About the higher education sector in Wales
There are 11 higher education (HE) institutions - the universities and colleges which we fund directly and which provide HE courses - in the HE sector in Wales.
- In the 2009/10 academic year, there were more than 128,000 enrolments onto HE courses in Wales, of which 34% were part-time.
- Around 1 in 16 students from Wales takes some element of their course through the medium of Welsh.
- Wales trains around 1,700 primary and secondary school teachers a year.
- Wales welcomes more than 12,000 overseas students annually.
- More than half of students who study in Wales are from Wales.
- Some higher education courses are provided through further education colleges.
- producing more than 30,000 graduates a year
- contributing more than £1 billion annually to the Welsh economy
- as a major employer in Wales
- attracting inward investment and generating export earnings
- attracting £150 million of research investment into Wales from wider UK public and private sources, and from the European Union
- attracting students to study in Wales, all of whom generate local demand for goods and services. Wales's overseas students alone bring in more than £110 million in tuition fee income and living expenditure every year
