University of Wales: Difference between revisions

University of Wales

Prifysgol Cymru
Motto	Goreu Awen Gwirionedd (the best inspiration is truth)
Type	Confederal, non-membership University[1]
Established	1893
Chancellor	The Prince of Wales
Vice-Chancellor	Professor Marc Clement
Pro-Chancellor	Graham Rogers
Location	Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Carmarthen, Lampeter, Newport, Swansea and Wrexham , Wales , UK
Campus	Urban and rural
Colours
Affiliations	Alliance of Non-Aligned Universities Association of Commonwealth Universities
Website	http://www.wales.ac.uk/
Logo of the University of Wales

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The University of Wales (Prifysgol Cymru in Welsh) is a confederal university founded in 1893. It has accredited institutions throughout Wales, ranging from nineteenth-century establishments like Aberystwyth and Bangor to post-1992 universities like Newport and institutes of higher education such as UWIC and NEWI. Indeed, the only institution in Wales with no historical tie to the University is the University of Glamorgan in Pontypridd. It also accredits courses abroad and has over 100,000 students.

The Chancellor of the University of Wales is HRH the Prince of Wales and the Pro-Chancellor is the Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Barry Morgan. The Vice-Chancellor is currently Professor Marc Clement.

History

The University of Wales was founded in Wales in 1893 as a federal university with three foundation colleges: University College Wales (now Aberystwyth University), which had been founded in 1872 and University College North Wales (now Bangor University) and University College South Wales and Monmouthshire (now Cardiff University) which were founded following the Aberdare Report in 1881. Prior to the foundation of the federal University, these three colleges had prepared students for the examinations of the University of London. A fourth college, Swansea (now Swansea University), was added in 1920 and in 1931 the Welsh School of Medicine was established in Cardiff. In 1967 the Welsh College of Advanced Technology entered the federal University as the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST), also in Cardiff. In 1971 St David's College (now UW Lampeter), Wales' oldest degree-awarding institution, suspended its own degree-awarding powers and entered the University of Wales. A financial crisis in the late eighties caused UWIST and University College Cardiff to merge in 1988, forming the University of Wales College Cardiff (UWCC). In 1992 the University lost its position as the only university in Wales when the Polytechnic of Wales became the University of Glamorgan.

The University was composed of colleges until 1996, when the University was reorganised with a two-tier structure of member institutions in order to absorb the Cardiff Institute of Higher Education (which became the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC)) and the Gwent College of Higher Education (which became University of Wales College, Newport (UWCN)). The existing colleges became constituent institutions and the two new member institutions became university colleges. In 2003, both of these colleges became full constituent institutions and in 2004 UWCN received permission from the Privy Council to change its name to the University of Wales, Newport.

Cardiff University and the University of Wales College of Medicine (UWCM) merged on August 1 2004. The merged institution, known as Cardiff University, ceased to be a constituent institution and became a new category of 'Affiliated/Linked Institutions'. While the new institution will continue to award University of Wales degrees in medicine and related subjects, students joining Cardiff from 2005 to study other subjects will be awarded Cardiff University degrees.

At the same time, the University admitted four new institutions, helping to fill the void left by the loss of Cardiff and UWCM. Thus, North East Wales Institute of Higher Education (NEWI), Swansea Institute of Higher Education and Trinity College, Carmarthen (who were all previously Associated Institutions) along with the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (which was previously a Validated Institution) were admitted as full members of the University on July 27 2004.

The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama subsequently left the University in January 2007 to become an independent college once again. It retains no ties to the University (except for students completing legacy Wales courses) and now has its degrees awarded by the University of Glamorgan. More changes followed in September 2007 when the university changed from a federal structure to a confederation of independent institutions. At the same time, Swansea changed its name to 'Swansea University' (a name it had been using publicly for some time) and Bangor to 'Bangor University'. Aberystwyth changed its name to 'Aberystwyth University' in October of the same year. All former member institutions are now independent universities, but all still have their degrees awarded by the University of Wales.

