Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Back in autumn 2016, I came to this Senedd to announce the biggest change to student finance in Wales in a generation. As all of us know, student finance reform is a complex and controversial issue. Political parties and Ministers of all stripes, across the United Kingdom and further afield, have taken difficult decisions, and sometimes faced the consequences.

Over recent years in Wales, we have built a consensus and shown that a better way forward is possible. We have delivered a system dealing with up-front costs, while investing in our universities, that is unique in Europe. On coming into office, I agreed a set of principles with the Cabinet, which were our framework for delivering such a large-scale reform. The Diamond report was clear that the previous finance system was unsustainable, and it was questionable whether fee grants for full-time undergraduates was the best investment, whether it supported our institutions, and whether that policy widened access.

Our principles for reform remain our measuring stick for success. They are: that we maintain the principle of universalism within a progressive system; that we have a whole-system approach across modes and levels of study; that investment is shared between Government and those who directly benefit; that we enhance accessibility, tackling barriers such as living costs; and that student support is portable across the United Kingdom. Llywydd, it should be a source of national pride that we in Wales have delivered these principles into action. We now have a system that values and supports all of our students, whether they are full-time undergraduates, a postgraduate or a part-time undergraduate, and we have done so whilst delivering more investment into universities: HEFCW’s grant is up 80 per cent since 2016.

Let me turn to what we’ve achieved in terms of student numbers and funding. First-year full-time students from our most deprived areas are up, year on year, since we introduced our reforms. There has been a 51 per cent increase in first-year full-time postgraduates from Wales since 2016, and a 20 per cent increase in part-time equivalents, and this is after a decade of decline in numbers across the United Kingdom. Part-time numbers across the UK have also decreased over the last decade, down by 70 per cent in England alone. But, here in Wales, we are transforming lives through our support for part-time students. If you look at the Open University in Wales alone, Welsh part-time student numbers have gone up by 81 per cent according to official figures. And part-time students from our most deprived areas in Wales have gone up by 23 per cent.

The average non-repayable grant for full-time students from Wales is now more than £7,000, helping students deal directly with up-front costs. We've also introduced a Master’s bursary scheme for science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine subjects and for those who wish to study through the medium of Welsh, incentivising students to remain in or to come home to Wales to undertake postgraduate study. This scheme has supported Wales’s higher education institutions to incentivise the recruitment of the most talented Welsh students, in line with both our economic action plan and my response to the Diamond review. Of course, we have also maintained the education maintenance allowance, invested record amounts to support mental health and well-being, and we have the only higher education real living wage sector in the whole of the United Kingdom.

And what is more, we have supported our students to showcase their talents on the global stage. More partner students from Wales take part in the Yale global scholars programme than any other region or nation outside of the United States. We are only one of two Governments to have a Gilman international partnership with the US State Department, and we have our first ever Fulbright Commission partnership. We have mobility and academic agreements with partners such as Vietnam and we have developed and funded Wales’s first national outward mobility scheme, Global Wales Discover, widening access to overseas mobilities through shorter term opportunities.

Llywydd, we know that our education system thrives when everyone has a shared stake. When we set high standards for all, when we refuse to accept lower expectations and when we speak to the world with confidence, when we do that, we are truly fulfilling our national mission. Together, we can continue to support students of all ages and backgrounds, and build on the success of recent years. Diolch yn fawr.