List of universities in Wales

There are currently eight universities operating in Wales, all of which receive funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW).^[1][2] Although university status in Wales only requires taught degree awarding powers (since 2004),^[3] most Welsh universities have the power to award both taught and research degrees (research degrees at Wrexham University are validated by the University of Chester^{[4][needs update]}). University status in Wales is conferred by the Privy Council following advice from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.^[5][6] The criteria for university status were set by the UK government in 2004; since then higher education in Wales has become a devolved matter under the Government of Wales Act 2006 and is the responsibility of the Minister for Education & Skills in the Welsh Government.

Cardiff University

In 2022–23 global rankings, three Welsh universities (Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea) featured in all three of the major global rankings: the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the QS World University Rankings, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.^[7][8][9] No Welsh university features in the top 100 of any of the global tables, although Cardiff makes the top 200 in all three and also places within the top 40 universities of all three major domestic rankings.

All Welsh universities are public universities and funded in part by the Welsh Government through HEFCW, with an allocation of just over £217 million in 2022-23.^[10] Welsh universities also charge tuition fees capped at £9,000 per year for UK students, unlike other parts of the UK which have fees capped at £9,250, on undergraduate courses.^[11] In 2021–22, approximately 149,000 students studied at universities or institutes of higher education in Wales, 25,090 of which are international students.^[12] Welsh universities generate over £5.3 billion for the Welsh economy.^[13]

Universities

English Name	Welsh Name	Image	Year of foundation	Location	Numbers of students (2021/22)^[12]	Teaching Excellence Framework	Notes
Aberystwyth University	Prifysgol Aberystwyth		1872	Ceredigion	7,845	Gold	Founded as the University College Wales
Bangor University	Prifysgol Bangor		1884	Gwynedd	10,505	Gold	Founded as the University College of North Wales
Cardiff University	Prifysgol Caerdydd		1883	Cardiff	33,985	Silver	Founded as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire. Merged in 1988 with the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. Merged in 2004 with the University of Wales College of Medicine.
Cardiff Metropolitan University	Prifysgol Fetropolitan Caerdydd		2011 (origins 1865)	Cardiff	12,620	Silver	Founded as the South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education in 1976, formed from the merger of four earlier institutes including the Cardiff School of Art & Design (1865).
University of South Wales	Prifysgol De Cymru		2013 (origins 1841)	Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd	23,270	Did not enter	Formed by the merger of University of Wales, Newport (1975, with origins in 1841) and the University of Glamorgan (1992, with origins in 1913) in 2013. Also incorporates the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
Swansea University	Prifysgol Abertawe		1920	Swansea	22,290	Gold	Founded as the University College, Swansea
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	Prifysgol Cymru, Y Drindod Dewi Sant		2010 (origins 1822)	Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, London and Swansea	15,045	Bronze	Formed in 2010 by the merger of University of Wales, Lampeter (1822), Trinity University College (1848) and Swansea Metropolitan University (2008, with origins in 1853)
Wrexham University	Prifysgol Wrecsam		1887	Wrexham	7,490	Silver	Founded as the Wrexham School of Science and Art and later became a university as Glyndŵr University.

Funding and finances

The total consolidated annual income for Welsh universities for 2020–21 was £1.78 billion of which £230.0 million was from research grants and contracts, with an operating surplus of £74.2 million. £332.2 million was received from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales via grants and £356.7 million was received from tuition fees of Home-domiciled students. The table below is a record of each university's financial data for the 2020–21 financial year as recorded by the Higher Education Statistics Agency:^[14]

