University Courses through the Medium of Welsh

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:52 pm on 22 May 2019.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 2:52, 22 May 2019

I'm grateful to the Minister for her answer, and I'd associate myself with what she says about the role of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. It's beginning to deliver a transformation. However, I have had brought to my notice by an individual constituent—and I won't even mention the university concerned because this young person is concerned about being exposed—that when she raised the possibility of undertaking part of a course through the medium of Welsh, she was met with a really unhelpful and dismissive attitude, and it was perfectly possible for her to do that because there was a tutor available who could have delivered part of that course. This reflects a concern that has been raised with me by others that there are some parts of our universities that are still culturally resistant to this and that they don't see the provision of courses through the medium of Welsh, particularly perhaps in non-traditional subjects, as something that's for them. What further steps can the Minister take, working with the Minister for Education and obviously with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol but also with the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales to help challenge the remains of this negative and, I think, now very much a minority culture within some of our universities and to emphasise that there is nothing for a university to lose and everything for it to gain by making this provision available?