Latest published financial accounts show the eight universities in Wales with a collective deficit of £116m

Whilst last week’s column demonstrated the rhetoric of the Welsh Government’s approach to higher education in Wales, today’s focuses on the reality after the release of the 2024-25 annual accounts from Welsh universities.

What these show is that the story is no longer one of individual institutions making local adjustments but of a sector trying to shrink its way back to viability while still being expected to deliver the same level of teaching, research and civic contribution.

Let’s start with the bottom line.

Taken together, the eight institutions report an aggregate deficit of roughly £116m for 2024/25, with Cardiff University reporting a deficit of £45m, Swansea University posting a deficit of £40m, and Bangor University having a deficit of £18m.

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Beneath that, the rest of the sector is not “fine”, but is simply losing smaller amounts with Cardiff Metropolitan University losing £4m, University of South Wales (USW) Aberystwyth University and University of Wales Trinity Saint David about £3m, and Wrexham University around £0.2m.

If we examine the USW accounts in more detail, it shows exactly where the problem sits across Welsh higher education.

It shows full-time international student fee income falling from £56m to £38m which is due to a loss of over 2,000 overseas students in a single year.

That seems unsustainable but to put this in context, USW has lost over 8,200 UK students since 2014-15 with the vast majority of those from the local area where it is based.

This is at a time when numbers of home students have grown by over 22,000 in the rest of Welsh higher education.

So, if you build an operating model where you fail to recruit UK students in sufficient numbers and have to replace them with a volatile segment that cross-subsidises the rest of the institution, you do not get to call the outcome “headwinds” when it has been a major strategic mistake for over a decade.

What makes it worse is that USW’s annual report makes clear that the risks were known and the failure was in treating it as a paragraph in a risk register rather than a live constraint on strategy, staffing, and capital commitments.

Of course, reliance on international income runs across the system, but the point is not that overseas recruitment is bad, but that it has been treated as enough to underwrite everything else.

When that assumption fails, you do not simply lose a revenue line, you expose the underlying economics of the institution.

That is why these accounts matter because they show Welsh universities moving from a position of growth to one of survival.

The second signal is staffing, because it is not only the cost base but also the capability base.

Across the eight institutions, the combined change in average staff numbers is a net reduction of 666 full-time equivalent posts which is not simply a tally of redundancies or a measure of individual departures but an indicator of the overall direction of contraction across the sector.

The third signal is what universities are doing about it and across the reports you see the same institutional reflex with the same words being repeated – “transformation”, “rebalancing”, “portfolio review”, “efficiency programmes”, “voluntary severance”, “cost base reset”.

These are not the actions of organisations expecting to bounce back quickly but of institutions that have accepted the need to operate at a smaller scale, at least in the medium term.

This is where the public debate often goes wrong as we talk about universities as if they are simply large employers that need “help” but they actually convert staff, estates, intellectual capital and reputation into student outcomes, research outputs and civic benefit.

When the financial response is primarily payroll reduction, you are not just fixing a spreadsheet but are altering the productive capacity of the institution.

Cut too far, too fast, and the university can end up weaker in the market it needs to win because the student experience and the academic proposition become harder to sustain.

That is why the current period is so dangerous and the fixes that stabilise cash today can undermine competitiveness tomorrow.

So, what does the comparison of all eight institutions tell us about the state of Welsh higher education?

It tells us that Wales is now in the early stages of a managed retreat unless the fundamentals change and the massive deficit is not a “bad year” but a signal that the income model, the cost base and the risk assumptions are misaligned.

The net fall of over 660 FTE posts is not “efficiency” but a reduction in capacity to match constrained income and the USW example is particularly instructive because it shows how quickly the model can break when international fee income drops sharply, even when the risk is explicitly acknowledged in the narrative.

The next 12 months will define what Wales’s higher education system becomes and the truth, unlike the report from the higher education group, means there are only two routes from here.

