THE FUTURE of the university system in Wales has been placed into doubt with the announcement that a merger of three institutions has been agreed.
Members of the University of Wales Council have been discussing the possibility of the formation of a so-called ‘super university’, with the eventual aim of reducing the number of separate institutions from eleven to six.
Under the plans, the University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC), Swansea Metropolitan University and Trinity Saint David (in Carmarthen) would become a single university known as the University of Wales. In doing so it would become the third largest educational facility in Wales, behind Swansea and Cardiff.
Ministers are eager to cut back on the number of separate institutions in the country. Education Minister Leighton Andrews spoke last year of the future of funding for the universities being dependent upon such a merger.
The discussions to alter university education in Wales have been met with a mixed reaction. Professor David Warner, the current vice-chancellor of Swansea Metropolitan University, described the proposals as being “not in Wales’ interests”.
In contrast, National Union of Students (NUS) Wales President Katie Webb, while acknowledging that there could be potential problems if plans went ahead, was supportive of the efforts by Leighton Andrews to protect student numbers in the country.
The agreement is the latest development in the efforts to streamline university education in Wales. In 2004, the University of Wales College of Medicine became a part of Cardiff University. Three years later, a similar merger happened, between the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the University of Glamorgan. Only last year, UWIC rejected a suggested merger with Glamorgan, claiming that there would be “no benefit”.