Performance-based music and drama provision

On 14 October, the Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership allocated additional ring-fenced funding of £1.97m from the Economy, Energy and Planning Main Expenditure Group to support performance-based music and drama conservatoire higher education provision.

The £1.97m will be allocated to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama via the University of South Wales, who are the only relevant higher education institution that deliver music and performance conservatoire.

The £1.97m will be split into two parts:

1. £1.75m will be allocated via an increase to the unit rate applicable to Expensive Subject Provision for conservatoire provision;
2. £0.22m will be allocated via the performance related budget to specifically develop and deliver provision via regional activity.

Bangor University has joined a prestigious list of UK universities recognised for the adoption of spin-out best practice policies following recommendations made in the 2023 Independent Review of University Spin-out Companies.

This list now includes three Welsh universities, with Cardiff and Swansea Universities already recognised since November 2024.

Spin-out companies are start-up companies that are created based on intellectual property – IP – generated through a university’s research. They are a key part of the research and innovation landscape world-wide, transforming academic discoveries into commercial ventures that drive economic growth, technological advancement, and societal impact.

Approved by Medr, Bangor’s recognition demonstrates best practice in adopting innovation-friendly spin-out practices and guidance that universities, investors and founders can all use.

Spin-outs play an important role for Wales in driving new partnerships and delivering economic growth. Welsh universities have a long list of spin out success, including a recent investment in Cardiff University spin-out Draig Therapeutics, which attracted over £100 million of investment to advance new therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders.  

Speaking about the recognition, Medr Chief Executive James Owen said:

“Hot on the heels of Cardiff and Swansea Universities’ listing last year, this is excellent news for our rich and diverse research and innovation network. Spin-outs are an important measure of success when considering commercialisation and economic impact and it’s always pleasing to see excellence in our universities recognised in this way. We are delighted for Bangor University and the culture of innovation they foster there.

“Success breeds success and we look forward to continuing to fund and support research and innovation in our universities and the positive impacts that come from it.”

The Spin-outs review implementation: best practice adoption list has been compiled by the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland, Medr, Research England and the Scottish Funding Council, based on information submitted by institutions.

Note

This report uses matched education data linked with the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) Study to show employment and learning destinations for further education, school sixth form and work-based learning learners in the year following their programme of study.

A separate release provides information on learner achievement.

This report highlights some of the messages in the data. The accompanying tables include the full breakdowns for all measures by all the characteristics in this article.

Main points

The overall sustained destination rate has increased slightly since 2014/15.

Figure 1: Destinations of post-16 learners, 2014/15 to 2022/23

[Note r] Previously published figures have been revised with the latest data, see the key quality information for detail.

Data in Table 1a of the accompanying spreadsheet.

• Both sustained employment and sustained learning rates have increased overall from 2014/15, with sustained employment being the most common destination.

• 49% of learners in 2022/23 went onto a sustained learning destination, an increase from 47% in 2021/22. The sustained employment rate has dropped by 1 percentage point to 62% in 2022/23.

The approved funding allocations are detailed in the table below:

Provider	Additional Starts allocation
Pembrokeshire College	£539,714
ACT	£1,030,765
Cambrian Training Company	£316,012
Cardiff and Vale College	£525,556
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai	£225,125
Educ8	£460,841
Grŵp NPTC Group	£717,370
ITEC	£184,617
Total	£4,000,000

Additional Starts funding is awarded and will be paid in parallel to the 2025-26 main ACP Contract.

Any queries regarding this circular should be directed to Carly Davies, [email protected].

Introduction

1. This publication requests higher education institutions and further education institutions with higher education provision (known collectively as higher education (HE) providers) that are funded directly by Medr for HE provision to return aggregated student data to enable Medr to:

a) Have early indications of the number of students in the academic year 2025/26;
b) Monitor recruitment of full-time (FT) undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) students covered by the fee and access plans;
c) Fund and monitor degree apprenticeship provision under the Medr degree apprenticeship scheme.

Note that this request does not include the four subscribers to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) who have specifically designated HE course provision.

Main changes for 2025/26

2. The main changes made since the HESES 2024 survey are:

a) There is just one survey return date this year, and all tables, including Table 3, should be returned by 28 January 2026;
b) The maximum fee limits for full-time undergraduate and PGCE courses have been updated. See Annex F;
c) Annex K has been updated to reflect the mapping that is being used in the extraction of data for end of year monitoring for 2024/25;
d) Table 3, which collects information relating to degree apprenticeships, now requires estimates of all new starters in the 2025/26 academic year, not just those between 1 August and 1 November. See Annex I.

