List of universities in Wales

File:Cardiff University main building.jpg]]

There are currently eight universities operating in Wales, all of which receive funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW).{{cite web|url=https://www.hefcw.ac.uk/about_he_in_wales/higher_education_institutions/he_institutions.aspx|title=Higher education institutions|publisher=HEFCW |access-date=10 February 2017}}{{cite web| url=http://www.uniswales.ac.uk/universities/|title=Universities|publisher=Universities Wales|access-date=10 February 2017}} Although university status in Wales only requires taught degree awarding powers (since 2004),{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32388/11-781-applications-for-degree-awarding-powers-guidance.pdf|title=Applications for the Grant of Taught Degree Awarding Powers, Research Degree Awarding Powers and University Title|publisher=Department for Business Innovation and Skills|date=August 2004|access-date=10 February 2017}} most Welsh universities have the power to award both taught and research degrees (research degrees at Wrexham University are validated by the University of Chester{{cite web|url=https://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Postgraduatecourses/Postgraduateresearchopportunities/Studyingforaresearchdegree/|title=Studying for a Research Degree|publisher=Wrexham Glyndŵr University|access-date=11 February 2017}}{{Update inline|date=October 2023}}). University status in Wales is conferred by the Privy Council following advice from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-3708.pdf |title=The Privy Council, Standard Note: SN/PC/3708 |date=5 July 2005 |publisher=The Privy Council |pages=5–6 |access-date=5 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227183508/http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-3708.pdf |archive-date=27 December 2011 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews/dap/briefGuideDAP.asp |title=A brief guide to QAA's involvement in degree-awarding powers and university title |publisher=Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education |access-date=6 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715141505/http://www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews/dap/briefGuideDAP.asp |archive-date=15 July 2010 |df=dmy-all }} The criteria for university status were set by the UK government in 2004; since then higher education in Wales has become a devolved matter under the Government of Wales Act 2006 and is the responsibility of the Minister for Education & Skills in the Welsh Government.

In 2024–25 global rankings, three Welsh universities (Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea) featured in all three of the major global rankings: the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the QS World University Rankings, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. No Welsh university features in the top 100 of any of the global tables, although Cardiff makes the top 250 in all three and also places within the top 50 universities of all three major domestic rankings.

All Welsh universities are public universities and funded in part by the Welsh Government through HEFCW, with an allocation of just over £217 million in 2022-23.{{cite web |title=Funding for higher education in 2022/23 |url=https://www.hefcw.ac.uk/en/news/funding-for-higher-education-in-2022-23/ |website=hefcw.ac.uk |publisher=Higher Education Funding for Wales |access-date=28 July 2022}} Welsh universities also charge tuition fees capped at £9,000 per year for UK students, unlike other parts of the UK which have fees capped at £9,250, on undergraduate courses.{{cite web |title=Universities' finances unsustainable - Cardiff vice-chancellor |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64511655 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=5 February 2023}} In the 2023–24 academic year, approximately 150,700 students studied at universities or institutes of higher education in Wales. Included in the figure are 68,900 students normally domiciled in Wales, 52,100 from the rest of the United Kingdom and a further 27,800 international students.{{cite web|url=https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/20-03-2025/sb271-higher-education-student-statistics/location|title=Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2023/24 - Where students come from and go to study|publisher=HESA|at=Figure 7 - HE student enrolments by HE provider and permanent address|access-date=20 March 2025}} Welsh universities generate over £5.3 billion for the Welsh economy.{{cite web |title=Higher education in Wales |url=https://uniswales.ac.uk/universities/higher-education-wales |website=uniswales.ac.uk |publisher=Universities Wales}}

