How will increasing tuition fees contribute to improving standards and making higher education more appealing to young people in Wales?
Increasing the value of tuition fee caps in Wales is in response to the continued inflationary pressures experienced by our Welsh higher education institutions. Increasing these caps for the 2025/26 academic year for full-time undergraduate courses will provide additional income to Welsh institutions to reflect the increased costs of education and help safeguard provision and investment in the student experience.
The charging of tuition fees is a matter for each provider of higher education. As autonomous bodies, higher education providers are responsible for the quality, standard and delivery of their courses, and attracting young people to their institutions. Medr, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, has a duty to monitor and promote continuous improvement in the quality of tertiary education, including higher education. Reviews of higher education quality are carried out by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) on a contractual basis, and Medr has oversight of quality assessment in higher education.
We are committed to supporting people to invest in their future and ensure that everyone, no matter their background, can access and participate in higher education.