Survey data

3. HE providers that are directly funded by Medr for their HE provision are requested to return numbers of HE students on Tables 1 and 2. These are students registered on prescribed HE courses leading to recognised HE qualifications (see Annex B). HE providers that have degree apprenticeships funded under the Medr scheme (previously the HEFCW scheme) are requested to return numbers of students and credit values related to those apprenticeships on Table 3.

Contents

4. This circular provides:

a) Guidance and definitions for the various categories used to classify students;
b) Rules for counting registrations;
c) Rules for counting credit values for degree apprenticeships;
d) Details of the criteria we will use to extract data from the HESA student record for end of year monitoring and to get information collected on previous HESES surveys;
e) Copies of the survey tables which will be distributed in Excel workbooks for providers to complete and return.

5. The contents of the annexes are as follows:

Annex		Page number
Annex A	Summary guide to the HESES 2025/26 survey	5
Annex B	Definition of a recognised HE qualification	14
Annex C	Distance learning, campuses, subsidiaries, franchises and other collaborative arrangements	15
Annex D	Definition of residential and funding status	21
Annex E	Definition of ASCs	25
Annex F	Definition of mode of study	27
Annex G	Definition of level of study	30
Annex H	Rules for counting registrations	31
Annex I	Guidance for the return of degree apprenticeship data	39
Annex J	Table and column descriptions	45
Annex K	HESA/HESES mappings and end of year monitoring data extraction criteria	48
Annex L	Workbook notes	58
Annex M	Validation checks	59
Annex N	Usage of data by Medr	61
Annex O	Funding status reference grid	62
Annex P	Sample copies of tables for completion by all providers directly funded by Medr for HE provision	64

Return of data

6. Providers are required to notify Medr of student registrations for the whole year.

7. Completed workbooks for the whole survey, including the table relating to degree apprenticeships, should be returned by email to Andrea Thomas at [email protected] no later than 28 January 2026.

8. Providers that do not have degree apprenticeship provision funded under the Medr scheme are not required to return Table 3.

9. Providers are encouraged to begin to prepare their returns well before the return date so that only final adjustments need to be made before dispatch of the completed returns.

10. It is important that the whole survey return is made on time so that early indications of numbers of students for 2025/26 are available, and to ensure that Medr has sufficient time to complete the checking process prior to sending out verifications for sign off.

11. We request that providers let us know as soon as possible, and before the return date of 28 January 2026, if they envisage that they will have difficulty returning the required information or if they will have difficulty meeting the timetable given in paragraph 12. This includes ensuring that the authorised signatory, or the alternative authorised signatory, is available to sign off the verifications by the due dates. Medr reserves the right to enter its own estimates of student registrations and credit values for providers which fail to return the survey or sign off the data on time, or where data are considered to be of insufficient quality.

12. When data are returned, we carry out a validation and credibility checking process. Once any subsequent queries have been resolved, data are sent out to authorised signatories at providers for verification. The process will follow the timetable outlined below.

All HESES tables:

28 January 2026	Return deadline
6 February 2026	Verifications sent to providers
16 February 2026	Verifications return deadline

13. In the event of a deadline being missed without prior agreement, we will contact the HESES data contact and/or authorised signatory to request an explanation. If a deadline is missed by more than three working days, without prior agreement, we will email the head of the provider, reminding them that Medr reserves the right to enter its own estimates of student registrations for providers which fail to return the survey on time and indicating that Medr intends to do this if immediate action is not taken. Failure to return the data or verification report within two working days of the email will result in a letter from the Chief Executive of Medr to the head of the provider stating the figures that will be used in place of the provider’s own data.

14. Signed verifications should be returned by emailing them to Andrea Thomas at [email protected]. Prior to returning the signed verifications to Medr, providers must have undertaken sufficient checks to be satisfied that the returned data are accurate. Data anomalies queried by Medr must have been corrected or, if genuine, must have an associated explanation. Any changes that are made to the verification before signing and returning, that are not already made to the Excel format, should also be submitted in an Excel format.