Universities

class="wikitable sortable"
English Name ! Welsh Name ! Image ! data-sort-type="number" \|Year of foundation ! Location ! data-sort-type="number" \|Total HE students ({{HESA year}}){{HESA citation}} ! data-sort-type="number" \|Academic staff ({{HESA staff year}}){{HESA staff citation}} ! Teaching Excellence Framework ! Notes
Aberystwyth University \| Prifysgol Aberystwyth \| 100px \| 1872 \| Ceredigion \| {{HESA student population\|INSTID=10007856}} \| {{HESA academic staff population\|INSTID=10007856}} \| Gold \|Founded as the University College Wales
Bangor University \| Prifysgol Bangor \| 100px \| 1884 \| Gwynedd \| {{HESA student population\|INSTID=10007857}} \| {{HESA academic staff population\|INSTID=10007857}} \| Gold \|Founded as the University College of North Wales
Cardiff University \| Prifysgol Caerdydd \| 100px \| 1883 \| Cardiff \| {{HESA student population\|INSTID=10007814}} \| {{HESA academic staff population\|INSTID=10007814}} \| Silver \|Founded as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire. Merged in 1988 with the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. Merged in 2004 with the University of Wales College of Medicine.
Cardiff Metropolitan University \| Prifysgol Fetropolitan Caerdydd \| 100px \| 2011 (origins 1865) \| Cardiff \| {{HESA student population\|INSTID=10007854}} \| {{HESA academic staff population\|INSTID=10007854}} \| Silver \|Founded as the South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education in 1976, formed from the merger of four earlier institutes including the Cardiff School of Art & Design (1865).
University of South Wales \| Prifysgol De Cymru \| 100px \| 2013 (origins 1841) \| Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd \| {{HESA student population\|INSTID=10007793}} \| {{HESA academic staff population\|INSTID=10007793}} \| Did not enter \|Formed by the merger of University of Wales, Newport (1975, with origins in 1841) and the University of Glamorgan (1992, with origins in 1913) in 2013. Also incorporates the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
Swansea University \| Prifysgol Abertawe \| 100px \| 1920 \| Swansea \| {{HESA student population\|INSTID=10007855}} \| {{HESA academic staff population\|INSTID=10007855}} \| Gold \|Founded as the University College, Swansea
University of Wales Trinity Saint David \| Prifysgol Cymru, Y Drindod Dewi Sant \| 100px \| 2010 (origins 1822) \| Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, London and Swansea \| {{HESA student population\|INSTID=10007858}} \| {{HESA academic staff population\|INSTID=10007858}} \| Bronze \|Formed in 2010 by the merger of University of Wales, Lampeter (1822), Trinity University College (1848) and Swansea Metropolitan University (2008, with origins in 1853)
Wrexham University \| Prifysgol Wrecsam \| 100px \| 1887 \| Wrexham, Northop, St Asaph \| {{HESA student population\|INSTID=10007833}} \| {{HESA academic staff population\|INSTID=10007833}} \| Silver \|Founded as the Wrexham School of Science and Art and later became a university as Glyndŵr University.

class="wikitable sortable"

English Name

! Welsh Name

! Image

! data-sort-type="number" |Year of
foundation

! Location

! data-sort-type="number" |Total HE
students
({{HESA year}}){{HESA citation}}

! data-sort-type="number" |Academic
staff
({{HESA staff year}}){{HESA staff citation}}

! Teaching Excellence Framework

! Notes

Aberystwyth University

| Prifysgol Aberystwyth

| 100px

| 1872

| Ceredigion

| {{HESA student population|INSTID=10007856}}

| {{HESA academic staff population|INSTID=10007856}}

| Gold

|Founded as the University College Wales

Bangor University

| Prifysgol Bangor

| 100px

| 1884

| Gwynedd

| {{HESA student population|INSTID=10007857}}

| {{HESA academic staff population|INSTID=10007857}}

| Gold

|Founded as the University College of North Wales

Cardiff University

| Prifysgol Caerdydd

| 100px

| 1883

| Cardiff

| {{HESA student population|INSTID=10007814}}

| {{HESA academic staff population|INSTID=10007814}}

| Silver

|Founded as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire.
Merged in 1988 with the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology.
Merged in 2004 with the University of Wales College of Medicine.

Cardiff Metropolitan University

| Prifysgol Fetropolitan Caerdydd

| 100px

| 2011
(origins 1865)

| Cardiff

| {{HESA student population|INSTID=10007854}}

| {{HESA academic staff population|INSTID=10007854}}

| Silver

|Founded as the South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education in 1976, formed from the merger of four earlier institutes including the Cardiff School of Art & Design (1865).

University of South Wales

| Prifysgol De Cymru

| 100px

| 2013
(origins 1841)

| Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd

| {{HESA student population|INSTID=10007793}}

| {{HESA academic staff population|INSTID=10007793}}

| Did not enter

|Formed by the merger of University of Wales, Newport (1975, with origins in 1841) and the University of Glamorgan (1992, with origins in 1913) in 2013.
Also incorporates the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama

