Kirsty Williams: I met with the chair of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales yesterday for confirmation that the council is engaging with the university and monitoring its financial position in accordance with the council's regulatory and financial responsibilities. The university, as an independent, autonomous institution, made a public statement about the delayed publication and confirmed it has...
Kirsty Williams: Of course I'm aware of the situation at Swansea University and am monitoring the situation and have had regular updates from HEFCW. In my meeting with the chair of the higher education funding council yesterday, I asked a direct question as to whether he and the council had any concerns around the processes that had been employed by Swansea University in dealing with the disciplinary cases...
Kirsty Williams: HEFCW have no concerns over the financial status and stability of the institution. Their risk board, I understand, meets next month, and I was given no indication that they will change their attitude and their rating of Swansea University as a result. Clearly, they are engaged with Swansea around the late publication of financial statements. As you will be aware, the university has made a...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I begin by thanking Siân and Suzy for bringing forward this debate today, and allowing us to engage in impressions—pale, I must admit—of those Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and Gwyn Alf Williams Welsh history discussions that many of us will remember from the 1980s and have been referenced so often this afternoon, and the fact that they have clearly...
Kirsty Williams: Of course.
Kirsty Williams: Well, the Member has anticipated perfectly—
Kirsty Williams: —the next part of my contribution. We cannot—we cannot, David, ignore that many Welsh people were involved in owning and bringing slaves to America, and, as David has rightly said, we only have to look at the huge African-American populations with names such as Davies, Jones and Williams that reflect that history, whilst also recognising that the Welsh-American population also played a...
Kirsty Williams: Formally.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Any opportunity to discuss and promote our higher education sector is always a welcome one. And in speaking in favour of the Government's amendment, I more than recognise the challenges facing the sector, including Brexit, the decline in the number of 18-year-olds, and domestic and global competition. But I also welcome the success of the sector and,...
Kirsty Williams: Supporting, Presiding Officer, a sustainable and world-renowned higher education system is a priority for this Government, and we do indeed have a robust statutory framework of regulation in place that assures both the quality and the financial sustainability of the sector. And if some Members need reminding, many people in this very Chamber passed the Higher Education (Wales) Act 2015 that...
Kirsty Williams: What country would want to curtail the ambitions of its citizens to study at first-class institutions wherever they would be? That would be an inward-looking nation, not an outward-looking nation that wants to give its students those opportunities to fulfil their potential wherever that potential may best be supported.
Kirsty Williams: Yes, I will.
Kirsty Williams: Well, I'm glad that somebody here recognises the hard work and the success of the scheme, but also, apart from supporting those students, our student support package has seen a massive increase in the new applications for part-time and postgraduate students, and that's proof that this reform is working. It's delivering for social mobility, it's delivering for economic opportunity, and it is...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Leanne. Equity and inclusion are at the heart of our national mission for education. Our education reforms will ensure that all learners can access a high standard of education and, crucially, reach their full potential.
Kirsty Williams: I have to say I'm very concerned to hear from you those reports that children are being refused the opportunity to undertake a statutory assessment for their additional learning needs. As you are quite right to say, the new legislation, which was passed by this Assembly in 2018, has not come into effect. We are currently consulting on the code and the subordinate legislation that will...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Huw. Seventy years of Welsh-medium education in the Llynfi area will be celebrated. Partners in the Welsh language sector will celebrate that achievement through the borough in the annual Ogi Ogi Ogwr festival, organised by Menter Bro Ogwr, which I understand will take place on 14 July.
Kirsty Williams: Well, Huw, I'm very glad to hear about the celebrations that have already been happening in your local area. And I think it's fair to say that we have come a long way since the first Welsh-medium school was opened, in the Presiding Officer's constituency, in Aberystwyth, in 1939. But I would be the first to admit that we need to work harder, and with more ambition, in order to readdress the...
Kirsty Williams: Clearly, within the constraints of the very difficult financial settlement the Government is faced with, I’m determined to get as much money to the front line and into individual schools’ budgets as possible. Of course, financial resource is one thing; human resource is also a challenge and I recognise that. That’s why those seeking to qualify as teachers through the medium of Welsh...
Kirsty Williams: Well, the organisation and planning for local schools of whichever medium of tuition is a matter, quite rightly, for local education authorities. What Welsh Government has is an enabling role, and the role of encouraging those education authorities to push the boundaries. And as I said, we have set out our expectations very clearly of the increase in the number of children that we would...
Kirsty Williams: Can I thank the Member for raising this very important issue? There is no place for racism anywhere in the Welsh education system, whether that be in our schools, our colleges and our universities. We have had discussions as a Government with the university and with the students union involved, and I understand that there is ongoing dialogue between them both. All universities have to have...