15. Each subsequent deadline should be met regardless of any delay in meeting the preceding deadline.

16. Data extracted and signed off as part of the 2024/25 Information Reporting Interface Service (IRIS) process when providers make a submission to HESA, will be used in funding allocations. Providers should note that the data extractions at IRIS may need to be supplemented with additional data extractions once the methods for teaching funding for 2026/27 are finalised. If this is the case, we will contact providers about the sign off process for any additional data needed, not already signed off as part of the IRIS data extraction process. Further details are provided in the 2024/25 EYM publication and the data requirements publication for 2025/26.

17. Providers are reminded that data returned to Medr on the HESES survey, including methods used to calculate any estimates included in the returned figures, may be subject to an external audit carried out by Medr or by contractors working on Medr’s behalf. The systems and processes used to generate HESES data are in the scope of providers’ internal audits.

Future developments

18. The Statistics and Data area of the Medr website provides information about data collection. If providers have suggestions of anything additional they would like to see included, they should contact Medr at [email protected].

Further information

19. Any queries should be directed to Andrea Thomas, at [email protected].

Introduction

1. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has confirmed that it will provide £1,182,247 to support Official Development Assistance (ODA) Institutional Support Awards under the International Science Partnership Fund (ISPF) for FY 2025-26.

Use of funding

2. The grant funding provided under ISPF is to be used solely to fund activities that are ODA compliant as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with the primary purpose of targeting the economic development and welfare of countries on the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) recipient list. In line with DSIT policy the funding cannot be used to deliver activities that are within, in partnership with, or that would otherwise benefit China.

3. Activities funded through ISPF Institutional Support Grant (ODA) must also adhere to the legislation governing UK ODA funding:

• the International Development Act 2002 as amended
• the International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014. This requires that aid must be “likely to contribute to reducing poverty in a way which is likely to contribute to reducing inequality between persons of different gender”.

4. The funding provides flexible institutional funding that can be used strategically to support ODA eligible activities. This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded via other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners.

5. DSIT expects the ISPF institutional support grant allocations for 2025-26 will be spent by 31 March 2026. Funding may be backdated to 1 April 2025.

6. Institutions are able to use this funding to support activity that takes place after 31 March 2026, providing that it is in line with the institutions accounting rules and procedures and the spend will be recorded in FY 2025-26. Activities should be complete by the end of AY 31 July 2026.

7. Medr reserves the right to recoup any part of an HEI’s allocation that is not spent on ODA activities and any funding reclaimed in this way will be returned to DSIT.

Allocations

8. Funding is allocated according to historical ODA funding received by HEIs, including Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and Newton Fund, as well as UKRI Research Council competitive grants not originally designated as ODA that were subsequently found to meet ODA eligibility criteria. Data was provided by UKRI in 2023/24.

9.Given that a straight pro-rata allocation would result in small allocations in some cases, Medr has decided to provide funding to only those institutions which would receive an annual allocation of at least £50k, see Annex A. This is consistent with the approach taken with previous GCRF allocations (see HEFCW circular W18/02HE) and takes account of the potential administrative overhead of managing ODA activities.

10. Institutional allocations for 2025/26 will be paid in November 2025.

Monitoring arrangements

11. HEIs in receipt of funding will be required to maintain appropriate records detailing the activities that have been supported including relevant information related to ODA compliance.

12. Medr have provided a monitoring template (Annex B) which includes:

• The title of the project
• A brief abstract of individual activities
• OECD DAC recipient list countries involved, including any partners in DAC and non-DAC Countries
• Confirmation that the activity is ODA compliant as defined by the OECD
• Budget allocation for each activity
• Project outcomes

13. HEIs are required to submit their monitoring returns to Hayley Moss, [email protected] by 31 March 2026.

14. DSIT may receive ad hoc enquires from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) or OECD. If further information is required HEIs will be expected to work with Medr to respond to additional data queries from DSIT.

15. DSIT may conduct spot checks to ensure compliance with ODA eligibility requirements. These checks will be proportionate and focussed on the value received by the institution. DSIT will determine the information required and the process for selecting institutions, with Medr providing support. Medr may also capture case study information to demonstrate the impact of funded activities. Medr is currently working with DSIT to finalise the monitoring requirements and will update institutions as soon as any obligations are confirmed.

Impact assessment

16. Responsibility for impact assessment rests with DSIT as owners of the fund. We have not identified potential adverse impacts or discrimination in our management of the fund.

