Fee Plan approved

Aberystwyth University has welcomed today’s announcement by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales that its fee plan for the 2013/14 academic year has been approved.

Professor April McMahon, Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth said: “We welcome the Funding Council’s endorsement of our plans for the use of our fee income. Our 2013/14 fee plan will build on the work we announced in our 2012/13 plan to enhance the excellence of the student experience at Aberystwyth, support students to succeed, and enhance access to HE for all who have the capacity to benefit from it.

We are proud of the innovative and creative ways in which we are addressing issues of social justice and widening access and our commitments in the fee plan reflect this. We will continue, through the fee plan, to provide support for a range of initiatives aimed at removing barriers to higher education, welcoming bright and able students from all backgrounds and supporting them to reach their full potential.

We are also committed to ensuring that all our students are able to benefit from a learning environment which is of the highest quality and we will be investing heavily in the enhancement of our learning and teaching spaces over the next five years. We will continue to work with our students to ensure that the student voice informs the use of fee income and as part of the 2013/14 plan we are introducing a competition for student-based ideas for the upgrade and enhancement of our learning spaces.

Our new plan has a renewed emphasis on employability. The best University education equips the student for a life of ongoing enquiry, challenge and development and enables them to recognize the value of the skills they possess. Through our fee plan we are investing renewed resources in initiatives to prepare our students for the future, ensuring that every Aberystwyth graduate has the best possible chance of succeeding in whatever career they choose.

Overall, we are confident that the balance of work in our fee plans represents a sound investment in the development and support of our students and reflects our commitment to giving each Aberystwyth entrant the best possible experience at Aberystwyth and the best possible future thereafter.”

Measures proposed in the Aberystwyth University Fee Plan include:
• Investing £1m in a means tested bursary scheme to focus on the provision of financial assistance to students from low-income background. Around 1,000 students entering AU in September 2013 should benefit from this.
• Providing the Aberystwyth Summer University with places for around 80 young people from areas where, traditionally, the number entering Higher Education is low.
• Enhancing the support provided to students with disabilities.
• Enhancing the provision of online learning, including lecture capture, to enable more flexible learning.
• Investment in an extensive programme of capital infrastructure enhancement to ensure that students benefit from an excellent learning environment and up-to-date IT resources.
• Investment in graduate internship places, including leadership and management skills development and in alumni mentoring and work experience schemes, aimed at increasing the employability of our graduates.

The full Aberystwyth University Fee Plan is available at http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/university/student-fees/

AU24012

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