Summary

Medr’s Strategic Plan sets out an aim to ‘create a flexible and joined-up tertiary system where everyone can acquire the skills and knowledge they need for a changing economy and society’.  We have committed to design future apprenticeship provision to respond to the Welsh Government’s skills priorities and to meet the needs of learners, employers and the economy.

Apprenticeships are a key lever for driving productivity and helping to grow a skilled and diverse workforce.

The new Apprenticeships Programme will start on 1 August 2027.

This consultation seeks views from stakeholders, including training and tertiary education providers, industry representatives, employers, learners, parents, and local authorities to help shape the new Programme.

We have already engaged with stakeholders to inform the high-level principles for the new apprenticeship programme, including how apprenticeships are developed, delivered, and managed.

We would welcome consultation responses from individuals who have experience of apprenticeships.  Hearing from learners is key to ensure lessons are learned from the current programme and ideas are introduced into the new programme. 

We are now seeking views on:

• the high level principles to guide the new apprenticeship programme
• definition of an apprenticeship
• apprentice learner journey
• employer engagement
• flexible delivery
• apprenticeship sector frameworks
• economic responsiveness of the programme
• apprentice outcomes
• strengthening Welsh language opportunities
• inclusive apprenticeships

We will hold consultation events:

• Online event 24/09/2025: 10am – 12pm
• Face-to-Face event 01/10/2025: 9.30am – 1pm,
  Address:  Venue Cymru, The Promenade, Penrhyn Cres, Llandudno LL30 1BB
• Online event 08/10/2025: 10am -12pm
• Face-to-Face event 15/10/2025: 9.30am – 1pm
  Address: Cardiff and Vale College, City Centre Campus, Dumballs Road, Cardiff CF10 5FE

To have your say, please complete the reply form at Annex A and send to [email protected] by 31 October 2025.

Introduction

1. Since 2011 Higher Education Research Capital (HERC) has been provided to qualifying institutions in Wales. This publication advises Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of allocations for 2025-26 and provides guidance on the associated reporting and monitoring requirements.  

Background

2. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has confirmed that it will provide HERC funding to the four UK HE funding bodies^[1] in 2025-26. DSIT will provide support of £4,623,296 in Wales which will be matched by a contribution from the Welsh Government (WG) resulting in a total fund of £9,246,592.

Use of funding

3. The funding provided under HERC is to be used solely for capital investment in the physical infrastructure for research. Research includes ‘scientific research’ (meaning research and development in any of the sciences including social sciences or technology (section 6(1) of the Science and Technology Act 1965)) and arts and humanities research.

4. In determining the use of their allocations institutions should consider the requirements of Welsh Government’s Programme for Government and the ambitions identified in the UK Innovation Strategy, UKRI’s strategy, Welsh Government’s Innovation Strategy and Medr’s Strategic Plan 2025-2030. Consideration should also be given to how funding is used to support the ambitions of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

Allocations

5. Funding is allocated via separate methods for DSIT and WG elements:

1. The DSIT element of funding is allocated using the most recent 3-year data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) on UK Research and Innovation Research Council income. As per DSIT’s Memorandum of Understanding with Medr and Welsh Government, funding should focus on maintaining excellent departments with critical mass to compete globally and the expertise to work closely with business, charities and public services.
2. The Welsh Government element of the grant is allocated pro-rata to a combination of latest recurrent Quality Research (QR) allocation plus other research income reported by the provider to the HESA finance record. The QR allocation for 2024/25 has been used within the funding formula for HERC 2025-26.

Funding threshold

6. In order to meet the DSIT requirement that the fund supports excellence and builds critical mass the formula includes a minimum threshold of £100k. Only institutions with allocations calculated to be above this eligibility threshold will receive funding in 2025-26.

7. Funding allocations for qualifying institutions in 2025-26 can be found at Annex A.

Monitoring arrangements

8. In February 2025, institutions submitted details of their future HERC funding priorities for 2025-26. Confirmation of these investments and potential future plans for 2026-27 should be provided by completing and submitting the pro-forma at Annex B.

• including total costs of large scale investments where HERC funding has been a contribution. Institutions should demonstrate where HERC funding has enabled and incentivised research capacity, developed strategic priorities, and allowed institutions to compete more effectively for external research and innovation funding.
• Part 2 of the pro-forma should be used to outline spending priorities for 2026-27 based on the assumption further HERC funding is made available.
• Annex B must be returned to Medr by no later than 13 February 2026.

9. In order to confirm HERC has been spent in full qualifying institutions are asked to submit the Confirmation of Expenditure pro-forma at Annex C by 24 April 2026. Institutions should ensure it is clear whether any unspent funding is committed and if so, the date by which it will be spent in full. Unspent funding which is uncommitted can be reclaimed by Medr.

10. The information submitted by HEIs in these reports will form the basis of Medr’s reporting requirements for Welsh Government in February 2026 and DSIT in June 2026. Failure to provide adequate project and expenditure detail could delay future confirmation of funding allocations, or indicate a potential lack of impact for HERC investment in Wales which could diminish the argument for continued funding.

Payment arrangements

11. As noted in Annex A funding will be distributed via two payments in September 2025 and January 2026.

Further information/responses to

12. For further information, contact Hayley Moss ([email protected]).

^[1]Medr – the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research; Scottish Funding Council; Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland); Research England.

Medr’s recent consultation on the regulatory approach included a number of questions on our proposed Quality Framework. The Framework aims to minimise the burden placed on providers while ensuring a good quality learner experience across the tertiary education sector. Our ambition is that any learner, no matter where they are in the tertiary education sector, can be assured of the common expectations on providers.

The drafting reflects the provisions within the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act for Medr to publish a framework to set out policy and practice in relation to:

• Criteria for assessing quality.
• Processes for assessing quality.
• The roles and responsibilities of those assessing quality and providers in relation to quality.

One of the main themes that emerged from the consultation was a need for greater clarity and understanding on the intended application of the Framework and how it would work alongside existing approaches (such as those delivered by Estyn and QAA).

The second phase of our regulatory consultation begins this autumn. As part of this, we will be sharing a revised version of the Quality Framework reflecting many of the points raised in responses. However, we wanted to address some of the central questions now in the hope of maintaining a dialogue with stakeholders and informing our future revisions to the Framework.

How does the Framework reflect or interface with existing approaches to quality?

The Framework is not intended to duplicate the activities undertaken by Estyn and QAA. It is instead intended to clarify the common expectations on providers across the entire tertiary sector, and to explain how Medr will assess compliance against our regulatory condition on quality.

At the centre of the Framework is a series of pillars that cover areas such as the need for external quality inspection or review, the importance of self-evaluation, and the role of governance in quality. In different parts of the tertiary sector, the activities that will ‘map’ onto those pillars will look different. For example, in the case of further education providers we would expect Estyn inspection to fulfil the requirements of the externality pillar, and the self-evaluation process to fulfil the requirements of the self-evaluation pillar.

To look at another example, in the case of higher education we would expect the National Student Survey to fulfil the proposals under the Learner Voice pillar to use data and outcomes from national surveys.

Some of the pillars do relate to ‘new’ activity. For example, the Learner Engagement pillar aligns with the proposed requirement for providers to comply with the forthcoming Learner Engagement Code. This specific instance reflects broader work being undertaken by Medr to meet our responsibilities under the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act. The inclusion of the Code in the Framework is intended to ensure our system is joined up. The Code and its accompanying condition will be consulted on in the Autumn.

