Hefcw eyes Glyndr merger with Bangor and Aberystwyth

The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales plans to merge Glyndr University with Bangor and Aberystwyth, as part of strategy to cut their number in Wales from 11 to six, Tom Bodden writes for Daily Post West.

Leighton Andrews, Welsh minister for education, is waiting for a report from Hefcw over the needs of the North East Wales. The review, out in next few weeks,will focus on whether Glynder fully meet the need of the North East Wales.

The Hefcw suggested the merger after Bangor and Aberystwyth signed a strategic alliance deal.

“Bangor and Aberystwyth universities recently celebrated their research agreement and are working on collaboration between the two institutions and that’s very important,” Mr. Andrews told the Daily Post.

Mr. Andrews, however, said that a merger is not what they should be spending their energy on. "I think there are very real geographical challenges, territorial challenges."

The education minister noted that Glyndr’s relationship with local further education colleges like Desidee as well as industry partners is very important. He also noted that Glyndr and Desidee enjoy a working relationship with Airbus on a range of courses.

 “What Glyndr has done well is where it has enabled access to Higher Education to people from non traditional backgrounds and I’m slightly surprised that didn’t feature more in the campaign around Glyndr over the last few months," Mr. Andrews remarked.

Mr. Andrews, meanwhile, announced that Welsh students could expect the government's tuition subsidy to continue until the end of the current Assembly. With the subsidy, students pay only £3,465 despite fees of up to £9,000 that universities could charge. The Welsh government could shell out almost £3.6 billion over five years.

“It will be expensive but it was one of Welsh Labour’s manifesto commitments," Mr. Andrews told the Daily Post Wales.