UNIVERSITY chiefs have hit out at the Welsh Government for cutting its funding for Welsh Universities by more than £40m.

The news sparked warnings from Elin Jones AM last week that the cuts, which will hit both university campuses at both Aberystwyth and Lampeter, will have consequences for the whole Ceredigion economy.

A spokesperson for Universities of Wales said this week: “Whilst there is still a lot of detail yet to examine in the draft budget, at a first glance we are seriously concerned by the cut of £41.4m or 32 per cent in investment to universities in Wales compared to the budget for 2015/16.

“This is the sixth successive year of major cuts to the HE budget, seeing a reduction of £365m or 81 per cent since 2010/11.

“We were clear when we released our manifesto for the future Welsh Government last week that the pressures on the student funding budget will put funding to universities at risk and these cuts announced today will have severe consequences on Wales’s universities ability to continue to deliver the social and economic benefits that are vital to the people of Wales."

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