Well, I'm not sure if we can say that we welcome another debate on Brexit, but I think it's important that we discuss it in relation to education. But, here we are again, talking about this important issue. I'm not going to go into much detail on the finer points of this committee report. I'm sure that many of us will have read the report and we've listened to Lynne Neagle's introduction as Chair, but there are lots of issues there for us to pick up on, from whatever party that we're in.

It does lay out some very clear pathways to offer some security and to build some resilience in the sector, as we face what is potentially a very disruptive and uncertain period in our lives in relation to higher education in particular. I think the university sector has been clear, so we must react in that same way. The current state of Brexit is going to be a serious deterrent to attracting people to come to the UK to study and work in our higher education sectors. This is going to be the case in other aspects of the economy, which we have debated at length here, but particularly in higher education, and I am personally very concerned about the short and longer term impacts that this could have on our economy.

The Welsh Government has implemented sweeping changes to student support over the last several years. There has been some confusion that I think Suzy Davies referred to earlier, which I don't think has been communicated to our European partners particularly well, regarding changes to that support and, in particular, the removal of the tuition fee grant. But in this current Brexit process, Britain has become an international laughing stock. I was in the Committee of the Regions and that was the attitude that I faced on a daily basis; emphasising that I was Welsh and trying to remove myself from some of the decisions that have been made was particularly challenging. But The Washington Post has said that the Brexit mess, from the US, is like watching a country argue with itself in an empty room whilst trying to shoot itself in the foot. Now, imagine what our European partners must feel, who come here on a regular basis to study and to take part in our vibrant higher education institutions.

I'm particularly interested in recommendation 1 relating to the treatment of free movement and the immigration status of those EU-27 citizens working and studying in higher education. I would support this, as the uncertainty, with certain politicians playing this issue—playing with people's lives like a cheap political football—has been an absolute disgrace. And, funnily enough, none of them are actually bothered to come into the Chamber to discuss this report today. There are people who've been committed to this country and who are contributing to it and their status should be settled, and that should not be questioned.

I'm also concerned about the loss of potential EU partnerships, such as Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020, and that's not just for HE; I've spoken at length with leaders in the further education sector whose young people may not have otherwise been able to have gone to many of our European capital cities and have utilised that potential because of Erasmus+—and only because of Erasmus+. They would not have had that opportunity otherwise, and we can't underestimate that influence on a young person's life, on how they will form relationships in the future, how they will think about working abroad for the first time. If they don't get that opportunity through Erasmus+, then we may be confining the aspirations of some areas of Wales where aspirations are already at a low point. 

The Minister has said in the past that HE establishments are autonomous, but this isn't something that's going to fly, I think, in relation to Brexit, and I would hope that the Minister would commit to initiating a mitigation strategy and a round-table with vice-chancellors to ensure that higher education institutions are acting in unison. I think leadership in this regard is entirely essential. And if the Minister, potentially, doesn't want to do it, then why doesn't the committee do it? Why don't you take the mantle in terms of hosting these opinions and coming up with a strategy in this regard?

In relation to recommendation 2, I believe that this response lacks clarity and seems to put the onus on universities with only a commitment to ask HEFCW to engage. This doesn't seem to be the cornerstone of the proposal as requested in this particular document.

I do welcome that the Welsh Government has accepted, to a large degree, the other recommendations, and I look forward to some further detail on some of these. I know that the economy committee that I sit on will be potentially coming up with similar recommendations in relation to the Graeme review, but also Welsh visibility and participation in UK-wide research funding opportunities. We have to make that work.

Cardiff University has called for the Welsh Government to work with the UK Government to underwrite UK student mobility in the EU and commit to seeing what support could be done to continue widening participation from BME international students. I've said this before; I have a declaration of interest in that regard. My husband is from India, and if he hadn't come here, I wouldn't have met him. So, you know, we have to encourage more international students to come to Wales, if only to facilitate intercultural relationships on a personal level. [Laughter.] You can see these Brexit debates are something that I'm really enjoying here today.

I jest, but I think this is a really, really important issue, because the more integration that we allow between different cultures, between different countries, the wealthier we are as a nation, as people, and I think that's integral to what the issue is with Brexit. If we make enemies of each other, then how are we going to be able to work together for the future benefit of our nation? We've seen what's happened in New Zealand recently, but we've seen the amazing response of the people of New Zealand to such an attack. I think that the problem that we have is that higher education is a microcosm of society, and we have to treat that as a way in which we can support the sector, but also how that, then, will emanate through all of our lives in various different ways.