Payment arrangements

16. Funding will be distributed to HEIs via one payment in November 2025.

Further Information

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

Introduction

This report summarises some of the key trends about studying in the Welsh language and the Welsh language ability of students at higher education providers in Wales, and for staff at universities in Wales. Throughout the report when we refer to studying in Welsh, we mean studying through the medium of the Welsh language rather than studying Welsh as a subject.

The sources of the data are the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student and Staff records.

The data are available in an accompanying spreadsheet. Further breakdowns of the data are also available on StatsWales.

Main points

• In 2023/24, 13% of enrolments by students from Wales were known to be fluent Welsh speakers. A further 15% were non-fluent Welsh speakers or Welsh speakers of unknown ability.
• In 2023/24, 30% of enrolments by students from Wales who are known to be fluent Welsh speakers studied at least 1 credit in Welsh, and 21% studied at least 40 credits in Welsh. These proportions have been at about the same levels since 2017/18.
• 4% of enrolments by all students, including those who are not from Wales and are not known Welsh speakers, involved studying at least 1 credit in Welsh in 2023/24.
• The number of enrolments by all students with at least 1 credit studied in Welsh in 2023/24 fell by 19% compared to 2022/23, and was the lowest number in recent years. However, a significant factor in this decrease is related to a change in how the amount of studying in Welsh is calculated at some providers rather than a real change in what was delivered.
• There were more than twice as many enrolments from female students where at least 1 credit was studied in Welsh compared to enrolments from male students. Of enrolments with at least 1 credit studied in Welsh, female students were also more likely to study a higher number of credits in Welsh than male students.
• Education and training was the module subject with the highest number and proportion of enrolments with at least 1 credit studied in Welsh.
• There were 565 academic teaching staff contracted to teach in Welsh in 2023/24, the same number as in 2022/23.

The Welsh Government has allocated this additional funding to Medr in the financial year (FY) 2025-26 to support the delivery of Additional Learning Needs (ALN) reforms. The additional funding will be paid in full in one instalment in December 2025.

Additional funding amounts and timings

The increased ALS funding of £3,200,000 will be allocated to FE institutions as shown in the table below.

Provider	Original 2025/26 ALS allocation	Additional allocation	New total 2025/26 ALS allocation
Adult Learning Wales	£317,838.00	£60,754.00	£378,592.00
Bridgend College	£853,917.00	£163,224.00	£1,017,141.00
Cardiff and Vale College	£2,087,311.00	£398,984.00	£2,486,295.00
Coleg Cambria	£2,048,807.00	£391,624.00	£2,440,431.00
Coleg Gwent	£2,391,060.00	£457,045.00	£2,848,105.00
Coleg Sir Gâr	£1,096,836.00	£209,658.00	£1,306,494.00
Coleg y Cymoedd	£1,786,653.00	£341,514.00	£2,128,167.00
Gower College Swansea	£1,456,919.00	£278,486.00	£1,735,405.00
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai	£1,843,225.00	£352,328.00	£2,195,553.00
Grŵp NPTC Group	£1,266,609.00	£242,109.00	£1,508,718.00
Pembrokeshire College	£660,133.00	£126,183.00	£786,316.00
St David’s Catholic Sixth Form College	£388,613.00	£74,283.00	£462,896.00
The College Merthyr Tydfil	£543,079.00	£103,808.00	£646,887.00
	£16,741,000.00	£3,200,000.00	£19,941,000.00

This funding relates to the period 01 August 2025 to 31 July 2026. This additional funding will be paid in full in one instalment in December 2025.

For more information on how funding can be expended, including changes due to additional funds, please see the guidance published on our website.

This year universities in Wales were awarded the Advance HE Bronze Race Equality Charter Award. This significant achievement, which was encouraged in the Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan shows our higher education sector’s commitment to becoming anti-racist universities. Achieving the Charter was an important recognition of the work universities have done so far and sets the foundation for the next steps. To successfully be awarded the Charter, universities needed to ensure a whole institution approach is informed by evidence, data and the voices of staff and students with lived experience. By understanding staff and students’ experiences, universities have been better able to build on their existing work to make universities a safe and inclusive space for learning, working and living.

The eight universities achieved the charter in record time, supported by Medr funding. The funding allowed universities to make progress at pace towards tackling anti-racism, in line with the Welsh Government’s anti-racism expectations. Actions have a clear focus on barriers to recruitment, leadership, progression and retention. These pillars form an important part of delivering for future generations of students and a more equal Wales.

And what has changed?