In time, we would expect the future development of inspection frameworks and quality enhancement review methods by Estyn and the QAA to reflect the Framework.

How does this link to regulation? Will you be regulating continuous improvement?

Our regulatory consultation sets out Medr’s broader regulatory approach, including how intervention will work and the principles that we will operate under.

Providers will need to comply with the quality condition whether they are on the register for providing higher education or regulated through terms and conditions of funding. This means that Medr will monitor – for example, through inspection and review outcomes, as well as data returns and other sources of information –  whether providers are compliant.

However, the regulatory approach and statement of intervention also set out how we would expect our engagement with providers to work. For example, if Medr were to believe there may be a risk of non-compliance, then informal engagement with the provider to understand the particular context would usually be the first step. We are committed to recognising the diversity of providers, and regulating in a risk-based and proportional way.

A number of responses set out concerns about the continuous improvement pillar and, in particular, whether there might be a regulatory intervention if providers were not improving year on year. From our perspective, what matters is that providers are undertaking the types of self-reflection, planning and action intended to identify and develop areas for improvement across their delivery. We will clarify these expectations in the revised Framework and related condition.

Where institutions are engaging in continuous improvement activities, we would not expect to intervene provided performance was satisfactory.

Definitions within the Framework

Many responses raised questions around definitions, including the definition of quality and the definition of key terms like reasonable needs and threshold standards.

We are considering how to clarify the definition of quality to address the concerns raised while also ensuring that we have a definition sufficient to capture the breadth of teaching and learning approaches across the tertiary sector. Our intention is for the definition and scope of quality to focus on aspects of the learning experience that are within the influence of the provider.

On the wider set of definitions, we will publish a glossary setting out definitions in the phase 2 consultation in the autumn.

Who is responsible for data collection? How will data be used?

Responses raised a number of questions on who is responsible for collecting, analysing and acting on data. Medr already utilises a range of data to inform our ongoing engagement with providers, drawn principally from the Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR), the Post-16 Data Collection and HESA records along with, in the case of higher education, the National Student Survey.

Medr is committed to consulting on performance indicators within the next two years, we would anticipate that this consultation would consider how benchmarking and/or thresholds could be used. Until then, we would anticipate using the existing measures to inform our consideration of quality.

Does the Framework reflect the diversity of providers?

The Framework is intended to reflect the diversity of providers within the tertiary education sector. That is why it is structured so that the different arrangements across the sector can be incorporated and reflected within the pillars. While some responses have asked for a more prescriptive Framework, our view is that doing so would make it harder for us to accommodate the contextual differences across providers.

We understand and recognise that the needs and expectations of learners differ, and when we discuss the importance of learner outcomes we agree that there is a contextual dimension to outcomes that should be considered. We will reflect this in the Framework and it will inform out wider commitments on performance measures.

We have an opportunity in Wales to support a tertiary education sector which is aligned in ensuring a good quality learner experience at every stage. This Framework is intended to support that aim.

Next steps

Over the coming weeks we will further consider the outcomes of the first phase of consultation.  We will then provide the updated Quality Framework as part of the documentation in our autumn consultation, giving readers the opportunity to consider the documentation holistically.

We will also continue to engage with a wide range of sector groups. We would welcome further dialogue ahead of the next phase of the consultation.

We will also look to provide further clarity on some of the specific points raised in the consultation, particularly as they relate to other areas of our activity in the coming weeks.

For a conversation on these or any other issues related to the Framework, please email [email protected].

Following the UK Science Minister’s announcement last week, we will continue to work closely with Research England, the Scottish Funding Council, and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland to take stock of feedback from the research community.

We will build on our recent engagement with universities in Wales which has shown there is broad support for the direction of travel of the REF 2029 exercise in recognising a broader understanding of research excellence, alongside an understandable push to streamline and minimise burden.

Through the four nations steering group we will work with the REF team to agree any changes that will be announced by December 2025, and will test these against the priorities of the UK and devolved governments.

Separately, Research England have today confirmed a new programme of work related to their core institutional research funding and future approaches to research assessment. Aspects of this programme will have implications across the UK, and we will engage with Research England and the other devolved funding bodies to explore the potential for joint approaches while also considering the impact on the Welsh tertiary education and research sector.

Introduction

1. During the 2025/26 academic year, Medr aims to improve and update our understanding of digital learning needs and priorities in the tertiary sector and to identify any topics of cross-sector interest with potential for collaboration. This will involve considering the impact and benefit of previous digital learning initiatives for further education, and engaging with Universities Wales and HE institutions as well as other stakeholders.

2. In the meantime, Medr has set aside revenue funding to support initial digital learning activities in the HE sector during 2025/26. This is a single-year funding offer whilst we are gathering evidence to inform Medr’s future approaches and funding decisions (subject to future budgets).

Timelines

Timing	Milestone or action
By 24 October 2025	Each institution to confirm if it wishes to accept the funding offered by Medr (Annex A). If the funding offer is accepted, the intended use of this funding should be outlined.
February 2026	Interim payment (50% of the funding allocation) will be processed during February.
By 31 July 2026	Expenditure reporting and final claim will be required. (Annex B will be added once interim payments have been made. Nominated funding leads will be notified when this form is available.)

Introduction

1. This publication informs higher education providers (HEPs) of the higher education (HE) data used for the following purposes:

• the calculation of funding allocations;
• monitoring National Measures;
• monitoring equality and diversity;
• providing data to Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol about Welsh medium provision;
• publications;
• analysing HESA student record data quality;
• monitoring part-time fee waivers;
• monitoring degree apprenticeships;
• informing policy.

2. In this publication HEPs include further education institutions (FEIs) providing higher education and higher education institutions (HEIs), that are funded by Medr. Also included are providers that subscribe to HESA to return their specifically designated course provision, but are not funded by Medr for their higher education provision. These providers are not included in the extractions and analysis relating to funding but are included in some of the other data extractions and analysis presented in this publication. Inclusion by provider type is signalled under the individual headings below and is further summarised in the table in Annex P.

3. The mappings in the annexes that relate to student data are based on Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record data being collected by Jisc  for the 2024/25 data collection year. The mappings presented have been tested on data returned on the HESA student record for 2023/24 and early submissions for 2024/25. We welcome any feedback that providers have on the mappings in the annexes, either during the 202425 submission process so that we can make immediate changes to the Information Reporting Interface Service (IRIS) programs as necessary, or to feed into our review of these mappings ready for next year. Any comments that providers have should be sent to [email protected]. Mappings for the end of year monitoring data extraction are contained in Annex K of the End of Year Monitoring (EYM) publication (EYM). Comments on that mapping are also welcomed. Any significant changes to the mappings either in this document or in the EYM publication, made during the submission process, will be communicated to providers.

4. Should there be any major problems with the data extractions during the submission process, for example, issues with the mapping, the IRIS system or issues at individual providers, which mean that some or all of the IRIS outputs are not usable, then there is a possibility of re-extraction post-collection. If this is likely, we will inform providers.

5. Funding methods for 2026/27 are not final at the time of publication of this circular and some allocation methods may change. The funding methods included in this circular are those for 2025/26. It is assumed for the sake of extraction of data that the funding methods will remain the same for 2026/27.

