Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 26 February 2020.
I'm sure many lessons were learned from techniums, and we were able to apply several of those lessons in the development of the enterprise hubs, which are proving to be incredibly successful across Wales—six enterprise hubs that are boosting prospects for young entrepreneurs and leading to many, many new start-ups flourishing sooner than they would do if they were to survive in their own existence. Now, we've provided—. I think the Member is absolutely right that higher education has a critical role in ensuring our long-term prosperity. Further education skills offer incredibly important technical tools, and higher education offers the strategic tools in which to have the best possible fighting chance in a competitive world. And so we have been investing heavily in higher education institutions and research and development. For example, we provided £3 million to the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales just last year, and a further £5 million this year to develop degree-level apprenticeships, which will make a significant contribution, I believe, to the development of high-level skills that our economy needs.
Now, so far, work has gone ahead in relation to digital and engineering and also in advanced manufacturing, and I await the results of those pilot schemes with keen interest. It's worth saying as well, Llywydd, that European structural funds have helped universities play a really important role in helping to meet the higher level skills needs of Welsh industry over many, many years, with in excess of £70 million of EU funds having been utilised during the 2014 to 2020 period.