gair rhydd y
gair rhydd | freeword Cardiff ’s student weekly Issue 1072 Monday 15th February 2016 Also in this issue
Advice: Learning to drive while you’re at university P10>>
Funding for University and SU remains in doubt despite reduction to Higher Education cuts
Comment: London bus stunt: Insensitive or justified? P12>>
• Assembly Members opt to reduce proposed £42 million cuts to Higher Education in Wales to £11 million at Welsh budget approval • Vice Chancellor Colin Riordan: “We are not out of the woods yet” • SU President Claire Blakeway criticises Cardiff Central AM for toeing party line
EXCLUSIVE Joseph Atkinson
J
obs and services at Cardiff University and the Students’ Union remain under threat despite the Welsh government’s decision to reduce a proposed cut of £42 million to Higher Education in Wales to £11 million. Both Vice-Chancellor Colin Riordan and SU President Claire Blakeway have acknowledged the continued uncertainty over the funding of Welsh universities. In an email sent to all staff, Professor Riordan emphasised that the University was “not out of the woods yet” despite three quarters of the proposed cuts to the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) being removed at the Welsh budget announcement on Tuesday.
Riordan expressed his gratitude towards the government’s decision to amend proposals to cut funding to the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), but stopped short at guaranteeing that jobs that he had previously suggested could be under threat would be saved. At the end of January Professor Riordan emailed every staff member at the University, informing them that the potential cuts to HEFCW would “plunge universities into crisis with no understanding of what the subsequent solution might be”. He also wrote that a cut of 40 per cent or more to public funding for universities in one year was “not reasonable to expect”, especially ahead of the Diamond Review into Higher Education funding and Student Finance arrangements in Wales. However, the Assembly Member for Cardiff Central, Jenny Rathbone, told Gair Rhydd that Riordan had
“completely over-played his hand” and “compared apples to pears” in the email sent two weeks ago. Ms. Rathbone was critical of the Vice-Chancellor’s approach, stating that he had caused “unjustified alarm about what was being proposed”. When queried on whether she believed that Professor Riordan’s email was a political manoeuvre, Ms. Rathbone said: “I can’t say what his intentions were but his figures were incorrect.” She also took the opportunity to respond to accusations made by Plaid Cymru’s AM Simon Thomas, who had said that the Labour government had “bowed to pressure” from his party. “It’s daft to badge listening to people who put their case coherently as ‘bowing to pressure’; the point of having a consultation is to find out what people think about the way we plan to use their money.
Pictured:
Cardiff University’s Main Building from the Students’ Union. Funding for both institutions is under threat (Photographer: Joseph Atkinson)
Continued on page 4
Politics: An interview with the Wales Green Party leader P20>>
Science: Why you might not be a morning person P26>>