Main changes for 2025/26 compared to 2024/25

6. The main changes included in this publication compared to Medr publication Medr/2024/01: Higher Education Data Requirements 2024/25, comprise:

• All annexes that include student data have been updated to refer to any IRIS specific changes resulting from the outcomes of consultation of changes for EYM 2023/24, that were not implemented in 2023/24, for example, the coding of dormant/writing-up student registrations and the apportionment of medicine and dentistry credits.
• Annex F has been updated to reflect changes made after taking into account the responses to the consultation on the review of the data quality analysis outputs. The annex includes a summary of responses to the consultation. Details of the updated outputs in 2024/25 IRIS, and any changes that which will be incorporated in 2025/26 IRIS are included in Annex Q.
• Annex K (Data used for monitoring PGT Master’s bursary schemes) from last year’s publication has been removed as 2023/24 was the final year in which allocations were monitored using HESA student record data. All following Annexes have been updated to reflect the removal of this Annex.

Sources of Data

7. Medr uses data from its own surveys, data collected by HESA and data from the National Student Survey (NSS) in carrying out the purposes described in paragraph 1 above. Other data such as Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) data are also used to inform policy and provide information about the HE sector in Wales.

8. Medr collects data from HEPs in Wales that are funded for their HE provision through:

• the higher education students early statistics (HESES) survey; and
• the student and finance forecasts requests (HEIs only).

9. Jisc collects data from all HEIs in the UK on the HESA records on:

• student activity, including graduate outcomes;
• information for students through the DiscoverUni return;
• finance;
• higher education business and community interaction (HE-BCI);
• staff; and
• estates management.

10. Jisc collects the following data on the HESA records from Welsh FEIs providing HE directly funded by Medr and Welsh FEIs and alternative providers with specifically designated HE course provision:

• student activity, including graduate outcomes;
• information for students through the DiscoverUni return.

11. Readers of this publication are assumed to be familiar with the HESES and EYM surveys, the HESA records and surveys, the IRIS system and the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) (HEIs only). The latest HESES, EYM and forecasts publications are available on the data collection page of the Medr website; the latest HESA data manuals are available on the HESA website and REF circulars are available on the REF 2021 website. Links or references to relevant publications or circulars can also be found throughout this publication.

Ensuring the accuracy of data

12. HESA data used in the allocation of funding are subject to confirmation by HEPs that Medr have correctly extracted the data from the HESA records. In general, HEPs are not permitted to make amendments to data during the confirmation process if their HESA data are incorrect. The exception to this is when there are changes to the methods of extraction or the data used in funding, or where a different source of data is used. In these cases, we will allow amendments to the extracted data at the confirmation stage. As there are still some difficulties being encountered with return of data under the new HESA student record we are still allowing changes to be made to all IRIS outputs at the sign off stage. Providers should provide an explanation of any changes made. The providers that return data to HESA about their specifically designated course provision, that are not funded by Medr for their HE provision, do not need to sign off any of the IRIS outputs provided to them.

13. It is important that HEPs are confident that all their HESA data are correct before final returns are made to HESA and the data are signed off. HEPs should take note of any discrepancies in their HESA data that have been found in past years, including those flagged up as part of any data quality analyses carried out by Medr, issues found in HEPs’ own scrutiny of the summaries output by IRIS, problems that HESA or Medr have brought to their attention, and issues and errors found through internal or external audits. In particular, HEPs should ensure that they study in detail the reports produced by HESA when they commit their data and make any necessary amendments as a result before signing off the data to ensure their data are credible. We recognise that there have been extensive changes to the data collection resulting from the  implementation of the new student record under Data Futures in 2022/23, so we will continue to work with providers and Jisc to provide advice and guidance to ensure data quality is maintained. We may also use the historic amendments process if appropriate, for the 2024/25 HESA student record.

14. A number of confirmation reports are made available in the IRIS system and are required to be signed off by HEPs that are directly funded by Medr for their HE provision, and returned to Medr after the HESA student record submission for 2024/25 has been signed off by 5 November 2025. To reduce the number of separate data verifications conducted during the year, most of the returns that require sign-off via a confirmation report are being processed through IRIS.

15. Details of the IRIS return process, components requiring sign-off and associated deadlines will be made available on the IRIS web page and through the EYM 2024/25 publication. The full Medr data collection schedule is available via our website.

16. The deadline for sign off of the IRIS outputs is outlined in the EYM publication and is 5 December 2025. If providers think they will have any difficulty in meeting this deadline, they should contact us via [email protected].

17. For those data confirmations where amendments are not accepted, if there is an error in an HEP’s HESA data, and this error would lead to the HEP being allocated funding greater than that to which it is entitled, the HEP will be expected to notify Medr so that the funding can be adjusted accordingly.

Coding of subjects

18. The HESA student record uses the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) coding system, and HECoS codes are grouped into a Common Aggregation Hierarchy (CAH) at three levels. Details of the codes and the CAH levels, along with a mapping from HECoS codes to the CAH groupings is available on the HECoS webpage. Information relating to the mapping of HECoS codes to Medr Academic Subject Categories (ASCs) is available on the Medr website.

Data used in teaching funding allocations

19. The credit-based teaching funding allocations for part-time (PT) undergraduate (UG) provision for 2025/26 were based on 2023/24 credit value data taken from the end of year monitoring data extraction. Per capita funding for 2025/26 was allocated for all modes and taught levels of study and the disability premium was allocated for all modes and levels of study, including PGR. All other premium funding was allocated as follows:

• Access and retention premium (PT UG only);
• Welsh medium premium (all PT UG and specified FT UG only);
• Expensive subjects premium (clinical medicine and dentistry and Conservatoire Performance Element, FT UG only);
• Higher cost subjects premium (non-clinical medicine and dentistry, science & engineering and technology, and mathematical sciences, IT and computing, FT UG only).

This publication assumes:

• that the credit-based teaching funding allocations for PT UG provision for 2026/27 will be based on 2024/25 EYM credit value data and
• that per capita funding and the same premiums are being allocated with respect to the same groups of students for 2026/27 as in 2025/26, for the purposes of presenting information in this publication.

20. It should be noted that these assumptions may change.

21. The access and retention, disability, Welsh medium, expensive subjects and higher cost subjects premiums and the per capita allocation are based on retrospective data taken from the HESA student record.

22. End of year data extracted from the HESA student record are used to calculate any adjustment to teaching funding at the end of the academic year to which the funding relates. For example, EYM data relating to the 2024/25 academic year will be used to calculate any adjustment required to the 2024/25 part-time undergraduate credit based funding. Details of the end of year data extracted from the HESA record are contained within Annex K of the EYM publication (see paragraph 1) and are not reproduced here.

23. More information on data used in teaching funding, including the premium and per capita elements, is set out in Annex A.

24. The sign off procedure for data used in the per capita and premium funding for 2026/27 is built into the IRIS process. Any other data required to be used in the teaching or other funding allocations for 2026/27, not available in the IRIS outputs, will be verified and signed off separately. The IRIS outputs for teaching funding purposes are only produced for providers that are directly funded by Medr for their HE provision.

Data used in research funding allocations

25. Following REF 2021, a new funding methodology was used to calculate the QR funding allocation from 2022/23 onwards. Data used to calculate the 2022/23 QR funding were taken from REF 2021 and from the 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21 HESA finance record. As all input data are frozen, this circular sets out the QR funding method as for 2022/23 in Annex B. Only HEIs, excluding the Open University (OU) in Wales, are included in QR funding allocations.

