Helping students play a real partnership role
This year brought financial challenges to universities in Wales, but there is much to celebrate and look forward to in 2018, says Dr David Blaney, chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
AS 2017 draws to a close, this is the ideal opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved this year in higher education in Wales and what we will do in 2018 to ensure that Wales continues to lead the way in offering an excellent student experience.
At the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), we have had a very effective year working with universities and higher education colleges. We have ensured high standards were maintained and we were especially pleased with the focus on the student experience within this year’s fee and access plans, which outline how institutions will use tuition fee income to ensure that higher education widens access to all who have the potential to benefit from it.
There has been much to celebrate in HE in Wales in 2017. This year’s National Student Survey (NSS) results, published in August, showed that 84% of students in Wales who completed the survey were satisfied with their overall experience at university or college.
We were pleased to see the results showed a sustained high standard in Wales, with some very good results in areas such as “teaching on my course” and “learning resources”. These results are a testament to the continued hard work by all involved in Welsh higher education.
The NSS is only one area where we have seen improvements to the undergraduate student experience. The outcomes of the Teaching Excellence Framework showed some very positive results, and Bangor University was particularly pleased with its gold award. This year’s NUS Awards recognised our student unions’ outstanding work, leading to awards for Wrexham Glyndwr University and Coleg Sir Gâr.
As we move into 2018, we will continue to celebrate partnership working in Wales. Since 2009 we have helped fund Wise Wales, which has worked with further and higher education institutions to improve their relationships with students, and sought to ensure students are involved in decision-making.
We work closely with the National Union of Students in Wales (NUSW), whose insight has been invaluable in the development of many of our initiatives. These have included, in 2012, Wales becoming the first country in the UK where every university was required to have a student charter jointly written with students. Institutions have also now established relationship agreements with student unions to promote excellent working relationships on behalf of the student body.
HEFCW has also developed a new Quality Assessment Framework which protects the rights of students as learners rather than consumers and emphasises the role of enhancement in continuing to improve the student experience.
NUSW has been an excellent critical friend to HEFCW as we have worked to ensure the student voice is heard at all levels of decisionmaking. Our universities and colleges are taking great steps to improve the quality of the provision they offer in an increasingly competitive environment. Aberystwyth University was named University of the Year for teaching quality by the Good University Guide in September 2017.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education has outlined how she will take forward the recommendations of the Diamond Review of student support in Wales to offer a generous support and maintenance package. This, coupled with the excellent standard of education in Wales, will offer students of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to excel.
Much of the focus in 2018 will be on the Welsh Government’s plans for a new body which will have oversight of higher education, further education, work-based learning and research in Wales.
We have a great opportunity ahead of us. We are confident in the quality of higher education in Wales and look forward to working with the Cabinet Secretary on this.
In Wales, we are particularly proud of the support students receive as they learn and grow. We will work with our partners and the Welsh Government to ensure students can continue to follow their passion and develop their skills, wherever they study in Wales.