In 2008, Bangor University decided to leave the umbrella of the University of Wales and award its own degrees. In November 2008, Wales' first university, Aberystwyth stated that it also intend awarding its own degrees. Swansea University has also confirmed that it may follow suit.^[2]

Central services

The University of Wales Registry, in Cardiff's Civic Centre, is the central administrative centre and the place that actually registers degrees and sends out degree certificates as well as validating the degrees of the University that are offered outside the accredited institutions. The University also directly runs the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies (incorporating the Welsh Dictionary Unit), located alongside the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. The first edition of Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (University of Wales Dictionary), which has the same status for Welsh as the OED does for English, was completed in 2002, eighty-two years after it had been started. The University of Wales Press was founded in 1922 and publishes around sixty books a year in both English and Welsh. The University also runs the Gregynog conference and fieldwork centre in mid-Wales, based around the 150 year-old Gregynog Hall - one of Britain's oldest concrete buildings.

Accredited institutions

Independent institutions

In September 2007, three universities became independently managed with the University of Wales structure, still awarding University of Wales degrees:^[3]

• Aberystwyth University - founding member of University of Wales
• Bangor University - founding member of University of Wales
• Swansea University - joined 1920

Affiliated institutions

• Cardiff University - once a full member of the University but has now left (though it retains some ties). When Cardiff left, it merged with the University of Wales College of Medicine (which was also a former member). Cardiff awards its own degrees to students admitted since 2005, except in Medicine and related subjects where University of Wales degrees continue to be awarded.

Validated institutions

• Coleg Harlech WEA^[4]
• John Cabot University
• Llandrillo College^[5]
• Royal Welsh College of Music And Drama^[6]
• Portobello College Dublin
• Imperial Institute of Higher Education, Sri Lanka^[7]
• Wessex Institute of Technology
• Trinity Theological Seminary ^[8]

These institutions are not accredited by the University, but do have some of their courses validated by them.

Former members

• Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
• University of Wales College of Medicine (now merged with Cardiff University)

Controversy

In November 2008, the University of Wales was criticised by Dr John Bear, who noted the Universities links with the not-officially-accredited Trinity College of the Bible in Newburgh, Indiana, which means that many American states consider its degrees to be illegal. As part of programme being made by BBC Wales political series Dragon's Eye, Dr. Bear explained that the University of Wales was exercising a "loophole" in the American system. Sine 2007, a voluntary agreement had been in place to remove validation from such non-credited colleges, but the University of Wales agreement had been signed before the agreement. University of Wales severed its ties with the Trinity College of the Bible on Friday 14 November, while BBC Wales were in America filming the story. Former FBI agent Allen Ezell, who ran an investigation to clamp down on illegal degrees in the United States, said the relationship was "unusual:"^[9]

It's to their (University of Wales) benefit to make sure that schools issuing University of Wales diplomas are on the up and up. It devalues a genuine University of Wales diploma if one can earn the same piece of paper in Indiana without doing the same rigorous work you would do in Wales.

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, which regulates universities in the United Kingdom, said it released a statement in July 2008 which warned higher education institutions "that they should not be collaborating with organisations that are not accredited". Two other UK universities have previously entered into partnerships with Trinity College, though Liverpool St John University and Canterbury Christ Church University did not go so far as to award their own degrees there.^[9]

Bibliography

• The University of Wales: A Historical Sketch written by D.Emrys Evans in 1953 by the University of Wales Press. It is illustrated with black and white photographic plates, and contains an Appendix listing 'Authorities and Officers of the University' and 'Professors and Other Heads of Departments' since 1872^[10]

See also

• Academic dress of the University of Wales

References

External links

• University of Wales
  • University of Wales Press
  • Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies
  • Welsh Dictionary Unit
  • Gregynog Hall
  • University of Wales Athletic Union

• Accredited Institutions
  • Aberystwyth University
  • Bangor University
  • University of Wales, Lampeter
  • University of Wales, Newport
  • North East Wales Institute of Higher Education
  • Swansea University
  • Swansea Institute of Higher Education
  • Trinity College, Carmarthen
  • University of Wales Institute, Cardiff

• Affiliated institutions
  • Cardiff University