Thank you for writing to me concerning Postgraduate funding cuts.
I am aware of the many disappointing cuts that feature in the Welsh Government’s 2024-25 Draft Budget, and that Postgraduate grants and bursaries feature among them. The Welsh Government cannot say that they are unable to protect crucial funding areas when they are content to pour tens of millions of taxpayer pounds into their pet projects, such as the 20mph rollout across Wales and the over £100 million that is due to be spent on expanding the Senedd to fit more politicians into Cardiff Bay.
The Welsh Government’s budget is nothing less than a demonstration of their priorities. Therefore, £9.6 million being ‘reprioritised’ from Postgraduate grants has sent a clear message to the people of Wales that supporting the extremely beneficial role that Postgraduate tuition plays for the Welsh economy and Welsh society in general is not something that this Welsh Government is interested in.
I welcome that funding to support undergraduates is being protected, but to shield one at the expense of the other is counterintuitive. The combination of cuts to grants and bursaries, coupled with the move to loan-based support for the new academic year, will collectively be placing enormous pressures on people who will already be financially strained. It also goes without saying that those most affected by these decisions will be the least well-off, including those from under-represented groups.
The impacts this will have on the financial and mental wellbeing of students, as well as the growing risk of deterring people from wishing to pursue Postgraduate study in Wales, are an immense cause for concern.
My Welsh Conservative colleagues and I will continue to call on the Welsh Government to get their priorities right, and to stop wasting enormous sums of taxpayer money on unwanted vanity projects whilst simultaneously trying to justify massive cuts to key parts of our economy.
I thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
