The Welsh Government is being urged to take action to help save a town from the “disastrous” consequences of losing its university status after more than 200 years. There has been a university campus in Lampeter since 1822, and it is in fact the birthplace of higher education in Wales.
Founded as St David’s College, it later became the University of Wales Lampeter before merging with Trinity University College in Carmarthen to become part of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD). However, the future of the campus is now in doubt after plans were revealed to move undergraduate courses from Lampeter to Carmarthen from September 2025. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.
UWTSD has said the move will “provide a better student experience for our full-time students”, but concerns have been raised about the impact on learners and the town of Lampeter itself. One student said they would not have applied to study at the university if they had known they would have to travel from Lampeter to Carmarthen, while another said: “People are angry and worried and we believe this is about cost cutting.”
It’s true that universities around Wales are facing significant financial pressures and UWTSD is one of those to have launched a voluntary redundancy scheme, although it has stressed that it is not university-wide. A spokeswoman for the university said the current situation is “not a sustainable” one, and that “we must take action” with regards to safeguarding the institute’s future.
Elin Jones, the MS for Ceredigion, has called on the Welsh Government to step in and do more to help. “Undergraduate teaching is the cornerstone of any university’s purpose,” she said. “Without it Lampeter would cease to be a university town. It’s disastrous and I am urging the Welsh Government, with the university, even at this eleventh hour, to come up with an alternative plan for this campus. It’s bad enough to announce the possibility of ending undergraduate teaching, but to do so without having an alternative plan in place is unacceptable.”
Cererdigion MP Ben Lake echoed Ms Jones’s thoughts, saying: “There is no doubt that higher education institutions across the UK are facing significant challenges, but it is essential that every possible option to retain the Lampeter university campus is pursued. Given its importance to the local economy, in addition to its proud heritage as the birthplace of higher education in Wales, it is more than appropriate for the Welsh Government to intervene to offer the university support to preserve and revitalize the campus in Lampeter.”
In response, the Welsh Government failed to offer any guarantees but did stress that regular dialogue with the university is ongoing. A government spokeswoman said: “We recognise that Welsh universities are under significant financial pressure. Medr (Commission for Tertiary Education and Research in Wales) continues to monitor the financial position of our universities closely, and the minister for further and higher education is meeting with Medr and with university leaders regularly.”
UWTSD has said the planned changes will “provide our humanities programmes with the support and the location that they need to further develop and flourish as an academic discipline”. A spokeswoman for the university added: “The university committed to retaining the main Lampeter campus estate and finding alternative ways of delivering education-related activities that would give the campus a new lease of life and a more secure future.
“Following a thorough review of the university’s activities, it is clear that, although student numbers are growing, they are not distributed proportionally across the campuses. Despite a range of innovative ideas to develop new courses to attract a larger number of students to our Lampeter campus these have not delivered, there has been a steady decline in the number of students being taught in-person. This is not a sustainable situation, and the university must take action.
“The proposal to move taught humanities programmes to Carmarthen aims to enable our Humanities programmes to have the support and the location that they need to develop further and flourish as an academic discipline. Our proposal will aim to ensure a continuity of education for all current Lampeter students and we will work hard to mitigate any concerns they have over this proposed change of location. The proposal would also provide a better student experience for our full-time students including better access to the students’ union, its clubs and societies. We are continuing to meet with affected students, staff and their recognised trades unions as well as representative of key stakeholders to discuss this proposal.”
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