News
Medr is live!
01 Aug 2024
Today marks a significant milestone for Medr: we are now operational, having assumed the majority of our legal responsibilities.
It’s been a long journey – from the Hazelkorn review in 2016, which recommended the establishment of an arm’s-length body to oversee a combined post-16 education and research sector, to Medr launching today – and I’d like to thank you for your support so far. Medr will continue to evolve over the coming months, and we are committed to working with you to ensure a smooth transition.
Although Medr is a new organisation, we are fortunate to be inheriting a wealth of experience and expertise from colleagues transferring from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and the Welsh Government, so there will be familiar names and faces in our staff structure. We are also looking forward to welcoming new colleagues over the coming weeks and months.
To a certain extent, however, everyone who works in Medr is ‘new’: our people will all have new responsibilities, and will be adjusting to a tertiary education mindset – and we want to work with you as we do that. The rich experience and knowledge we are gaining means that we are starting off on strong footing, not only to face the challenges ahead, but also to make the most of the opportunities that a joined-up tertiary education and research sector offers us. It will be for all of us as a sector to determine what those opportunities are, and how to realise them.
We are in the process of developing our strategic plan, which will outline how we’re going to deliver on our legislative responsibilities and the Welsh Government’s strategic priorities for our organisation. Thank you to those who have already engaged with us on the strategic plan; we’re looking forward to gathering more views through a formal consultation in the autumn ahead of submitting the plan to Welsh ministers in December.
Do keep an eye out in the coming weeks and months as we update our website with news and information, and I’d encourage you to share it among your networks. If you have any trouble accessing information, please get in touch with a member of the team at [email protected].
I’m delighted that Medr is now fully established, and I look forward to collaborating with people right across the tertiary education and research sector to create positive change and a better future for every learner in Wales.