Medr/2025/06: Medr’s funding allocations for academic year 2025/26

Introduction

1. The Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill received Royal Assent in September 2022. The Act established the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, known as Medr, which has assumed responsibility for regulating and funding most tertiary education provision in Wales. Medr became operational from 1 August 2024. This publication represents the first budget and funding publication of its type, including all tertiary sectors and funding provided by Medr.

2. Medr published its first Strategic Plan on 12 March 2025, setting out its ambitions for tertiary education, research and innovation in Wales. These ambitions are cast in founding commitments which have a two-year horizon for delivery, and growth commitments with a five-year horizon for delivery. Funding published in this publication is set in the context of those commitments and the importance of providing stability for providers during a change in oversight of tertiary education, research and innovation in Wales.

3. This publication sets out our overall funding for Medr-funded tertiary education providers in Wales for the academic year (AY) 2025/26. This document also includes individual provider allocations for all core funding and some strategic budgets where available.

4. Medr currently funds further education (FE) on behalf of the Welsh Government through an agency agreement issued under section 83 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. Medr allocates funding through these powers to institutions within the further education sector, local authorities and contracted apprenticeship providers.

5. Medr administers its funding for higher education (HE) based on powers set out in the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, which determines the nature of activities eligible for funding. The activities eligible for funding are predominantly those undertaken by higher education institutions. Some higher education funding is allocated to further education institutions, but Medr is only able to allocate this funding for the provision of prescribed courses of higher education.

6. The agency agreement and powers set out above will continue until the funding powers set out in the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 are implemented.

7. Separately, we regulate institutions that have approved Fee and Access Plans under powers set out in the Higher Education (Wales) Act 2015. As a result of becoming regulated, institutions will have their undergraduate and postgraduate courses automatically designated for student support. For courses that are not automatically designated for student support, we administer a process that allows providers to have courses designated on a case by case basis. These two processes that lead to course designation by the Welsh Government do not relate to our functions to administer funding to institutions. As such, being regulated or having course designation does not result in providers receiving the funds that we administer and have set out the allocations for in this publication.

8. For universities in Wales and other providers in Wales that receive core HE funding, Medr funding does not include payments for tuition fee loans and grants or other student support payments. These are administered by the Welsh Government through the Student Loans Company. Apprenticeship providers, colleges and local authority maintained school sixth forms do not receive tuition fees other than for HE provision, the core funding allocated by Medr represents the majority of their income.

9. The Welsh Government allocates funding to Medr annually on a financial year (FY) basis from 1 April to 31 March. Medr allocates funding to the majority of eligible institutions and providers on an academic year (AY) basis from 1 August to 31 July. We use this format, FY 2025-26, to denote the financial year to 31 March 2026, and this format, AY 2025/26, to denote the academic year to 31 July 2026.

10. In the future Medr will consult on and publish a funding policy that will set out principles for funding tertiary education, research and innovation in Wales. This will be informed by the new higher education register, where only those in the core category of the register will be eligible for higher education and research and innovation funding. The policy will also take into account our strategic duties.

Contents

11. This publication covers all elements of our funding allocation for AY 2025/26. The Welsh Government published its final budget for FY 2025-26 in March 2025. The corresponding funding letter was received in March 2025.

12. This publication includes all formula-driven core grants. Where possible, grants allocated via strategic budgets, which may be subject to the provision of a specific expenditure plan or strategy, are also included.

13. Capital allocation details for HE institutions ^[1] will be announced separately, as will funding allocations for strategic tertiary education initiatives such as well-being and mental health and targeted employability support. For transparency these allocations will be communicated via separate publications.

^[1] Capital funding for the FE estate is provided directly by Welsh Government via the sustainable communities programme.