One is that Wales makes system-level choices deliberately with a clearer division of mission, fewer duplications, more collaboration on provision and shared services, and an honest conversation about what scale and breadth the nation can sustainably fund.

The other is that each institution makes individual cuts to survive, with the system “reforming” itself through drift, closures, emergency interventions and the slow erosion of capability.

Unfortunately, the accounts suggest Wales is closer to the second route than the first with the numbers show a sector responding tactically to financial shock.

However, universities need to stop pretending this is a temporary weather pattern and start treating it as what it is, namely a tsunami which spells the end of a funding and recruitment model that universities quietly came to rely on.

However, the longer they delay that reality, the more they will pay for it in lost provision, lost talent and a weaker contribution to Welsh economic and social life.

A Georgia-based gun accessory company will pay $1.75 million in restitution to victims’ families, injured individuals and traumatized survivors of the 2022 mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket and permanently stop selling a controversial magazine lock in New York under a settlement announced Wednesday.

Mean LLC, commonly known as Mean Arms, agreed to the payment and injunctive relief to resolve a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and related civil claims filed by victims’ families.

“The racist mass shooting at Tops in Buffalo was an unbearable tragedy,” James said in a statement. 

“We lost 10 beautiful lives in a horrific act of violence and hate, and no amount of money can ever return those individuals to their families or erase the devastation the community was forced to endure,” she added. “Today, justice looks like accountability, and we have ensured that this device will never be sold in our state again.”

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New York Attorney General Letitia James, Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, and Mayor Byron Brown attend a ceremony at Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, New York, July 14, 2022. (John Normile/Getty / Getty Images)

The May 14, 2022, attack, carried out by Payton Gendron, killed 10 Black people and injured three others at a Tops Friendly Market in western New York.

Federal prosecutors said the then-18-year-old livestreamed the massacre online and targeted victims in what authorities described as a racially motivated hate crime carried out after substantial planning and premeditation.

Gendron was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2023.

Sunlight from the setting sun illuminates the Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, New York, May 16, 2022. (Matt Burkhartt for The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)

James’ office alleged that Mean Arms marketed its “MA Lock” device as rendering rifles compliant with New York law, even though it could be easily removed, allowing the shooter to convert his weapon to accept high-capacity magazines.

“In January 2022, the Buffalo shooter purchased a semiautomatic rifle in New York with an MA Lock installed and a 10-round magazine. After following Mean Arms’ removal instructions, on May 14, 2022, the shooter inserted multiple 30-round detachable magazines onto his weapon,” her office said. “With a pistol grip and the high-capacity magazines, he did not have to stop to reload his weapon, and when he did reload, he could do so quickly.”

Under the settlement, the company must cease all sales of the MA Lock in New York, “remove any statements that claim the MA Lock is legal in New York, state on all packaging that the MA Lock cannot be sold or resold in New York, and notify all businesses currently selling the MA Lock that the product is not to be sold or resold to individuals and/or businesses in New York.”

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Police and FBI agents continue their investigation at Tops market in Buffalo, New York, May 15, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty / Getty Images)

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In a press release from James’ office, Andrew Debbins, an attorney who represents several of the victims’ families, said: “No amount of money can compensate the victims of May 14 for the unspeakable horrors of that day, but this settlement is a victory in our continuing fight against hate and all who enable it.”

Firm plans to invest £4m in city region as minister hails ‘clear vote of confidence in the UK and the North West’

A global tech firm is to bring jobs to Merseyside as it relocates from Singapore in a multi-million pound move. LogChain has announced plans to join the ranks of more than 1,000 digital and tech businesses in Liverpool.

The business has confirmed that alongside its move, it will invest up to £4m in the Liverpool City Region over the next three years. It joins businesses from China and India announcing their intentions to move to the city in the last few weeks.

LogChain’s move to headquarted in Liverpool has been welcomed by leaders at a national and regional level. Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “Moves like this help bring good jobs to the region and strengthen our links with the rest of the world.”

