Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:00 pm on 26 June 2019.
Well, I was going to come on to some concerns I have with governance, and I do agree that greater transparency is required in governance and greater participation by staff and by students. They should never ever be blocked out from taking part in meetings of whichever governing body it is, because I remember being a trade union member on a governing body and I wasn't allowed in certain meetings because it was felt it was inappropriate. Now, that's got to stop; the governance has to be open, has to be transparent, and those voices must be heard clearer and louder. So, I totally agree with that aspect.
We all remember, on financial aspects, universities get their money from various sources. The Brexit Party Member talked about HEFCW. HEFCW's no longer the main funder. Many years ago, it stopped being the main funder. It used to be. All the teaching moneys used to come from HEFW, but it doesn't any more; it comes through student fees. So it's been changed; it's student fees, R&D grants and projects, commercial activities—let's not forget the commercial activities they undertake—and a smaller proportion now of public funding through the funds from HEFCW. Much, much smaller than they used to be. They do depend upon student numbers. Student universities actually do depend upon that, home and abroad, and it is very deeply concerning that we are seeing the overseas students declining, particularly from the EU, because that has always been a supporter. Because even though they paid home fees—[Interruption.] Hang on a minute. Even though they paid home fees from the EU, they were numbers, they were coming in and they were adding to the experience of the individual students in their programmes.