1. Will the First Minister make a statement on the reforms to university student support? OAQ55044

Llywydd, Wales has the fairest, most progressive and sustainable student support system anywhere in the United Kingdom. It includes parity for part time and postgraduate students. The Welsh Government's target of a 10 per cent increase in the number of Welsh postgraduate students by the end of this Senedd term has already been achieved.

Thank you, First Minister. Can I congratulate the Government on the success of the reformed support packages for higher education? In particular, of course, we see an increase of more than 1,500 students who are now studying at postgrad level, and that shows that we continue in Wales to produce graduates of the highest calibre, and of course they contribute so much to us having a high-skills economy. First Minister, do you agree with me that this increase in postgraduate students is a sign of the success of the Government in looking to build the skills pipeline that we need in order to create a high-quality, high-wage economy?

I thank Carwyn Jones for that supplementary question. He's absolutely right, Llywydd, to draw the link between the investment we make in the higher education sector and the future success of the Welsh economy. The figures that he points to are remarkable. They show a 7 per cent increase in part-time students as a result of the policies followed by this Government. They show a 9 per cent increase in postgraduate students. And they really are an investment, as Carwyn Jones has said, in the sort of skills that we will need in the Welsh economy in the future. And it comes from that key insight of the Diamond review that it was living costs in the here and now, not tuition fees, that were the greatest barrier to people coming into higher education, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. 

And I know that the Member will be particularly pleased, because of the close interest he's always shown in this, with the decision to abolish means testing altogether for care leavers up to the age of 25, and the fact that we are consulting currently on potential changes to support for disabled students, to make sure that they too have as full and unfettered access to our higher education system as we can design for them. 

This reminds me a little bit of the Programme for International Student Assessment results, which is a welcome halt to a persistent downward trend but still some way to go from where we were six years ago. If you look at undergraduates—obviously, we're all going to welcome any growth in numbers in undergraduates, even though that's smaller than the growth in the number of postgraduates—can you tell us something about whether they're choosing to go to Wales's universities? Because, obviously, part of the Diamond dividend is supposed to be an improvement for the security of university funding, as well as improving the opportunities for Welsh students. I am curious to know whether the Diamond dividend that you were expecting is actually what we're seeing in the latest figures. 

Well, Llywydd, the Diamond dividend is there for anybody to see in the draft budget that we placed in front of the Assembly on 16 December, where we are reinvesting into higher education the Diamond dividend in exactly the way that the original report suggested. I want Welsh young people to feel confident to study wherever they think their future would be best enhanced. And that can be in Welsh universities, of course, with many, many brilliant departments and possibilities; but I want Welsh young people to be able to study elsewhere in the United Kingdom as well. And I don't regard it as a measure of success or failure of the system whether students decide to study in Wales or elsewhere. I want them in higher education; I want them to be where they think their future will be best secured. 

Phase 1 of Diamond's reforms, which is the student-facing reforms, are being and have been implemented; but we are talking here about phase 2, in relation to the institutional reforms. I do welcome the uptake in part-time students, and I do reflect on the fact that this is improving in Wales. But I have spoken to some HE institutions that say that, in line with the increase in part-time students, many of them will have more complex needs and they will need more investment from an institutional perspective. So, what are you doing in that regard to ensure that higher education institutions are robust and resilient for the future here in Wales?

I thank the Member for that question, and for her recognition of the way in which the Diamond reforms have reached out to part-time students. I know it's an issue that she's raised before on the floor of the Assembly, and I'm sure she is right that people coming back into higher education through the part-time route will have many other things in their lives that they are juggling, many other demands that they are having to meet. And higher education institutions have a responsibility to respond to those needs. It's why that is particularly highlighted in the remit letter that the Minister for Education has supplied to the higher education sector in Wales this year. We are investing in those higher education institutions, they are seeing the Diamond dividend. They must play their part as well in making sure that the help that they give to students from non-conventional backgrounds coming into higher education is good enough to make sure that those people can succeed.