Madam,

You report that 285 fewer new undergraduates started at Aberystwyth University in September 2018 than the previous year, which will mean potentially a loss of over £7m in tuition fees over three years.

This must be disheartening news for all those staff and students at Aberystwyth University who work so hard to make it such a welcoming and stimulating place for students, as is shown by its excellent student satisfaction scores.

The fees shortfall at Aberystwyth raises again the question as to why the Welsh Government does not make payment of the tuition fees of Welsh students conditional on studying at a Welsh university. In Scotland, Scottish students do not pay tuition fees providing that they study at a Scottish university. This ensures much more reliable income streams for Scottish universities which are not subject to the sort of severe market shock suffered by Aberystwyth.

Scottish government money goes to Scottish universities. The Welsh government, by paying the fees of Welsh students wherever they study, is sending money intended for Welsh higher education to English universities.

Why should Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, London and other well-off English universities receive Welsh government money while Aberystwyth suffers a shortfall? Don’t English universities get enough money without help from cash-strapped Wales?

Our Welsh universities are as good as those in Scotland and England, and they deserve a vote of confidence from the Welsh Government. Kirsty Williams, the Education and Skills Minister, should urgently consider making future payment of undergraduate tuition fees dependent on studying at a Welsh university.

Yours etc, Dr Andrew Prescott, Llanon.

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