University	Government funding body grants (£m)	Funding Body income as % of total income	Home-Domiciled Teaching income (£m)	Overall Teaching income (£m)	Teaching income as % of total income	Research income (£m)	Research income as % of total income	Total income (£m)	Operating surplus (£m)	Surplus as % of total income
Aberystwyth University	22.1	18.6%	16.0	54.0	45.4%	20.2	17.0%	118.8	—2.0	—1.70%
Bangor University	30.3	19.8%	27.6	75.8	49.4%	23.4	15.2%	153.4	—1.5	—1.01%
Cardiff University	109.5	18.1%	66.6	306.9	50.8%	112.6	18.6%	604.6	31.4	5.19%
Cardiff Metropolitan University	14.8	12.1%	42.3	90.2	73.8%	2.4	2.0%	122.3	2.9	2.34%
University of South Wales	32.7	16.3%	77.1	140.0	69.9%	7.5	3.8%	200.2	5.8	2.89%
Swansea University	50.4	14.0%	66.8	184.3	51.1%	62.1	17.2%	360.8	27.8	7.72%
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	63.3	36.4%	40.1	87.0	50.0%	0.6	0.4%	173.9	8.2	4.72%
Wrexham University	9.2	19.6%	20.1	31.6	67.2%	1.1	2.4%	47.1	1.7	3.68%

Research Excellence Framework

The below lists the outcome of the latest Research Excellence Framework undertaken in 2021 (the next REF is scheduled for 2028) by the four UK higher education funding bodies. The quality of research was rated 4* (world leading), 3* (internationally excellent), 2* (recognised internationally), 1* (recognised nationally) and unclassified. GPA measures the quality of research and Research Power is calculated by the GPA score of a university multiplied by the full-time equivalent number of researchers submitted. The rankings are out of 129 institutions across the UK:^[15]

	Quality profile %
University	4*	3*	2*	1*	Unclassified	GPA ranking	Research Power ranking
Aberystwyth University	26	50	22	2	0	65	76
Bangor University	40	45	13	2	0	42	77
Cardiff University	45	45	9	1	0	22	14
Cardiff Metropolitan University	20	50	26	5	0	81	99
University of South Wales	16	45	30	6	3	101	95
Swansea University	35	51	14	0	0	48	41
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	15	34	37	12	2	112	117
Wrexham University	6	30	44	19	2	123	129

Rankings

See also: Rankings of universities in the United Kingdom

The following table is a list of Welsh universities by their performance in the three main domestic and three main global university rankings.

University	Complete 2024 (National)^[16]	Guardian 2024 (National)^[17]	Times/Sunday Times 2024 (National)^[18]	ARWU 2023 (Global)^[7]	QS 2024 (Global)^[8]	THE 2024 (Global)^[19]
Aberystwyth University	39	45	39	—	661–670	501–600
Bangor University	52	54	44	601–700	481=	401–500
Cardiff University	21	29	25	151–200	154=	190
Cardiff Metropolitan University	71	100	78	—	—	1201–1500
University of South Wales	101	72	97	—	—	1001–1200
Swansea University	40	25	41	401–500	307=	251–300
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	118	105	117	—	—	—
Wrexham University	130	109	122	—	—	—

See also

• Armorial of UK universities
• Education in Wales
• List of further education colleges in Wales
• History of higher education in Wales

References

1. "Higher education institutions". HEFCW. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
2. "Universities". Universities Wales. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
3. "Applications for the Grant of Taught Degree Awarding Powers, Research Degree Awarding Powers and University Title" (PDF). Department for Business Innovation and Skills. August 2004. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
4. "Studying for a Research Degree". Wrexham Glyndŵr University. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
5. (PDF). The Privy Council. 5 July 2005. pp. 5–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
6. . Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
7. "Academic Ranking of World Universities 2023". Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. 15 August 2023.
8. "QS World University Rankings 2024". Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. 27 June 2023.
9. "THE World University Rankings 2023". Times Higher Education. 2 September 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
10. "Funding for higher education in 2022/23". hefcw.ac.uk. Higher Education Funding for Wales. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
11. "Universities' finances unsustainable - Cardiff vice-chancellor". BBC News. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
12. "Where do HE students study?: Students by HE provider". HESA. HE student enrolments by HE provider. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
13. "Higher education in Wales". uniswales.ac.uk. Universities Wales.
14. "What is the income of HE providers?". hesa.ac.uk. Higher Education Statistics Agency. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
15. "REF 2021 Main Online Table". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
16. "Complete University Guide 2024". The Complete University Guide. 8 June 2023.
17. "Guardian University Guide 2024". The Guardian. 9 September 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
18. "Good University Guide 2024". The Times. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
19. "THE World University Rankings 2024". Times Higher Education. 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.