{"id":14308,"date":"2016-03-17T16:01:07","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T16:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/intercardiff\/?p=14308"},"modified":"2016-03-17T16:01:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-17T16:01:07","slug":"welsh-higher-education-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/politics-social-justice\/welsh-higher-education-dilemma","title":{"rendered":"Welsh higher education dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Welsh Universities have awarded fewer first and upper second degrees than the rest of the UK, while the education quality is not the main reason.<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14311\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14311\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14311\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14311\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed.png\" alt=\"Graduates in the UK\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed.png 640w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-500x281.png 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14311\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14311\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed.png\" alt=\"Graduates in the UK\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed.png 640w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-500x281.png 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> Graduates in the UK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">The quality of universities in Wales has been questioned because data from Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) shows that, the first degrees handed out from universities in Wales has decreased by 2.0% in 2014\/2015.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Critical points suggested that the concerns about the quality of Welsh higher education should be raised. However, rather than quality, other issues about higher education in Wales should also be put forward.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A spokesperson for Cardiff University responded that \u201cthe proportion of first class degrees awarded by Cardiff University has increased in line with sector-wide figures.\u00a0In all cases the standards of awards are confirmed by External Examiners as being at least equal to those of comparable universities, and in many cases above them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to the data from HESA, the number of the total students in England during 2014\/2015 achieved 1,869,345, while that in Wales only reached 125,680.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Captain Sensible (pseudonym respondent) said: \u201cWe only have one Russel group university here. Top performing pupils at A level will aim to go to a top university. Cardiff can&#8217;t take them all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe have also had our universities admitting pupils on UCAS points and the Welsh Bacc. It has been an easy route to those points so that students who didn&#8217;t perform to a high standard in A levels still had high UCAS points scores. The English universities weren&#8217;t recognizing Welsh Bacc and admitted on A level grades only until last year when the Welsh Bacc was graded.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe biggest problem of all is that Welsh students still largely go to Welsh universities and English students to English universities. At the end, the result that they get poorer degrees is inevitable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Milwaukee (pseudonym respondent), commented to this: \u201cWhy should there be concerns about &#8216;quality&#8217; if fewer firsts and upper seconds are awarded? Degree class should reflect student\u2019s performance and academic integrity, not the need to match neighboring institutions. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThere is enough &#8216;dumbing down&#8217; already, a proliferation of useless degrees right across the UK and a complete waste of resources in promoting &#8216;academic&#8217; subjects before technical skills. This keeps borderline academics in employment and students in penury for the rest of their lives!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simon Thomas, Plaid Cymru\u2019s education spokesman, also indicated that the lack of investment is harmful to higher education. Compared to the quality of higher education in Wales, things like different recruitment policy in universities, the tuition fee policy and student\u2019s own willing should all be taken into account.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed.jpeg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14310\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14310\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed.jpeg\" alt=\"higher_ed\" width=\"800\" height=\"1228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-195x300.jpeg 195w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-667x1024.jpeg 667w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-768x1179.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-500x768.jpeg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14310\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed.jpeg\" alt=\"higher_ed\" width=\"800\" height=\"1228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-195x300.jpeg 195w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-667x1024.jpeg 667w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-768x1179.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/03\/higher_ed-500x768.jpeg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Statistics shows fewer first and upper second degrees were awarded in Welsh universities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":409,"featured_media":14311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-14308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-social-justice"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - 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