26. Following REF 2021, a new methodology was also used to calculate the PGR training allocation, which uses retrospective data taken from the HESA student record. The 2026/27 PGR training allocation will use data from the 2024/25 HESA student record. Further information on the HESA fields used is provided in Annex C. As outlined in paragraph 25, we intend to continue to obtain sign off of as much data as possible via the IRIS process, and there will be a sign off for PGR in the 2024/25 IRIS process. Only HEIs, excluding the OU in Wales, are included in PGR funding allocations, therefore, the PGR IRIS output is not produced for the OU in Wales, FEIs or alternative providers.

Data provided to Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol

27. Medr provides data each year, under a data sharing agreement, to Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. Additionally from 2020/21, in collaboration with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, monitoring has been carried out on the coding structure and return of Welsh medium provision on the HESA student record. This data is also summarised and included in IRIS for all providers, including those providers returning data about specifically designated courses. The fields and criteria used to extract both sets of data are detailed in Annex D.

Data used to monitor equality and diversity

28. Medr use HESA data to monitor the ethnicity, disability, sex and age of students at Welsh HEPs and staff at Welsh HEIs. The analysis is published on the Medr website: Sta/Medr/02/2025: Equality characteristics of students and staff at higher education providers: 2016/17 to 2022/23.

29. HEFCW published a race equality monitoring report. This report takes a more in depth look at ethnicity data than the standard equality monitoring referred to above. Further analysis will be published by Medr.

30. Further information on the fields used is in Annex E.

Data used for publication

31. Medr is a producer of official statistics. We will also publish statistical reports on an ad hoc basis. Details of the data and methodology used in any official statistics publications and statistical reports will be included with the report. Publications can be accessed via the Medr website.

HESA student record data quality analysis

32. Medr provides a summary (referred to as the ‘HESA data quality analysis’) to each HEP of its data for a variety of fields which are used for funding, analysis and monitoring, which is designed to aid improvement of the quality of the student record and to be useful to both Medr and HEPs.

33. These summaries are intended to complement the reports which are provided by HESA when HEPs submit their student record. The data quality summaries are produced for all providers including those providers returning data about specifically designated courses.

34. The summaries produced by Medr, are included in the IRIS output so HEPs can see their own data for the current year and historic proportions data for their HEP and the sector.

35. The format of these outputs were reviewed in June 2025 and the outcome of the review and detail of updated outputs are included in Annex F.

36. Further information on the fields and mappings used in the HESA data quality analysis can be found in Annex F.

Part-time fee waiver

37. From 2022/23 funding, data used in the allocation of the part-time fee waiver scheme have been extracted from the HESA student record. The extraction was added to the IRIS system for 2021/22 and data extracted via the IRIS system will be signed off by HEPs to confirm the data are correct. The process for 2024/25 allocations can be found in HEFCW circular HEFCW part-time undergraduate fee waiver scheme (W24/15HE). For the 2025/26 allocations, details will be published by Medr in autumn 2025. Details of the data extracted for HEPs to sign off can be found in Annex G.

38. Data used to monitor the actual value of part-time fee waivers claimed by HEPs under the Medr scheme are extracted from the HESA student record via the IRIS system. Data extracted via the IRIS system will be signed off by HEPs to confirm the data are correct. The process for 2023/24 monitoring can be found in HEFCW circular HEFCW part-time undergraduate fee waiver scheme (W24/15HE). For monitoring of 2024/25 allocations, details will be published by Medr in summer 2025. Details of the data extracted for HEPs to sign off can be found in Annex G. The part-time fee waiver allocations and monitoring IRIS outputs are only produced for providers that are funded by Medr for their HE provision.

Income analysis

39. As part of the work carried out to monitor income at Welsh HEPs, data relating to student numbers and FTE at Welsh HEPs were used. A summary of the data is included in the IRIS output for information. Details of the criteria used to extract the data can be found in Annex H. The income analysis outputs are produced for all providers.

National measures

40. Data used to monitor national measures are taken from the HESA student, staff, finance and aggregate offshore records; the HESA DLHE and graduate outcomes (GO) surveys; the published UK HE PIs; and the HESA HEBCI survey. Other sources, such as the National Student Survey (NSS), the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) are also used. Data for FEIs that are funded for their HE provision by Medr are included in a subset of the measures and these data are taken from the HESA student record, the HESA DLHE and GO surveys; the published UK HE PIs, the NSS, the QAA and the OIA.

The measures monitored using these data are:

• Widening access;
• Participation;
• Retention;
• Part-time;
• National Student Survey;
• Welsh medium;
• Student mobility;
• Quality;
• Complaints
• Employment;
• Graduate employment;
• Continuing Professional Development;
• Total HE-BCI income per FTE of academic staff;
• Spin off activity;
• Start-up activity (graduate);
• Research Staff;
• PGR students;
• PhDs awarded;
• Research income;
• EU/Overseas students;
• EU/Overseas staff;
• Transnational education.

41. A description of each of these measures and the data used to monitor them is included in Annex I.

42. Other areas which are monitored and included in the list of national measures include:

• Diversity of the student population;
• REF impact outcomes;
• REF outcomes;
• Financial health;
• Estates;
• Senior staff pay and gender pay gap;
• Equality and diversity staff data

but individual measures are not specified, instead these are areas which are already analysed more widely and published by Medr. Information on where to find these analyses can also be found in Annex I.

43. The HESA student record based measures are extracted via the IRIS system and will be signed off by HEPs, other than those submitting data about their specifically designated courses, to confirm the data are correct. Those providers submitting data about their specifically designated courses are not included in the publication and monitoring of these measures, though the outputs are available to them through IRIS for information.

44. Both the participation and retention measures were monitored using data collected on the HESA student record, calculated and published by HESA as UK performance indicators. As the UK PIs are no longer being updated we have developed our own methodology for the participation measure, and work continues on calculating the retention measure.

Data used for monitoring degree apprenticeships

45. HEFCW circular W23/04HE announced proposals for funding 2023/24 and 2024/25 degree apprenticeships and provided more information on the submission process for HEPs. In the consultation Medr/2024/02, providers were asked to comment on the proposal to collect data on Medr funded degree apprenticeship programmes as part of the 2024/25 HESES survey, which would replace the three in-year monitoring reports currently being collected. This proposal was accepted by HEPs and implemented as part of the 2024/25 HESES survey.

46. Data used to monitor the end of year picture for the number of students enrolled on degree apprenticeships at HEPs are extracted from the HESA student record via the IRIS system and will be signed off by HEPs to confirm the data are correct. Details of the data extracted for HEPs to sign off can be found in Annex J. The IRIS degree apprenticeship outputs are not produced for FEIs or alternative providers.

47. The HESA data provided in the IRIS system will be used to verify the data that were collected as part of the 2024/25 HESES return, and which were used to allocate funding. It is possible that adjustments to funding will be required. If this is the case, information on how adjustments to funding will be implemented will be communicated with HEPs separately.

Data used in the calculation of Research Wales Innovation Fund (RWIF)

48. HEFCW circular W22/41HE reports on the consultation outcomes for the 2022 review of the Research Wales Innovation Fund (RWIF) and confirms the allocation methodology and other updated RWIF requirements that were introduced in 2023/24. Data used in the allocation is described in Annex K. Only HEIs are included in RWIF funding allocations.

