Patrick Prendergast to chair Welsh higher education review
Patrick Prendergast has been announced as chair of the independent review of higher education in Wales. He is the former provost and president of Trinity College Dublin, and currently chair of Ireland’s Southeast Technological University.
The terms of reference for the review were published over the summer – on research, the review panel will be asked to make recommendations for how Wales’ universities can be enabled to “deliver globally competitive research” which “brings economic investment to Wales.”
The other members of the panel have not yet been announced, but a first meeting is expected in October. The contract to deliver the review was awarded in August.
In an editorial published a decade ago, Prendergast set out some of the “myths” which he believed were hindering research, such as the false distinction between commercial disciplines versus non-profit making ones, which he said had led institutions, regions, and even countries to “put all their eggs in one basket.”
He also spoke out against the assumption that all exciting research and innovation is driven by the private sector, arguing that both private and public needed to work together for societal benefit.
In the Senedd
Announcing the chair’s appointment in the Senedd, deputy minister for skills and tertiary education Cefin Campbell said that Wales’ universities were facing a range of complex and connected challenges – including “new directions in UK research and innovation policy.”
He added that the Welsh government needed to support universities to win a “greater share” of UKRI funding:
“They currently only get about 2 per cent, whereas the Barnett consequential would be something around 5 per cent. So we need to support them to compete better for that funding.”
UKRI’s most recent statistical report on the geographical distribution of its funding puts Wales’ share in both 2022–23 and 2023–24 at two per cent, though this includes Research England funding. Once this is removed, the nation’s share of research council, Innovate UK and cross-UKRI investment was 2.6 per cent in 2022–23 and 2.7 per cent in 2023–24.
Plaid Cymru’s manifesto ahead of the Welsh election said that the party would “continue to call for Wales’s share of UK research funding to be devolved,” though there has been no further news on this commitment since they came to power in May.