Welsh government won’t give cash to struggling universities

There will be no extra cash to help struggling Welsh universities, the Welsh government’s higher education minister has warned.

Vikki Howells said it was up to the universities to balance the books.

This week Cardiff University announced plans to axe 400 jobs.

Ms Howells said she was speaking to the UK government about reforming funding for the sector.

The minister told BBC Politics Wales higher education was going through a “challenging” time but this was mostly beyond Welsh government’s control.

She said: “There wouldn’t be any additional Welsh government funding available, unless we were looking to cut back from other areas such as the NHS, education, or public services that we all rely on.

“We’ve added an additional £10m after the autumn budget to take the funding to £200m.”

She said Cardiff University Vice-Chancellor, Wendy Larner, told her she hoped “significantly” fewer than 400 jobs would go.

“She’s really hoping to avoid compulsory redundancy, but I would urge all staff to work with their unions,” Ms Howells said.

Ms Howells added she was looking at reforming higher education funding with the UK government.

“We will be taking part in their work to look at how we can reform the higher education sector across the UK, so that we can look at issues such as migration, international students, competition law and crucially also HM Treasury rules, which govern student finance arrangements,” she said.

She said she had had a “positive” conversation with UK government higher education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith.

“I am determined to put the needs of Wales first in the work I do,” Ms Howells said.

BBC Politics Wales is on BBC One Wales on Sunday 2 February at 10:00 GMT