Data used in the calculation of Capital funding

49. HEFCW circular W24/12HE outlines the allocation methodology used for 2024/25 Capital funding. Student FTE data used in the allocation is described in Annex N. Only HEIs are included in the Capital funding allocations.

Data used in the calculation of Race equality funding and Well-being and health funding

50. Medr publication Medr/2024/03 announced race equality funding allocations for 2024/25 and Medr publication Medr/2024/07 announced Well-being and health, including mental health, strategy implementation allocations  and an additional allocation for Well-being and health in 2024/25. Both the race equality and the well-being and health allocations use the same data from the HESA student record which is described in Annex L. The data will be available in the 2024/25 IRIS system and will be signed off by HEPs that are funded by Medr for their HE provision, to confirm the data are correct. The IRIS outputs to calculate this funding are only produced for HEPs that are funded by Medr for their HE provision.

Data used in the calculation of Targeted Employability Support (TES) funding

51. Medr publication Medr/2025/09:Targeted Employability Support for Higher Education (HE) Students: 2025/26 to 2026/27 Delivery Plans and 2025/26 allocations, invites HE providers to submit two-year delivery plans for the period 2025/26 to 2026/27 and sets out institutional allocations for 2025/26. We will use the same funding methodology for calculating 2026/27 allocations using verified data included in the IRIS system for 2024/25. Data is to be signed off by HEPs that are funded by Medr for their HE provision, to confirm the data are correct. Details of the data extracted for HEPs to sign off can be found in Annex M. The IRIS outputs to calculate this funding are not produced for those providers who return data to HESA about their specifically designated course provision.

Data used to calculate the Wales Research Environment and Culture funding

52. Medr publication Medr/2024/08 announced continued funding to support new and existing activities within eligible institutions that enhance positive research cultures and environments. The data used to calculate this funding is described in Annex O. Both HESA student and staff data are used. The student data will be signed off in the 2024/25 IRIS process. Only HEIs, excluding the OU in Wales, are included in the funding allocations and IRIS outputs are produced only for those that are funded.

Other uses of data

53. Any of the data described may be used to inform policy. In particular, data on students taught in whole or in part through the medium of Welsh, and staff who teach or who are able to teach through the medium of Welsh will be used to inform policy on Welsh medium provision. Data relating to students at directly funded FEIs, franchised to FEIs from HEIs, or at FEIs with specifically designated course provision will be used to inform policy on HE in FEIs.

54. HESA operate a historic amendments facility for student data and a fixed database facility for other data streams which provides HEPs with the opportunity to make post-collection amendments to a dataset following closure of the live data collection. This facility is separate to the main data collection process, is subject to a charge and is only available at the express authorisation of Medr. The facility is open for some time after the corresponding live data collection has closed, therefore providers should be aware that data they submit via this facility may not be used immediately and may only appear in future analysis of time series.

55. The data described are also used by Welsh Government in their analysis of the higher education sector, including analysis published in their statistical bulletins and data presented on the StatsWales website.

56. Data relating to forecast student numbers at HEIs only are collected through the forecasts requests publication which is available on the Medr website: Medr/2025/04: Request for forecasts 2025. These data are used for Medr’s internal monitoring and planning processes and are not published at provider level.

57. It should be noted that although this publication details HESA fields used by Medr, any of the fields that HEPs return on the HESA records may be used in future for funding, for regulatory purposes, for monitoring purposes, to inform policy or for publication, and are also used by other organisations. Therefore, it is important that all HESA fields are completed fully and accurately to show a fair picture of the provision and activity at the HEP.

Audit

58. All data used for funding and monitoring are potentially subject to audit. Details of the most recent audit process for higher education data and further detail of the internal and external audit are included on the Medr data and analysis webpage.  

59. 2021/22 was the last year in the current cycle of external auditing of HE data. The external audit process is now the responsibility of Medr where the process will be reviewed.

60. As an interim measure, in place of the external audits, and until the process is reviewed by Medr, members of the Medr Higher Education Statistics team will meet with data contacts at each provider separately, where we will discuss items such as data quality and previous audit findings.

Use of HESA derived fields

61. Where HESA derived fields have been used they are shown in the coding details in each relevant section of the annexes that follow. All HESA derived fields for the student record are shown in the format Entity.Z_FIELDNAME, and for the staff record in the format Xfieldname. HESA derived fields specifications for the 2024/25 student record and staff record are published on the HESA website. Where a derived field has been used, the methodology used to derive the field from the original HESA record fields is available via the HESA website.

Contents

62. The contents of the annexes are as follows:

Annex A	Data used in teaching funding allocations
Annex B	Data used in research funding allocations
Annex C	Data used in the PGR training funding allocation
Annex D	Data provided to Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol
Annex E	Data used for publication and monitoring
Annex F	Data provided to higher education providers in the HESA student record data quality analysis
Annex G	Data used for allocating and monitoring the part-time undergraduate fee waiver scheme
Annex H	Data used in income analysis
Annex I	Data used for monitoring national measures
Annex J	Data used for monitoring and adjustment of degree apprenticeship funding
Annex K	Data used in the calculation of Research Wales Innovation Fund
Annex L	Data used in the calculation of Race equality funding and Well-being and health funding
Annex M	Data used in targeted employability support allocations
Annex N	Data used in the calculation of capital funding
Annex O	Data used in calculating Wales Research Environment and Culture allocations
Annex P	Detail of outputs that each type of provider will receive through IRIS and associated sign-off requirements
Annex Q	Summary of Changes to IRIS Data Quality Analysis Following 2025 Review

Further information

63. Providers are welcome to contact us if they need any further clarity or have comments on the mappings outlined in the annexes, any further updates required will be communicated to providers.

64. Any queries regarding this publication should be directed to Rachael Clifford ([email protected]).

Introduction

1. This publication provides guidance to support anti-racism in higher education, along with 2025/26 anti-racism funding allocations, match funding expectations and monitoring requirements.

2. This funding was originally provided in HEFCW circular W22/05HE: Consultation on funding to support race equality in higher education, to tackle anti-racism and support culture change in higher education, in line with race, access and success policy developments and the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan. The initial publication included the conditions of match funding and the expectation that universities achieve a race equality charter award by 2024/25. All universities confirmed to HEFCW their intention to meet this commitment by the end of 2025.

3. This publication should be read together with HEFCW circular W23/06HE: Safe and inclusive higher education: supporting equality and diversity education. In October 2024 Medr published its 2024/25 supporting anti-racism in higher education guidance which set the scene for the higher education sector.

4. Welsh Government is committed to an Anti-Racist Wales by 2030. In 2024 Welsh Government published a refreshed Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan to ensure progress at pace against specific actions, including on tertiary education. We expect universities to take account of and contribute to these actions.

5. We welcome that eight Welsh universities now have the race equality charter Bronze Award. Universities have made significant progress in working towards achieving the race equality charter. The charter supports the process of becoming anti-racist universities. We expect all universities to continue to deliver against their charter action plans in 2025/26.

Medr’s duties and responsibilities

6. Medr has a strategic duty to promote equality of opportunity in tertiary education including as this relates to under-represented groups and people with protected characteristics. A detailed explanation is provided in Medr/2024/03 paragraphs 8-11.

