Since the Minister's initial commitment to a revised National Bursary and Scholarship Framework in June 2009, NUS Wales has been lobbying hard to ensure that this results in a fairer system for students who choose to study in Wales.
Over the past six months, the NUS Wales President, Katie Dalton, has attended numerous meetings with the Minister, Welsh Assembly Government officials, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and Higher Education Wales (the representatives of institutions and vice chancellors), and has consistently emphasised the inaccessible and unfair nature of the current system.
Members of NUS Wales were waiting in anticipation for the Minister's statement and looking for further commitment to the principles of equality, transparency and consistency. After 6 months of working behind the scenes to push this issue, the officers and membership of NUS Wales were looking for a clear statement of intent from the Minister.
The NUS Wales sabbatical officers were present at the National Assembly on the 25 November, along with sabbatical officers from Cardiff SU and Glamorgan SU. The Minister delivered a statement that included reference to a revised National Bursary Framework with a commitment to the principles of transparency and consistency across Wales, that addresses the issue of 'equity of outcomes for students'.
This is exactly what NUS Wales has been lobbying for over the past few months and we are delighted with this commitment from the Minister. We are looking forward to working with sector bodies to deliver this revised National Bursary Framework as soon as possible.
On the subject of Coleg Ffederal, the Minister assured Assembly members that WAG would be keeping to the planned schedule, with the Coleg Ffederal Shadow Board being formed in early 2010 and the Coleg Ffederal itself becoming fully operational for AY 2011/12. This development is hugely important for our Welsh Language members and NUS Wales welcomes this further commitment from the Minister.
Overall, NUS Wales welcomes the statement and strategy, including further commitments to Foundation degrees and a Graduate Recruitment initiative, and we look forward to further involvement in the development of the areas outlined in the strategy.
A video of the Minister's statement can be found here. The statement is followed by questions from the three education spokespeople from the Welsh Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats.
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