Swansea University

| Prifysgol Abertawe

| 100px

| 1920

| Swansea

| {{HESA student population|INSTID=10007855}}

| {{HESA academic staff population|INSTID=10007855}}

| Gold

|Founded as the University College, Swansea

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

| Prifysgol Cymru, Y Drindod Dewi Sant

| 100px

| 2010
(origins 1822)

| Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion,
London and Swansea

| {{HESA student population|INSTID=10007858}}

| {{HESA academic staff population|INSTID=10007858}}

| Bronze

|Formed in 2010 by the merger of University of Wales, Lampeter (1822), Trinity University College (1848) and Swansea Metropolitan University (2008, with origins in 1853)

Wrexham University

| Prifysgol

Wrecsam

| 100px

| 1887

| Wrexham, Northop, St Asaph

| {{HESA student population|INSTID=10007833}}

| {{HESA academic staff population|INSTID=10007833}}

| Silver

|Founded as the Wrexham School of Science and Art and later became a university as Glyndŵr University.

Funding and finances

The total consolidated annual income for Welsh universities for 2020–21 was £1.78 billion of which £230.0 million was from research grants and contracts, with an operating surplus of £74.2 million. £332.2 million was received from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales via grants and £356.7 million was received from tuition fees of Home-domiciled students. The table below is a record of each university's financial data for the 2020–21 financial year as recorded by the Higher Education Statistics Agency:{{cite web |title=What is the income of HE providers? |url=https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/finances/income |website=hesa.ac.uk |publisher=Higher Education Statistics Agency |access-date=22 February 2023}}

class="sortable wikitable"

!University

!data-sort-type="number" |Government funding body grants (£m)

!data-sort-type="number" |Funding Body income as % of total income

!data-sort-type="number" |Home-Domiciled Teaching income (£m)

!data-sort-type="number" |Overall Teaching income (£m)

!data-sort-type="number" |Teaching income as % of total income

!data-sort-type="number" |Research income (£m)

!data-sort-type="number" |Research income as % of total income

!data-sort-type="number" |Total income (£m)

!data-sort-type="number" |Operating surplus (£m)

!data-sort-type="number" |Surplus as % of total income

Aberystwyth University

| 22.1

| 18.6%

| 16.0

| 54.0

| 45.4%

| 20.2

| 17.0%

| 118.8

| —2.0

| —1.70%

Bangor University

| 30.3

| 19.8%

| 27.6

| 75.8

| 49.4%

| 23.4

| 15.2%

| 153.4

| —1.5

| —1.01%

Cardiff University

| 109.5

| 18.1%

| 66.6

| 306.9

| 50.8%

| 112.6

| 18.6%

| 604.6

| 31.4

| 5.19%

Cardiff Metropolitan University

| 14.8

| 12.1%

| 42.3

| 90.2

| 73.8%

| 2.4

| 2.0%

| 122.3

| 2.9

| 2.34%

University of South Wales

| 32.7

| 16.3%

| 77.1

| 140.0

| 69.9%

| 7.5

| 3.8%

| 200.2

| 5.8

| 2.89%

Swansea University

| 50.4

| 14.0%

| 66.8

| 184.3

| 51.1%

| 62.1

| 17.2%

| 360.8

| 27.8

| 7.72%

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

| 63.3

| 36.4%

| 40.1

| 87.0

| 50.0%

| 0.6

| 0.4%

| 173.9

| 8.2

| 4.72%

Wrexham University

| 9.2

| 19.6%

| 20.1

| 31.6

| 67.2%

| 1.1

| 2.4%

| 47.1

| 1.7

| 3.68%

Research Excellence Framework

The below lists the outcome of the latest Research Excellence Framework undertaken in 2021 (the next REF is scheduled for 2028) by the four UK higher education funding bodies. The quality of research was rated 4* (world leading), 3* (internationally excellent), 2* (recognised internationally), 1* (recognised nationally) and unclassified. GPA measures the quality of research and Research Power is calculated by the GPA score of a university multiplied by the full-time equivalent number of researchers submitted. The rankings are out of 129 institutions across the UK:{{cite web |title=REF 2021 Main Online Table |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/content/ref2021mainonlinetable |publisher=Times Higher Education |access-date=2 May 2022}}

University ! 4* ! 3* ! 2* ! 1* ! Unclassified ! GPA ranking ! Research Power ranking
class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="border: none;"\| ! colspan="5"\| Quality profile %
Aberystwyth University	26	50	22	2	0	65	76
Bangor University	40	45	13	2	0	42	77
Cardiff University	45	45	9	1	0	22	14
Cardiff Metropolitan University	20	50	26	5	0	81	99
University of South Wales	16	45	30	6	3	101	95
Swansea University	35	51	14	0	0	48	41
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	15	34	37	12	2	112	117
Wrexham University	6	30	44	19	2	123	129

Rankings

The following table is a list of Welsh universities by their performance in the three main domestic and three main global university rankings.