7. Medr has published its strategic plan which sets out our funding commitment to work with the Welsh Government and the sector to make progress towards achieving an anti-racist Wales and ensure inclusive learning and work environments for all, regardless of identity. Medr’s operational plan also sets out that we will work with the Welsh Government and tertiary education providers to contribute to the Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan, including: monitoring tertiary education providers’ progress against action plans and/or charter commitments, and developing and publishing race equality monitoring data.

8. In 2025/26, Medr will be consulting on new regulatory conditions of registration and funding which will include its staff and learner welfare and equality of opportunity conditions. The welfare condition includes a requirement related to staff and learner safety, which in this context means freedom from harms including harassment, violence, misconduct and hate crime. Medr’s regulatory powers will also place an expectation on providers to support equality of opportunity for under-represented students. Under-representation means those experiencing social, cultural, economic or organisational barriers or disadvantage.

9. Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan’s update has strengthened its emphasis on leadership and priority groups. It is expected that accountability for universities’ commitment to anti-racism will be overseen by the appropriate senior staff (such as Pro-Vice-Chancellors) and supported by governing bodies. It is also expected that universities improve their engagement and support to the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

The purpose of anti-racism funding

10. This funding is to prevent inequality, tackle racism and support the embedding of anti-racist policies and practices within universities. It contributes towards changing the culture and meeting the expectations of Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.

11. While this funding is framed in terms of race and ethnicity, universities should take a holistic approach to recognise how race and ethnicity intersect with other protected characteristics and societal groups and issues including, but not limited to, identity based harassment, violence and abuse, wellbeing and mental health, refugees and asylum seekers and religion and belief.

2025/26 allocations and conditions of funding

12. In 2025/26 funding allocations:

1. are subject to universities committing to match fund allocations (as in previous years and as set out in the funding table below);
2. use HESA 2023/24 student data, which are based on the HESA standard registration population, reduced to a headcount (i.e. if a student has more than one enrolment, they are counted once);
3. use student data which includes the whole student body: all modes, level and domiciles;
4. are based on verified 2023/24 HESA data which has been verified by the university;
5. as is our usual practice, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama student data are included within University of South Wales data and allocation; and
6. will be made as one payment in October 2025. Where reporting is unsatisfactory or limited we reserve the right to reclaim funding.

13. Our expectations for the use of match funding are that:

1. the Medr allocation should not result in any decrease in universities’ existing resourcing of anti-racism developments, including their commitment to achieve and demonstrate progress and continued commitment to their charter accreditation;
2. universities commit additional resource to support anti-racism actions, over and above the Medr £1m total allocation;
3. where any existing anti-racism activities or services are funded through fee and access plan or other sources in 2025/26, the delivery of these activities and services may be increased by Medr funding provided through this guidance or the related anti-racism university match funding (fee and access plans remain operational in 2025/26 until the new registration process is operational from 2026/27). Where this is the case, the university must make clear in all reporting and anti-racism monitoring how, and to what level, this funding has enhanced activities and services, and this may be subject to audit by us;
4. match funding or Medr funding can be used to meet the costs of relevant membership subscriptions, externally facilitated training or other external expertise;
5. universities must contribute effectively to the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan goals and actions;
6. universities maintain their commitment to the standards set out in the Race Equality Charter and actions in their action plan;
7. universities work collaboratively and effectively across the tertiary sector and with external partners, including those with lived experience to develop and share learning and practice; and
8. the match funding and the Medr allocation leads to an increase in pace and progress towards tackling racism to embed anti-racist practices, improving race equality, and the continued achievement and/or progression towards a charter award.

14. In 2025/26 allocations are as follows:

Institution	2025/26 Medr allocation (with £50K floor) (£)	2025/26 Sector matched funding  (no floor) (£)	2025/26  Total (£)
University of South Wales	160,566	160,566	321,132
Aberystwyth University	53,881	53,881	107,762
Bangor University	73,830	73,830	147,660
Cardiff University	224,721	224,721	449,443
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	106,160	106,160	212,320
Swansea University	144,340	144,340	288,679
Cardiff Metropolitan University	77,948	77,948	155,896
Wrexham University	54,345	54,345	108,689
The Open University in Wales	104,210	104,210	208,420
Total	1,000,000	1,000,000	2,000,000

Resources and information

15. In July 2023 Universities UK published Tackling racial harassment in higher education: progress since 2020 to review the impact of the 2020 guidance on how universities tackle racial harassment in HE and how they can improve further. Universities UK has also published a series of reports on changing the culture and religion and belief tackling antisemitism and islamophobia) to provide practical guidance to inform race considerations.

16. In March 2024, the Black Leadership Group launched the Higher Education Anti-Racism Toolkit (HEART). It has a ten-point plan to embed anti-racism in higher education systems (including strategy, pedagogy and the student and staff experience). Universities might find this a useful resource.

17. Welsh Government has developed a maturity matrix as a self-evaluation tool linked to the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan. The maturity matrix is attached as Annex A for information. Universities may find this a useful resource.

18. As Medr develops, through consultation, its regulatory conditions and guidance on staff and student welfare and equality of opportunity, we encourage universities to review their anti-racism activities, taking account of regulatory and conditions which will apply to them from 2026/27.

Deliverables and monitoring

19. Monitoring information and deliverables for 2025/26 should build on the 2024/25 plans submitted to Medr informed by learning from the race equality charter process and action planning outcomes, as well as staff and learner experiences. A monitoring template has been provided in Annex B and returns to us should include:

1. The university’s 2025/26 anti-racism action plan,
2. The university’s monitoring template, including progress and deliverables to July 2026; and
3. A funding statement to account for the Medr allocation and university match funding.

20. Where universities’ action plans are the same their race equality charter action plans they can submit the charter action plan to avoid duplication and unnecessary burden of reporting.

21. Should Welsh Government set new expectations on higher education or the tertiary sector during the funding period, we may provide additional information briefings and/or ask for additional monitoring.

Monitoring dates and returns for 2025/26 funding and reporting

22. The submission date for universities’ anti-racism action plans  is Monday, 13 October 2025. Please submit to [email protected].

23. The 2025/26 monitoring submission date is Friday, 23 October 2026. Please return the completed monitoring (Annex B) to [email protected].

Assessing the impact of our policies

24. We have carried out an impact assessment screening to help safeguard against discrimination and promote equality. We anticipate a positive impact on race, sex, disability, age, religion and belief.

25. We also considered the impact of this policy on the Welsh language, and Welsh language provision within the HE sector in Wales and potential impacts towards the goals set out in the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. Contact [email protected] for more information about equality impact assessments.

Further information and submissions

26. For further information please contact Savanna Jones ([email protected]).

27. Please submit your anti-racism action plan to [email protected] by Monday, 13 October 2025.

28. Please submit your monitoring template to [email protected] by Friday, 23 October 2026.

Introduction

1. During the 2025/26 academic year, Medr will be collating evidence about the impact and benefit of the previous ‘call to action’ on digital learning for further education (FE) and developing our evidence base on digital learning needs and priorities. We will also work with Jisc on a mid-term refresh for the Digital 2030 strategic framework. These activities will inform planning for Medr’s future strategic approach to digital learning in the tertiary sector.

