According to funding allocations for institutions released by the ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Funding Council for Wales today, the biggest winner will be Swansea University, which will see its funding increase by almost a quarter in 2013-14.

There should also be substantial increases at Glyndwr University (20.3 per cent); the newly merged institution, Swansea Metropolitan University of Wales Trinity Saint David (19.5 per cent); and Wales¡¯ most research-intensive institution, Cardiff University (14.9 per cent).

Wales is introducing a similar undergraduate funding system to England: the government is phasing out central teaching grant and replacing it with student tuition fees of up to ?9,000 a year.

The difference is that Welsh students only have to pay ?3,575 of their fees and the Cardiff government will make up the rest.

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Welsh universities are getting a funding boost in 2013-14 because the increase in fee income is outstripping cuts in the teaching grant.

Quality-related research funding is to be frozen at ?71.1 million, with ?40.2 million of this going to Cardiff University.

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The only institution that will see its income drop in 2013-14 will be the Open University in Wales (-13.8 per cent), due to cuts in the budget for teaching part-time students.

David Blaney, the new chief executive of Hefcw, said: ¡°We don¡¯t expect the higher education sector in Wales to receive less [in] combined fees and public funding in the next academic year as a result of changes in the way we fund.

¡°Indeed, if recruitment from Wales and the rest of the UK is buoyant, there is every reason to presume income to universities can increase,¡± he added.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com