Welsh students will not face higher tuition fees Welsh universities' plans to charge students tuition fees of up to ?9,000 a year have been rejected.Initial fee plans from universities were turned down by the body that funds higher education.
Education Minister Leighton Andrews said it showed Wales was taking a "robust" approach towards university tuition fees.
A Welsh Government subsidy means Welsh students will not face big increases in fees.
If Welsh universities want to charge more than ?4,000 in 2012/13 their fee plans must be approved by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (Hefcw).
Plans will only be agreed if institutions show they meet certain requirements, including on equal access and improving the student experience.
Answering questions in the Senedd on Wednesday, Mr Andrews said Hefcw wrote to all higher education institutions (HEIs) on Friday to tell them that in their present form, their fee plans did not meet the requirements.
Continue reading the main storyWe made a commitment in our manifesto... to ensure that Welsh students would not pay higher fees wherever they study, and that is a commitment for the life of this assembly”End Quote Leighton Andrews Education Minister Mr Andrews said: "In other words all HEIs in Wales have been warned that as currently presented their fee plans would be rejected.
"This demonstrates that the process we are following for fee plans in Wales is far more robust than that operating in England."
Hefcw will receive revised plans at the end of June and make a final decision on 11 July.
Mr Andrews announced last year that Welsh students will be shielded from increased tuition fees, wherever they study in the UK. Their fees, currently around ?3,400, will only rise in line with inflation.
He said the government thought its estimated cost of the policy up to 2016/17 was "robust".
He added: "It is notoriously difficult, let me say, to estimate some of the issues around cross-border flow of students and we are still not certain yet of all of the fee levels at every higher education institution operating in England and Wales.
'Uncertainties'"So there are always going to be uncertainties around this, but we are confident and we have made a commitment - as a party we made a commitment in our manifesto, one of our pledges - to ensure that Welsh students would not pay higher fees wherever they study, and that is a commitment for the life of this assembly."
Continue reading the main storyI hope this is not a political stunt that simply allows the minister to hit the headlines, as students cannot afford for politicians to play games with their futures”End Quote Katie Dalton NUS president Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Bangor, Glamorgan and Newport universities said they wanted to charge the maximum ?9,000. Some courses at Newport would cost ?8,250.
Higher Education Wales, which represents universities, said the fee plans were ambitious proposals to widen access: "No university has ever been under the illusion that the approval of fee plans would be akin to a 'rubber stamp' - this was always going to be a challenging, iterative process".
NUS Wales president Katie Dalton said: "I hope this is not a political stunt that simply allows the minister to hit the headlines, as students cannot afford for politicians to play games with their futures.
"Instead, it needs to send a very clear message to Welsh universities that they have to take this process seriously."
Conservative Angela Burns said: "The minister has put Welsh universities in the impossible situation of either charging the maximum fee or risking severe underfunding compared to universities in England, which can charge higher fees."
Plaid Cymru's Simon Thomas said: "If such large sums are charged there is a serious risk that a university education will be out of reach for many."
He said the Welsh Government's policy was based on universities charging an average ?7,000.
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