Support for Higher Education

Part of 2. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:44 pm on 15 January 2019.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 2:44, 15 January 2019

I thank the First Minister for his answer. You'll be aware that I have on a number of occasions raised concerns about the current situation with regard to governance at Swansea University. Now, obviously, as the education Minister has rightly said, our universities are independent bodies, but it is also true that they are in receipt of very substantial public funds in Wales, and that they are very important national institutions. Can I ask you today, First Minister, to have some private discussions with the education Minister about this issue, to reassure yourself that the higher education funding council, HEFCW, are applying the appropriate level of challenge and support to the university at this difficult time? It is, of course, of strategic importance, and longer term, will you undertake to look with the Minister for Education at whether or not, when this current situation is resolved, there are lessons that need to be learned about the robustness of the governance arrangements at our higher education institutions?