to an intake for the coming academic year."