Welsh Conservatives to reform student funding
Welsh Conservatives will today call for an end to Labour’s ‘unsustainable’ tuition fee subsidy and prioritise support for living costs.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour has funded an unsustainable and extortionate tuition fee subsidy, which has held back Welsh universities, it will be claimed in an Assembly debate later today.
Last year, a report commissioned by the Labour-run Welsh Government concluded that Labour’s tuition fee subsidy was ‘unsustainable’, endorsing similar concerns from the HE sector and unions.
Welsh Conservatives have previously expressed worries about the levels of funding going to English universities and that Welsh universities are being held back.
A Welsh Conservative Government would scrap Labour’s tuition fee subsidy and prioritise support for living costs.
Angela Burns AM, Shadow Minister for Education, said, “The evidence is stacking up that Labour’s tuition fee subsidy is unsustainable and risks Welsh universities getting left behind.
“The Welsh Government needs to recognise that its tuition fee subsidy is an expensive mistake and the policy needs taking back to the drawing board.
“Welsh Conservatives would scrap Labour’s subsidy and prioritise support for students with the burden of living costs. Families in Wales expect a government that properly funds HE to enable Welsh universities to compete in the increasingly competitive international jobs market.
“This is evidence of the choice between more of the same old ideas and mistakes with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour or real change with the Welsh Conservatives.”
