We burden students who will shapeWales

LAST week we were commemorating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National Health Service.

Much has been made of the precious right that free health treatment at the point of delivery confers on all of us, and how civilised our society is as a consequence.

Despite the fact that the cost of the NHS is increasing exponentially, no politician dare advocate an end to our free health service.

Yet the story is different when it comes to our other great public sector provision.

While education remains free in schools, those wanting to go to university must now pay £9,000 a year in tuition fees for the privilege.

It is, of course, possible for students to borrow money to finance their studies, but doing so usually results in huge debts that many have little prospect of ever paying off. Our poll today shows that, as a society, we do not have the same uniformity of view in favour of the right to free higher education as we do towards the right of all to have free health treatment.

Partly this is because not everyone goes to university.

There is a universality about the NHS which does not apply to the university sector.

While the proportion of young people attending university courses has increased over the last 20 years, some institutions still behave as if they exist solely for the benefit of an elite few.

There’s nothing wrong with maintaining high standards, of course, but universities should be stressing the positive impact their graduates can have on society as a whole, rather than just facilitating the advancement of individuals.

What is undeniably the case is that, as a nation, we are in desperate need of a more highly skilled workforce.

Earnings are lower in Wales than in the rest of the UK because our workers are less skilled.

Unless this changes, we will find it difficult to raise enough revenue in income tax to pay for the level of public services we would like, as a recent report from Cardiff University academics showed.

The Welsh Government claims that the package of student support it will be introducing in September will be the most generous in the UK – even more than that offered to Scottish students, who pay no fees.

The students of today will, we hope, shape the prosperous Wales of the future. They deserve whatever support we can afford to give them.