The charter is a recognition of universities’ commitment to tackling racism. Charters are not an end in themselves, rather they confirm intentions which are backed by action plans which must be achieved as part of a next review milestone.

By using an anti-racist lens as advocated through the Charter, governance and management systems are challenged to meet expectations, identify and scrutinise disparities, collate data and assess support needs for staff and students from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds. This whole university approach reaffirms that everyone has a role to play in ensuring an equal Wales.

What next?

Medr is committed to supporting the tertiary education sector on its anti-racism journey.  We welcome the tertiary sector providers’ ongoing commitment to tackling anti-racism and their contribution to Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan. Medr with oversight of tertiary education is consulting on its new regulatory conditions, including as they relate to equality of opportunity, staff and learner welfare and the learner voice. We will continue to ensure that the tertiary education sector plays its full part in meeting the Welsh Government’s expectations of becoming an anti-racist Wales by 2030.

Introduction

1. This publication sets out our intentions in 2025/26 to allocate:

• £2,350,000 funding to universities to implement well-being and health strategies (universities only);
• £2,000,000 additional funding for well-being and health support for learners (universities and further education providers in direct receipt of Medr higher education funding);
• Additional £400,000 to support HE staff and student emotional and mental well-being initiatives at a national level; and
• Additional well-being and health funding to support joint further and higher education projects.

2. Medr has a strategic duty to promote equality of opportunity in tertiary education and will introduce a staff and student/learner welfare related condition of registration. The Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill: Exploratory Memorandum notes:

‘The initial and ongoing conditions regarding support for and the promotion of student and staff welfare will introduce new regulatory requirements for providers which, it was envisaged, would encompass matters such as mental health, wellbeing and safety of learners and staff at the provider. The Commission will be required to set out and publish requirements which must be met by registered providers regarding their arrangements in respect to the initial and ongoing conditions. In the context of student and staff welfare, it is envisaged that ‘arrangements’ would include policies, procedures and support services for student and staff wellbeing and safety. ‘Wellbeing’ in this context is intended to mean emotional wellbeing and mental health. ‘Safety’ is intended to mean freedom from harms including harassment, misconduct, violence (including sexual violence), and hate crime.’

3. In 2024, Welsh Ministers published their statement of strategic priorities for tertiary education research and innovation which include a priority for Medr to create a common framework for mental health and well-being support across tertiary education.

4. In March 2025, Medr published its Strategic Plan for 2025-30 and in June 2025 its operational plan for 2025-26 financial year.

5. The Strategic Plan includes a founding commitment for Medr to develop a common framework for mental health and well-being by 1 August 2026, affirming equality of opportunity and strengthened by regulatory conditions to support staff and learner welfare.

Higher education emotional and mental well-being and health, including mental policy, update and our expectations arising from them

6. In April 2025, the Welsh Government published its Mental health and wellbeing strategy 2025 to 2035. Medr expects all HE providers to take account of the national mental health and well-being strategy when developing and revising their well-being and health strategies, suicide prevention and self-harm approaches and well-being policies and, where appropriate, include related actions in their 2025/26 implementation plans.

7. In April 2025, the Welsh Government published its Suicide Prevention and Self‑harm Strategy for Wales. Medr encourages all HE providers to participate in, and contribute to, the Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Community of Practice.

Emotional and mental well-being, and wider equality and intersectionality considerations

8. We expect providers to take account of intersectional impacts on learner and staff emotional and mental well-being. Therefore, providers should take account of how the mental health and well-being funding contributes to the following Welsh Government equality plans:

• Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan;
• LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales;
• Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence: strategy 2022 to 2026 and its Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence: blueprint high level action plan;
• Disabled People’s Rights Plan: 2025 to 2035 which is currently under consultation.
  While the Draft Disabled People’s Rights Plan is not yet finalised, we encourage providers to take account of its proposed priorities and principles, where appropriate.

9. HE providers must use the findings and conclusion of the equality impact assessments to inform plans, policies, procedures to demonstrate actions are evidence-based.

Well-being and health funding strategies and implementation plan funding 2025/26 (£2,300,000 universities only)

10. We expect implementation plans in 2025/26 to continue to take a ‘whole university approach’, supporting and addressing the needs of staff and students and taking account of all aspects of university life, including living and working life. Where universities choose to fund well-being and health, including mental health activity and services from non-Medr funding, please include these activities and services and the sources of funding in the plans.

