Student Finance Wales

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 13 December 2017.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 1:38, 13 December 2017

I would agree, Andrew, that many students are concerned about how they will financially support themselves whilst undertaking a period of higher education study, and that's why we're implementing the Diamond review, which will see Wales have the most comprehensive support for students, especially for those students from a non-traditional background who perhaps in the past wouldn't even have aspired to go to university. I have noted the speech by Jo Johnson with regard to two-year degrees. At this time, I'm considering the evidence as to whether those two-year degrees are of sufficient quality, whether they allow students to have the depth of learning that they need, and also the cost implications, because there is some evidence to suggest that when it comes to delivering courses over a two-year period, they're not necessarily cheaper and there are sometimes issues around the quality, and I would not want to move forward unless I was absolutely confident of the evidence that to move to two-year degrees would be beneficial to students.