In order to do that, of course, it’s important that we ensure that Wales continues to be an attractive place for students. In my view, offering the opportunities to students to remain within the UK post study is something that’s important and would assist in reducing the skills gap in many sectors here in Wales too. The strong presence of overseas students also allows us to develop international partnerships anew. Indeed, as the UK is, over the next few years, going to be in the process of developing a new relationship with nations across the globe, the need is greater than ever for graduates who are internationally literate individuals who can provide the leadership required in order to create partnerships and relationships on a global level in the future. Reducing the involvement of Welsh universities with the international community isn’t conducive to achieving that.

The diversity of our international campuses does enhance the experience of home students through learning a number of different viewpoints held by students from all parts of the world. These, of course, are all important benefits, never mind the economic benefits, which are also referred to in our motion this afternoon.

If you count university expenditure in terms of staff and students, then Welsh universities have an important direct impact on local economies. In 2013, they produced worth £2.4 billion of GVA in Wales, which accounted for 4.6 per cent of all Welsh GVA in that particular year. Welsh universities produced £600 million of export gains in 2014. Universities are responsible for almost 47,000 jobs here in Wales, directly and indirectly, representing some 3.5 per cent of employment in Wales in 2013. In 2014, it was estimated that a total of almost £0.75 billion had been spent on research and development here in Wales, representing some 2.5 per cent of research and innovation spend in the UK. Now, that isn’t as high as perhaps we should be receiving. Plaid Cymru, back in September, did propose that more should be invested in this area, but certainly that, in and of itself, is a very substantial figure indeed.

To defend these interests, we need to safeguard the sustainability of the HE sector in Wales for the future, and we know that the funding situation for the sector is vulnerable as it currently stands. A report by Universities Wales has outlined the significant pressures on the HE funds at present. Now, since 2011, of course, we have seen the direct public funding provided to our universities through HEFCW and so on reducing from almost £400 million to some £112 million over the past five years, mainly, of course, because of the way in which tuition fees now fund much of the sector. Some 10 per cent of the sector’s funding emanates from this public funding at the moment—that’s through HEFCW, and so on—50 per cent comes through student fees, both international students and home students, and the rest comes from research grants, commercial contracts and charitable contributions, and so on. Universities, of course, have now had to borrow much more in order to make capital investments to remain competitive with other universities. Until recently, Welsh universities had borrowing levels that were lower than the UK average, but the most recent forecast suggests that these levels will increase very significantly and may go beyond that average figure over the next few years.

So, what needs to be done? The motion outlines a number of approaches that suggest some of the areas that should be tackled. Clearly, first of all, we need to safeguard the funding and the current EU programmes for research in higher education, or we need to at least provide alternative funding and programmes. Wales has received, as we know, over €140 million from the European framework programme during the 2007-13 round. Projects in Wales received some £12 million in funding from the Horizon 2020 fund in 2014 alone. Welsh universities have received some £180 million in funding from the European Investment Bank over the past five years for the development of campuses and the development of research and teaching facilities, and so on and so forth. So, this is an important area, and some universities are already telling us that partners are withdrawing from arrangements already in place because of concerns that they won’t qualify as international partners for funding unless all partners remain within the European Union.

International collaboration is crucially important for research projects. They enhance the student experience and the experiences of our academic staff. You will see reference to Erasmus in this motion. Over 200,000 students and staff in the UK have participated in Erasmus, not just in HE but in the FE sector, which has benefited very significantly from Erasmus. A survey from the British Council at the beginning of the month said that 69 per cent of people in Britain believe that we should continue to participate in exchange schemes such as Erasmus. There are benefits and international influence that can be gained from welcoming international students. International students and staff who have lived in Wales are more likely to trust in us, to visit Wales in the future and to establish business partnerships with Welsh companies. As has been discussed previously, we know that we can participate in Erasmus without being a member of the European Union. Countries such as Iceland, Russia, Norway and Turkey all bear witness to that. I also know that the Government has already agreed with the view that we need to do what we can to ensure that that relationship does continue.

We also need to ensure the visa and citizenship status of EU nationals working in Welsh universities. The first thing to say is that that is the ethical thing to do, because they are people and not playing cards in a political game. We have a visa regime for academics and researchers from outwith the EU that is so strict that, according to the evidence that I’ve received from universities, it has been a great barrier to a number of research projects and has a negative impact on the recruitment of international students. For example, over the past four years, the number of students from India studying in the UK has declined by some 50 per cent. There is some discussion that the UK Government wants to make the system even stricter, which will create real concern among staff and international students, and some of them will discount Wales as a destination, which is a loss culturally, economically and academically. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has asked for the Government to exempt scientists from the EU already working in the UK from any changes to the migration rules, so that talented staff can be retained within UK universities, and that is something that we, of course, would endorse.

Also, we need to enable Welsh universities to participate in a post-study work visa scheme. Jo Johnson, the UK Minister for universities and science, has already announced that EU students applying for a place in UK universities in 2017 will be safeguarded in terms of the place and funding until the end of the courses, even if the UK leaves the EU before those courses are concluded. But, of course, without the opportunity to stay in the UK for a year or two after graduating, it’s quite possible that many of those students will choose to study elsewhere in any case. So, in order to attract students to study in Wales, we should consider re-introducing a visa scheme that will enable students to remain in the country to work, having concluded their studies—something akin to what was actually abolished in 2012: the tier 1 post-study—