11. In 2025/26 all universities must review their strategic approach to suicide prevention and put in place mitigating action/s in their Suicide Safer action plans.

12. Providers should consider the suicide prevention guidance, uploaded to the HE&FE suicide prevention community of practice Padlet. They should also take into account the implications from the National Review of HE Student Suicides and consider actions that address the recommendations.

13. 2025/26 implementation plans should account for the university’s 2025/26 funding allocations (£2,300,000 strategy funding and £2m additional funding) and any additional resources provided from non-Medr sources and include:

1. well-being and health, including mental health, strategy objectives/intentions being prioritised in 2025/26;
2. activities, services, training, and resources, against the objectives/intentions, including dates by when new or continuing activities, services and resources will be established and/or completed;
3. activities, services, training and resources provided bilingually and/or separately in Welsh;
4. activities, services, training, and resources including learners at franchise/partner organisations,
5. activities, services, training, and resources for postgraduate learners;
6. activities, services, training, and resources for international learners;
7. activities, services, training and resources to secure the well-being and health of staff and learners, including health affected by harassment, hate and sexual misconduct and violence, regardless of identity;
8. activities, services, training and resources provided specifically to, or providing information about supporting, staff and learners with protected characteristics.
9. extend, enhance or subsidise period dignity and personal hygiene products and/or clothes washing services for students;
10. activities, services, training and resources that take account of the Universities UK (UUK) Stepchange: mentally healthy universities self-assessment findings and recommendations;
11. clearly identifiable actions to address gaps, priorities or recommendations identified as a result of the university’s review using the UUK self-assessment tool;
12. activities, services, training and resources that take account of the Universities UK (UUK) Suicide Safer Framework and supporting guidance;
13. confirmation of how progress against the implementation plan will be monitored and measured;
14. an explanation of how a representative range of students, staff and interested parties have been involved in developing the plan;
15. an explanation of how impact assessment findings have informed the objectives/intentions, activities and services to be delivered;
16. an explanation of how the implementation plan’s monitoring and review will be reported to and through university governance structures.

Additional well-being and health funding to support learners 2025/26 (£2m, universities and further education providers in direct receipt of Medr higher education funding)

14. The funding can be used for activities that reflect each institution’s individual priorities, based on its own policies and the identified support needs of its learners, informed by their own data and evidence.

15. Financial support may include:

1. well-being and health, including mental health activities, services, training, and resources for learners;
2. activities, services, training and resources provided bilingually and/or separately in Welsh;
3. activities, services, training, and resources including learners at franchise/partner organisations;
4. activities, services, training, and resources for postgraduate learners;
5. activities, services, training, and resources for international learners;
6. activities, services, training and resources to secure the well-being and health of learners, including health affected by harassment, hate and sexual misconduct and violence, regardless of identity;
7. activities, services, training and resources provided specifically to, or providing information about supporting, learners with protected characteristics.

16. Universities and colleges must ensure that learner support is informed by equality impact assessments.

17. We strongly encourage universities and colleges, working with their Students’ Unions or equivalent body. All learners, including postgraduate and international learners should be considered for support, subject to need.

National higher education project/s

18. In 2025/26, Medr will allocate to higher education an additional £400,000 to support HE staff and learner emotional and mental well-being initiatives at a national level. Medr, will be engaging with the sector to identify which national project/s will be taken forward.

Additional 2025/26 further and higher education funding

19. In 2025/26 the Welsh Government provided Medr with additional funding to support further and higher education providers. It is Medr’s intention to allocate £350,000 to universities’ via formular funding as detailed in paragraphs 10 and 13, and to fund the following national FE and HE projects:

• Continued funding to the national student mental health partnership programme led by Cardiff University and building on pilot work originally funded by HEFCW and Welsh Government. In 2025/26, Medr is providing continuation funding to support the development of a data storage solution, continued rollout of a mental health severity index, exploration and development of information-sharing protocols and an external evaluation of the programme (£950,000).
• Myf.Cymru led by Bangor University to provide Welsh language learner well-being resources and practitioners network for further and higher education (£150,000).  

University and further education providers in direct receipt of Medr higher education funding

Universities

20. The 2025/26 Well-being and health, including mental health, strategy implementation plan funding will be allocated in one payment, on the basis of student headcounts, as set out in Annex A.

21. The 2025/26 additional well-being and health funding to support learners will be allocated in one payment, on the basis of learner headcounts, as set out in Annex B.