2. The Welsh Government’s funding settlement to Medr for 2025/26 includes £3 million digital capital funding for FE. This funding is to provide continuity for FE after the call to action; to maintain momentum with progress which has been made over the last three years; and help to address specific funding pressures which have been raised by FE institutions. Each FE institution will also receive a £25,000 digital revenue allocation in 2025/26.

Timelines

Timing	Milestone or action
By 24 October 2025	Each institution to outline its intended use of funding (Annex B).
December 2025	Interim capital payment (50% of allocation) will be processed during December.
March 2026	The remaining 50% of capital allocation and an interim payment of £15,000 revenue funding) will be processed during March.
By 31 July 2026	Expenditure reporting and final claim. (Annex C to be added once interim payments have been made. Nominated funding leads will be notified when this form is available.)

Key points

• There were 3,895 apprenticeship learning programmes started in 2024/25 Q3 (p), compared with 4,570 starts in 2023/24 Q3.
• Level 2 foundation apprenticeships saw the largest fall compared to Q3 the previous year, a 19% drop (p).
• Healthcare and Public Services apprenticeships were the most popular sector in 2024/25 Q3 (p) with 1,985 programmes started. This accounted for 51% of all apprenticeship learning programmes started.
• 67% of apprenticeship learning programmes started were by female learners in 2024/25 Q3 (p), no change from 2023/24 Q3.
• 44% of apprenticeship learning programmes started were by learners aged between 25 and 39 in 2024/25 Q3 (p), compared to 42% in Q3 for the previous year.
• 16% of apprenticeship learning programmes started were by learners with ethnic minority backgrounds in 2024/25 Q3 (p), a 3 percentage point increase from 2023/24 Q3.
• 13% of apprenticeship learning programmes started in 2024/25 Q3 (p) were by learners identifying as having a disability and/or learning difficulty.
• 12% of apprenticeship learning programmes started were by learners living in the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in Wales in 2024/25 Q3 (p).
• There have been 77,385 apprenticeship starts since Q4 2020/21, as part of progress towards Welsh Government’s target of 100,000 apprenticeships. Including the starts which are not counted as part of the more rigorous target measure, there were 85,415 apprenticeship starts overall in the time period.
• The Programme for Government contained a target to create 125,000 all-age apprenticeships. During the Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee meeting on 26 June 2024, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language agreed a new target of 100,000 all-age apprenticeships to maintain the previous Senedd term’s target of 100,000.

The Welsh Government financial year budget for apprenticeships in 2023-24 was £139m and £144m in 2024-25 (Source: Medr Funding Allocations 2025 to 2026). Previously, there was additional funding for apprenticeships from the European Social Fund (£43m in 2023-24 Medr Funding Allocations 2025 to 2026). This ceased by the 2024-2025 financial year.

Apprenticeship learning programmes started: interactive dashboard

Wales Research Environment and Culture (WREC)

1. As noted in our Strategic Plan 2025-2030, Medr is committed to the development of research environments with positive cultures that attract and retain the best researchers and innovators from across the world. We are ambitious for our research sector in Wales. We want Wales to be renowned as a great place to undertake research and which, through collaboration, secures social, economic and cultural benefits. The development and sustainability of healthy research cultures in universities is pivotal to supporting excellent research, It is also important in its own right. We want to support the diverse workforce who contribute to research, including technical and professional staff. Through our funding, and our work with other partners, including UK funding bodies on REF 2029, we will encourage research environments that support integrity, diversity, inclusivity, well-being, mental health and respect.

2. WREC funding provides dedicated support for enhancing research cultures and environments. However, Medr expects that maintaining a healthy culture should be treated as an integral part of research and innovation activity and supported strategically through core research and innovation funding.

3. The allocation of £200,000 funding to Welsh universities is to support projects, programmes and activities that actively contribute to supporting or developing positive and healthy research cultures and environments. This funding could be used to extend existing projects, and also for new activities and infrastructure.

4. For this third year of funding, we would encourage institutions to continue to embed evaluative thinking in their activities to understand the outcomes and impacts of their research culture activities. This is to ensure that the activities are making tangible changes to research culture or generating learning about what works. In this academic year we are interested in the outcomes of interim evaluations.

5. In determining the use of allocations, institutions should continue to refer to the three themes outlined in the table below. These are based on themes developed through engagement with the Welsh and UK research sectors. This is not an exhaustive list and institutions are encouraged to use the funding flexibly accounting for their strategic priorities, and broader principles relating to improving research cultures and environments.

Themes	Potential sub areas of alignment
Creating Positive Research Culture(s)	* Reward and recognition of positive behaviours * Identifying what a positive research culture looks like including for well-being and mental health * Valuing diverse research activity * Career development of researchers and associated professions * Support for career transitions, career porosity and mobility between sectors * Developing research culture frameworks * Improving infrastructure and capacity to support better research grant capture * Tackling bullying and harassment * Collegiality and belonging * Valuing the full range of experiences, skills and contributions of all who contribute to research
Embedding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)	* Understanding and addressing barriers to inclusion for applicants from under-represented groups in the research talent pipeline with a view to ensuring the research environment is accessible, inclusive and equitable for all * Recognition of all staff contributions and career pathways frameworks, including for fixed-term, technical and research-enabling staff * Enhancing access to, and participation in, research from underrepresented groups * Understanding and tackling the challenges experienced by those who may experience multiple disadvantages
Responsible Research	* Integrity, openness and ethics * Improving research conduct and reproducibility * Research assessment and reform * Collaboration and convening institutions to share practice * Reproducibility of metrics

Inclusion

6. The research sector has an important role to play in supporting an inclusive Wales, including opportunities to improve support for staff and students who are currently disadvantaged. Medr has a strategic duty to promote equality of opportunity and we have set out commitments and actions to achieve this in our Strategic and Operational Plans. Medr is developing a new regulatory system which includes conditions on staff and student welfare and equality of opportunity. Higher education providers will be required to comply with these conditions, including as they relate to research. Medr expects WREC funding to be used to address barriers to inclusion of under-represented groups in the research talent pipeline and to develop a supportive and inclusive research environment, which values the contribution of academic staff, research enabling and support staff, and professional services staff.

7. We particularly welcome activities that support people with protected characteristics to have equal access to fulfilling research careers and to participate in research as citizens, contributing to the Welsh Government’s equalities-related strategies and plans, including, but not limited to the Disabled People’s Rights Plan: 2025 to 2035.

8. We also welcome activities that make progress towards the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan goals and actions, and take account of the institution’s commitments in its race equality charter action plan. We expect to see research students and staff included within institutions’ wellbeing and health, including mental health, strategies and implementation plans, which are required through Medr’s Wellbeing and health funding 2024/25 and monitoring requirements (Medr/2024/07).

9. Medr actively promotes the use of Welsh language in research, not only to foster a rich and inclusive environment that reflects the cultural heritage of Wales, but also in recognition of the statutory duties placed on institutions to support the Welsh language and Welsh-medium provision. WREC funding may be used to support activities to encourage research in the medium of Welsh.

Sharing learning and good practices

10. Medr recognises the importance of collaboration across the sector in developing positive research cultures and the role of organisations such as the Wales Innovation Network (WIN), the Learned Society of Wales, and Universities Wales. We are working through funded partnerships with these organisations to continue supporting diverse communities to effect change. Institutions are strongly encouraged to work collaboratively and build on existing activities that support positive research cultures, for example The Learned Society of Wales’s Researcher Development Programme.

