The future of higher education in Wales

From the nineteenth century to the present day, Welsh higher education has focused on providing tertiary education on the basis of equality of opportunity. Aberystwyth University, for example, was founded in 1872, mainly by public donation from a small number of wealthy benefactors and a large number of ordinary Welsh men and women giving small contributions. The aim was to enable those with talent to benefit from a university education regardless of background. This social contract model is woven into the fabric of the Welsh higher education system, and as the nation moves into the twenty-first century this theme remains at its heart. For our future, the higher education strategy and plan for the twenty-first century (2009), reconfirms this commitment by prioritising social justice as one of the sector’s two strategic objectives.