22. In 2025/26 we will allocate both Annex A and Annex B funding in one tranche payment in December 2025 subject to:

• submission of 2025/26 Well-being and health, including mental health, implementation plans (see template provided at Annex C and Appendix C1). The submission date for this reporting is 1 December 2025.

23. We expect universities to manage and spend in full in-year their 2025/26 allocations.

24. We will reclaim any uncommitted underspend at the end of 2025/26, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and we will reclaim/withhold future funding where there is unsatisfactory or limited reporting against our monitoring requirements.

Further education providers in direct receipt of Medr higher education funding

25. The 2025/26 additional well-being and health funding to support learners will be allocated in one payment, on the basis of learner headcounts, as set out in Annex B.

26. In 2025/26 we will allocate Annex B funding in one tranche payment in December 2025 subject to:

• Submission of 2025/26 Additional well-being and health funding to support learners implementation plan (see template provided at Annex D). The submission date for this reporting is 1 December 2025.

27. We expect further education providers in direct receipt of Medr higher education funding to manage and spend in full in-year their 2025/26 allocations.

28. We will reclaim any uncommitted underspend at the end of 2025/26, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and we will reclaim/withhold future funding where there is unsatisfactory or limited reporting against our monitoring requirements.

University and further education providers in direct receipt of Medr higher education funding

29. Well-being and health funding monitoring templates will be circulated in November 2025.

Timetable

30. Table 1 below sets out the university and Further Education providers in direct receipt of Medr Higher Education funding submission and reporting deadlines.

Table 1

Submission and reporting requirements	Submission date
Guidance issued	November 2025
Deadline for submission of 2025/26 Well-being and health, including mental health, implementation plan	01 December 2025
Deadline for submission of 2025/26 additional well-being and health funding to support learners implementation plan	01 December 2025
One-off payment	December 2025
Submission of final monitoring report	01 July 2026

Further information / responses to

31. For further information contact Ryan Stokes ([email protected]).

32. Responses to be submitted to [email protected].

Assessing the impact of our policies

33. We have updated our ongoing impact assessment to take account of equality, diversity and inclusion. We also considered the impact of policies on the Welsh language, and Welsh language provision within the tertiary sector in Wales and potential impacts on the goals set out in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

34. Our impact assessment findings include:

• identifying likely positive impacts on the following protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. No negative impacts were identified.
• confirming that the funding supports five of the seven well-being goals and takes account of the five ways of working of the Well-being of Future Generations Act.
• noting that the funding and monitoring seeks to have a positive impact on the Welsh Language.

Medr is currently consulting on a new regulatory system, including a new Learner Engagement Code that aims to support providers and Medr to focus the tertiary education sector around the needs of learners.

Why learner engagement matters

For the purposes of the Code, ‘learner engagement’ refers to the opportunities for learners to engage in their providers’ decision-making. Medr has a statutory duty to prepare a Learner Engagement Code, to monitor providers’ compliance with the Code, and to report on its effectiveness.

Effective learner engagement in decision-making provides benefits for current and future learners, for providers and for the tertiary education sector in Wales. Learners can develop skills and improve their experience, providers can enhance their understanding of learner needs and reflect this in their provision, and as a regulator Medr can respond to learners’ views through our strategic decisions.

The Code’s learner centred vision for learner engagement:

As learners we are at the heart of tertiary education and research in Wales. We have opportunities, as individuals and with our peers, to engage in decision-making that impacts and improves our learning experiences and those of future learners. Our voices matter throughout our learning journeys, whether we are starting a course, transitioning to new opportunities or progressing in our careers.

What is the Learner Engagement Code?

Underpinned by a shared set of principles which have been co-produced with learners, the Learner Engagement Code aims to ensure that learners’ interests are represented, that they have the opportunity to give their views to providers about the education and training they receive, and that they are able to participate in their providers’ decision-making. This could be through formal structures like students’ unions, or as individuals.

The Code has been developed in line with Medr’s statutory duties under the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 (the Act), which also sets out that the Code will apply to all parts of the tertiary education sector:

• further education
• higher education
• apprenticeships
• adult community learning
• local authority maintained school sixth forms.

The Code has been developed as part of a wider piece of work on Medr’s new regulatory system. It will apply to registered and funded providers through the conditions of the regulatory framework and to sixth forms as a statutory duty, also set out in the Act.