11. We have previously provided £50,000 to WIN for activities to support shared learning across institutions. In 2025-26 we are exploring wider options to support collaboration and shared learning including learning from initiatives across the UK such as plans for the Good Practice Exchange and the Scottish Research Cultures Collaboration Manager. We welcome ideas and feedback on how this could be best achieved in Wales, please contact [email protected].

12. A positive and inclusive research culture is vital to advancing the civic mission of universities in Wales. By fostering diversity, equity, and collaboration, universities enable socially responsive, community-driven research that delivers meaningful social, economic, and cultural benefits to Wales and its communities. Inclusive environments can also support innovative approaches to engagement, empowering researchers to co-create knowledge and solutions with external partners.

Institutional allocations

13. The method used to allocate funding for 2025/26 is based on 2023/24 HESA staff and student data:

• Number of FTEs on research-only contracts at the higher education institution
• Number of FTEs on teaching and research contracts at the higher education institution
• Number of postgraduate research students at the higher education institution

14. A minimum allocation of £5k is used to ensure that all universities have a usable allocation to enhance their research cultures and environments. HESA data used have been verified by universities.

Institution	Research Contracts	Teaching and Research Contracts	PGR Students	Total	Allocation
University of South Wales	66	722	257	1044	£21,185
Aberystwyth University	104	297	260	660	£13,397
Bangor University	177	279	545	1000	£20,295
Cardiff University	864	1342	1570	3777	£76,368
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	40	361	390	791	£16,057
Swansea University	383	572	638	1593	£32,325
Cardiff Metropolitan University	27	583	124	736	£14,924
Wrexham University	1	201	54	255	£5,180
Total	1662	4357	3838	9856	£200,000

15. Medr notes that the WREC funding allocation methodology does not explicitly include research-supporting staff such as some of the technical community, and professional services staff. Medr acknowledges the crucial contributions of these staff to research cultures and the research environment.

WREC fund monitoring arrangements

16. Payments for AY 2025/26 will be made in August 2025. Medr expects assurances concerning the projects and activities that are being undertaken through this fund. Allocations should be spent in full in AY 2025/26.

17. Institutions should complete the WREC funding monitoring form at Annex A by 25 September 2026:

• Part 1 – Strategic Context: indicate the strategic context of research culture at your institution.
• Part 2 – Thematic Areas: indicate how the activities/projects align with the thematic areas outlined in paragraph 7, and whether: 1. activities would have taken place without the funding, 2. activities only took place through WREC funding provision, or 3. activities could have taken place without the funding, but to a lesser extent.
• Part 3 – Evaluation:  explain the effectiveness and impact of the projects/activities.
• Part 4– Confirmation: confirm that the WREC funding has been spent in accordance with the information outlined in this publication.

18. Information submitted by institutions in their reports will form the basis of evidence to support future budget decisions and support for research culture and environment across Wales.

19. We welcome the submission of monitoring reports in Welsh.

Further information

20. For further information, contact Hayley Moss ([email protected]).

Impact assessment

21. We have carried out an impact assessment to help safeguard against discrimination and promote equality. We anticipate a positive impact on race, sex, disability, age, religion and belief. We also considered the impact of this policy on the Welsh language, Welsh language provision within the HE sector in Wales, socio-economic characteristics and potential impacts towards the goals set out in the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

Publication summary

1. This publication sets out Medr’s requirements and funding arrangements for the Employment and Enterprise Bureau (EEB) activity in 2025/26. It confirms monitoring arrangements, timelines and attaches monitoring templates. 

2. The aim of the EEB is to deliver positive employment and self-employment outcomes for learners, by providing a package of support to develop learner employability, enterprise and entrepreneurial skills. This support should be delivered by working in collaboration with employers, Careers Wales, the Regional Skills Partnerships (RSPs), and other key partners to develop opportunities for learners in their regions.

3. The funding should be used to continue to integrate enterprise and entrepreneurship delivery within the EEB, with the aim of increasing the self-employment opportunities available to learners and leavers, as well as promoting embedding employability and entrepreneurship within the curriculum to the benefit of learners.

2025/26 funding

4. The total budget available to support the EEBs from 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026 is £1,320,000. This funding is comprised of £960,000 of Medr funding and £360,000 received from Business Wales, which must be used to support the Enterprise and Entrepreneurship element of the EEB activity in FEIs in Wales. The total allocation will continue to be split equally across the 12 FEIs in Wales so that each FEI receives a total allocation of £110,000 in 2025/26.

Monitoring and timelines

5. FEIs are required to submit an interim and end of year monitoring report, using the templates at Annex A and Annex B, to Medr by the dates set out in the timeline. As the enterprise funding for 2025/26 is provided by the Welsh Government, information that is reported to Medr against those requirements will be shared with the Welsh Government so the impact of its funding can be monitored.

Action	Responsibility	Date
Publish 2025/26 EEB guidance	Medr	August 2025
2025/26 EEB first payment of £83,600	Medr	September 2025
Interim report submitted to Medr	EEBs	31 January 2026
2025/26 EEB final payment of £26,400	Medr	April 2026
End of year report submitted to Medr	EEBs	31 July 2026
Statement of Expenditure submitted to Medr	EEBs	31 August 2026

Publication summary

1. This publication sets out Medr’s requirements for the submission of two-year delivery plans covering the period 2025/26 to 2026/27 for higher education (HE) providers currently in receipt of funding for Targeted Employability Support for HE Students. It announces the 2025/26 academic year (AY) budget of £2m for this support and details providers’ financial allocations. Funding for 2026/27 academic year will be subject to Medr’s budget.

2. This funding should be used to develop the employability skills of students studying HE courses who are under-represented in HE as a result of social, cultural, economic or organisational factors as defined in the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022.

3. Delivery plans should build on progress made in the previous three years of funded activity, providing flexible and bespoke provision to students from under-represented groups to equip them with the social and financial capital to help them have a positive outcome after graduation. Activity should be targeted, take account of the student voice and be delivered in collaboration with a variety of partners including student services and employers, with the aim of removing barriers to employability and empowering students to take ownership of navigating their future career paths.

2025/26 allocations

Provider	Total funding (£)
University of South Wales	325,261
Aberystwyth University	154,148
Bangor University	150,304
Cardiff University	330,000
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	152,469
Swansea University	330,000
Cardiff Metropolitan University	238,931
Wrexham University	100,000
The Open University in Wales	176,503
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai	32,385
Grŵp NPTC Group	5,000
Gower College Swansea	5,000
Total	2,000,000

4. 2025/26 provider allocations have been calculated using the latest verified HESA data for 2023/24 according to the funding methodology outlined in paragraphs 37- 41 of this publication.

5. 2025/26 first tranche payments will be made on approval of delivery plans and end of year monitoring for 2024/25.

Timeline

6. We require universities and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai to:

• Submit delivery plans using Annex A and Annex B to [email protected] by 19 September 2025.
• Submit monitoring reports to us in February 2026 and September 2026 (Medr will send individualised templates to providers separately).

7. We require Gower College Swansea and Grŵp Colegau NPTC to:

• Submit delivery plans using Annex C to [email protected] by 19 September 2025.
• Submit a monitoring report to us in September 2026 (template to be sent separately).