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: left;"
width=200px \| University ! data-sort-type="number" \| Complete 2025 (National){{cite web\|url=https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings\|title=Complete University Guide 2025\|publisher=The Complete University Guide\|date=14 May 2024\|access-date=14 May 2024}} ! data-sort-type="number" \| Guardian 2025 (National){{cite web\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2024/sep/07/the-guardian-university-guide-2025-the-rankings\|title=Guardian University Guide 2025\|work=The Guardian\|date=7 September 2024\|access-date=11 September 2024}} ! data-sort-type="number" \| Times/Sunday Times 2025 (National){{cite web\|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk-university-rankings\|title=Good University Guide 2025\|work=The Times\|date=20 September 2024\|access-date=20 September 2024}} ! data-sort-type="number" \| ARWU 2024 (Global){{cite web\|title=Academic Ranking of World Universities 2024\|url=https://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/arwu/2024\|publisher=Shanghai Ranking Consultancy\|date=15 August 2024}} ! data-sort-type="number" \| QS 2025 (Global){{cite web\|url=https://www.topuniversities.com/world-university-rankings\|title=QS World University Rankings 2025\|publisher=Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd.\|date=4 June 2024}} ! data-sort-type="number" \| THE 2025 (Global){{cite web\|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2025/world-ranking#!/length/25/locations/GBR/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats\|title=THE World University Rankings 2025\|publisher=Times Higher Education\|date=9 October 2024\|access-date=9 October 2024}}
Aberystwyth University \| 44 \| 66 \| 48 \| data-sort-value=3001\| — \| data-sort-value=651\|661–670 \| data-sort-value=501\|601–800
Bangor University \| 75 \| 73 \| 64 \| data-sort-value=601\|601–700 \| 474= \| data-sort-value=401\|401–500
Cardiff University \| 27 \| 46 \| 32 \| data-sort-value=151\|151–200 \| 186 \| data-sort-value=201\|201–250
Cardiff Metropolitan University \| 63 \| 82 \| 66= \| data-sort-value=3001\| — \| data-sort-value=3001\| — \| data-sort-value=1001\|1001–1200
University of South Wales \| 94 \| 51 \| 94= \| data-sort-value=3001\| — \| data-sort-value=3001\| — \| data-sort-value=1001\|1201–1500
Swansea University \| 39 \| 29 \| 37 \| data-sort-value=401\|401–500 \| 198= \| data-sort-value=251\|301–350
University of Wales Trinity Saint David \| 117 \| 80 \| 110 \| data-sort-value=3001\| — \| data-sort-value=3001\| — \| data-sort-value=3001\| —
Wrexham University \| 130 \| 111 \| 115 \| data-sort-value=3001\| — \| data-sort-value=3001\| — \| data-sort-value=3001\| —

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: left;"

width=200px | University

! data-sort-type="number" | Complete 2025 (National){{cite web|url=https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings|title=Complete University Guide 2025|publisher=The Complete University Guide|date=14 May 2024|access-date=14 May 2024}}

! data-sort-type="number" | Guardian 2025 (National){{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2024/sep/07/the-guardian-university-guide-2025-the-rankings|title=Guardian University Guide 2025|work=The Guardian|date=7 September 2024|access-date=11 September 2024}}

! data-sort-type="number" | Times/Sunday Times 2025 (National){{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk-university-rankings|title=Good University Guide 2025|work=The Times|date=20 September 2024|access-date=20 September 2024}}

! data-sort-type="number" | ARWU 2024 (Global){{cite web|title=Academic Ranking of World Universities 2024|url=https://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/arwu/2024|publisher=Shanghai Ranking Consultancy|date=15 August 2024}}

! data-sort-type="number" | QS 2025 (Global){{cite web|url=https://www.topuniversities.com/world-university-rankings|title=QS World University Rankings 2025|publisher=Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd.|date=4 June 2024}}

! data-sort-type="number" | THE 2025 (Global){{cite web|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2025/world-ranking#!/length/25/locations/GBR/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats|title=THE World University Rankings 2025|publisher=Times Higher Education|date=9 October 2024|access-date=9 October 2024}}

Aberystwyth University

| 44

| 66

| 48

| data-sort-value=3001| —

| data-sort-value=651|661–670

| data-sort-value=501|601–800

Bangor University

| 75

| 73

| 64

| data-sort-value=601|601–700