How the draft has been developed

Medr has worked collaboratively with sector stakeholders including learners, provider staff and representative groups to develop the Learner Engagement Code. Through a series of discussions, workshops and feedback opportunities, stakeholders have shaped the development of the Code at every stage. Here’s how we’ve incorporated that early sector feedback in this draft and why continued dialogue to inform future developments for the Code is so important:

Principles based approach

• Stakeholders value the use of clear principles and an emphasis on the impact of learner engagement, recognising the diversity of engagement mechanisms across the sector and driving continuous improvement in effective practice.
• Feedback led to the principles being flipped to a learner perspective, centring on their experience of engagement in decision-making.
• Early drafts of the principles lacked clarity for many stakeholders, we’ve worked with the sector to simplify the language used and to give each principle a clear focal point.

Reflecting the diversity of the sector

• By working with sector stakeholders to develop the Code, we have been able to include contextual information and examples to reflect different parts of the tertiary education sector.
• We are committed to adding further examples, including beyond the publication of the Code where we will begin to share case studies from across Wales.
• Some parts of the sector have established learner engagement mechanisms they would like to see reflected in the requirements of the Code. Having taken the decision not to prescribe practice but principles, we have not built these elements in as requirements.
• We are committed to working with sector stakeholders to update or develop guidance where Medr may take a more prescriptive approach and to funding partners to develop good practice guidance and information for the sector which will accompany the Code.

Monitoring and evidence

• Reflecting on responses to Medr’s first regulatory consultation, our approach to monitoring compliance with the Code aims to minimise burden and draw on existing evidence wherever possible.
• Our intention is to supplement annual returns from each provider with evidence already available to Medr.
• Through this consultation and continued dialogue, we are particularly keen to build a picture of existing evidence that can be shared with Medr for monitoring of compliance with the Code.

How to have your say

We encourage you to read the draft Learner Engagement Code and invite responses to the associated consultation questions through our online survey. This route of formal consultation is open until 17 December 2025.

Your feedback is valued in helping us to develop the Code to ensure all tertiary learners in Wales have impactful opportunities to engage in their providers decision-making.

During the consultation period we will also be hosting events that will provide an opportunity to hear from our staff about the development of the new regulatory system and the key questions we are asking of all providers and stakeholders.

List of upcoming events

Learner Engagement Code events:

01 December 2025: 10:00–11:00	Medr regulatory consultation: Learner Engagement Code
02 December 2025: 13:00–14:30	Consultation event 1 for local authorities and maintained school sixth forms
08 December 2025: 12:30–14:00	Consultation event 2 for local authorities and maintained school sixth forms

Thank you for your engagement with the development of the Code. If you’d like to discuss the Learner Engagement Code further, please email [email protected].

Additional funding amounts and timings

A WBL allocation of £272,559.47 will be allocated to Apprenticeship Contract Holders (ACH) for the delivery of short Micro Credential courses to existing apprentices as shown in the table below. The allocations have been agreed following an expression of interest process as implemented by Medr. 

Apprenticeship Contract Holders	Contribution for the delivery of Micro Credential courses
Associated Community Training Ltd	£10,000.00
B-wbl Pembrokeshire College	£66,360.00
Cardiff and Vale College	£43,330.00
Coleg Cambria	£18,352.40
Gower College Swansea	£41,805.00
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai	£53,487.07
Skills Academy Wales at NPTC Group of Colleges	£39,225.00
Total	£272,559.47

Key requirements and eligibility

This funding relates to the period 21 October 2025 to 31 March 2026. This additional funding will be paid monthly in arrears and will align with existing contractual requirements.

Learner eligibility must fully align with the criteria set out in the main apprenticeship programme specification as published on the Medr website. No exceptions to this will apply.

Apprenticeship Micro Credentials Course List

The following document sets out the courses eligible for funding (with funding values). The course list has been aligned to the Personal Learning Account (PLA) programme and has been developed following consultation with the ACH, industry bodies and key stakeholders.

No courses will be funded above the £1,500 per person cap or if they are not included in the enclosed approved qualification and courses list at Appendix 1 of Annex A, ‘Apprenticeship Micro Credentials Pilot Guidance’. There will be no exceptions to this requirement.

Courses can potentially be added or removed from the list, and the process for requesting new courses has been shared with the ACH. All qualifications and courses must be approved by Medr and funding values agreed before courses are delivered to learners. No exceptions to this will apply.