The Singaporean tech firm helps companies worldwide cut costs, speed up shipments and build more efficient supply chains by replacing outdated, paper‐heavy shipping processes with secure, legally recognised digital documentation. The news of the move to Liverpool comes as the government pushes forward its agenda on digital trade with technologies like e-Bills, digital identity, and AI driven logistics becoming central to global exports.

In January, one of China’s leading vehicle manufacturers, Chery Commercial Vehicle announced that it would be creating its first ever European headquarters here in Liverpool, bringing jobs, research and investment to the city’s automotive sector. Shortly after this, Indian AI company Aivion confirmed it has based its own new European HQ in Liverpool city centre’s Central Tech building.

Peter Kyle MP, Business and Trade Secretary, said: “LogChain’s decision to set up shop in Liverpool is a clear vote of confidence in the UK and the North West as we build the most innovative trading environment in the world. This move strengthens our tech ecosystem, boosts future exports, and shows the UK is the place to be for cutting edge digital trade.”

The UK was the first G7 country to put electronic trade documents on the same level footing as paper documents, leading the way in modern global trade and strengthening the tech sector which is worth around £1 trillion. LogChain helped deliver the world’s first fully digitalised goods shipment in 2023 with a ship making its way from Burnley to Singapore processed without any physical customs documents.

Andie McKeown, LogChain chief executive, said: “The UK’s long-standing leadership in global trade is now reinforced by the legal foundations needed for the next era of digital commerce. LogChain has already executed the world’s first fully digitalised movement of goods, and by relocating our global headquarters to the UK we’re committing to scale trusted, interoperable digital trade infrastructure from a market that is setting the benchmark.”

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “I’m really proud that LogChain has chosen the Liverpool City Region as its UK base. We’re a place that ‘gets’ trade, logistics and technology, and we’re serious about backing companies that are shaping the future of global commerce.

“Moves like this help bring good jobs to the region and strengthen our links with the rest of the world.” The announcement coincides with UK–Southeast Asia Tech Week where the UK is taking a delegation of AI and data companies to bang the drum for the UK’s tech sector, with over 200 tech “unicorns” produced in the UK.

Thailand is preparing to reduce visa-free stays from 60 days to 30 days for citizens of 93 countries, a move aimed at tightening immigration controls while maintaining tourism flows.

Key Points

• Policy shift: Authorities believe shorter stays will help prevent misuse by foreigners engaging in illegal activities, nominee businesses, or repeated visa runs.
• Tourism resilience: With most visitors staying around 21 days, officials expect minimal impact on tourism revenue. Extensions beyond 30 days will remain available.
• Industry support: The Association of Thai Travel Agents backs the reduction, noting that long stays are often exploited for non-tourism purposes.
• Background: The 60-day visa-free scheme was introduced in mid-2024 under Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to boost arrivals. While initial surges from China, Taiwan, and India were notable, most tourists continued to stay less than a month.
• Immigration measures: Since late 2025, the Immigration Bureau has tightened checks on foreigners making repeated border runs.

Authorities seek to balance national security concerns with the country’s reliance on tourism, a key sector of its economy. Officials believe the adjustment will help monitor overstays more effectively while still encouraging international visitors to explore Thailand’s attractions within the revised timeframe.

Economic Outlook

• Average tourist spending is unlikely to decline significantly, given typical stay durations.
• Stricter controls may reduce opportunities for foreign-run nominee businesses, protecting domestic operators.
• Thailand positions itself as a quality-driven tourism hub, balancing economic benefits with immigration enforcement.

Regional Context Thailand’s adjustment contrasts with Malaysia and Vietnam, which continue to offer longer visa-free stays to attract extended visitors. However, Thailand’s established tourism infrastructure and reputation may offset the shorter entry period. The government appears to be prioritizing sustainable tourism and tighter oversight of foreign business activities over aggressive visitor growth.

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